The Ethics and Politics of Social Research

Ethics

Ethical issues in social research

  • What are ethics?

  • What are some ethical issues in social research?

Informed consent

  • Informed consent is a norm in research in which subjects base their participation in research projects on a full understanding of the possible risks involved

Voluntary participation

  • Voluntary- choice to do it without a risk of not doing

  • You must also be given the opportunity to stop participating at any time

No harm

  • Medical doctors

    • Hippocratic oath

  • Social scientists

    • Psychological wellbeing and potential harm after fieldwork

  • There are no foreseeable risks, discomforts, or immediate benefits to participation

Anonymity and Confidentiality

  • Anonymity is guaranteed in a research project when neither the researchers nor the readers of the findings can identify a given response with a given participant

  • Confidentiality is when a researcher can identify a given person’s responses, but promises not to do so publicly

  • Survey

    • All information regarding your participation will be kept anonymous according to legal and ethical guidelines. No one will have access to this information and data will be stored anonymously.

  • Interview

    • All information regarding your participation will be kept confidential according to the legal and ethical guidelines. Only the principal investigator (Meredith Trook) will have your identifiable information. No one else will have access to this information.

Deception and debriefing

  • Debriefing involves interviewing participants to learn about their experience of participation in the project and to inform them of any unrevealed purpose