What are the 4 key ethical issues for sociologists to consider when carrying out research?
What are the 4 key ethical issues for sociologists to consider when carrying out research?
Following are the four key ethical issues for sociologists to consider when carrying out research:
Informed Consent
Where at all practicable, researchers should seek participants' consent. In practice, this means that having participants say "Yes" isn't enough.
They must also be aware of the terms of their agreement. To put it another way, the sociologist should, to the extent practicable, clarify what is involved in advance and obtain informed consent from participants.
Protection of Participants
Researchers must be certain that those who take part in studies are not distressed. Participants must be safeguarded from harm and exploitation. It implies you must not in any way embarrass, frighten, offend, or hurt participants.
Typically, the risk of damage should not be greater than that experienced in everyday life, which ensures that participants should not be exposed to more significant threats than or additional to those encountered in their daily lives.
If vulnerable groups (elders, disabled people, infants, etc.) are to be included, the researcher must make sure that they are given special attention. For example, if one is researching children, keep their involvement brief because they get bored quickly and have a limited attention span.
Deception
It happens when participants are misled or given inaccurate information about the study's goals.
Unless there is no other way, the researcher should avoid deceiving participants about the essence of the study – and even then, an independent expert must authorize it. On the other hand, some forms of research cannot be conducted without some element of deception.
Confidentiality
Until they give their full permission, participants and the data gathered from them must remain anonymous. There must be no names in a research paper.
What does one do if they come across something that needs to be made public (such as a criminal act)? Researchers are not required by law to report illegal actions and choose between their responsibility to the participant and their duty to the broader community.
Finally, decisions regarding knowledge disclosure must be taken because of the research's goals.
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