The Ethics and Politics of Social Research

1
Chapter 3

• The Ethics and Politics of Social Research

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Ethics and Morality in Research

• Ethics a theory or system of moral values
  (Merriam-Webster online)
• Issues of right and wrong
• But, there are no universally-agreed standards of
  right and wrong
• There is no universal set of cultural norms
• What is culture?
• Behaviors/beliefs/values that result from the
  unique way groups solve problems
• Due to what?

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Research and Ethics

• General agreement on whats ethical in research
• Voluntary participation. Reasons?
• No one should be forced to participate
• Participation is an interruption, requires time
  and energy
• Participation requires the disclosure of
  information (often revealed to strangers)
• Generalizability is threatened either way

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Whats Ethical in Research?

• No harm to participants
• Not just physical. How else?
• Revealing sensitive information
• You may reveal information about a participant
  that they didnt know
• Informed consent is necessary
• A signed statement indicating an honest
  understanding of the risks, and their willingness
  to participate anyway
• Not easy to accomplish
• Ethical concerns create validity and
  generalizability risks

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Whats Ethical in Research?

• Anonymity
• When no one, including the researcher, can tie
  specific data to named individuals
• Some data collection methods can never be
  anonymous interview, case study in the field
  etc.
• Confidentiality
• The researcher can identify a participants
  responses, but promises not to do so
• Never say your research is anonymous if you
  mean confidential
• Particularly to the participant
• If youre the participant, ask

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Whats Ethical in Research?

• Deception issues
• Are the participants aware that theyre
  participants?
• Are the participants aware of your role as a
  researcher?
• Are the participants aware of the exact nature of
  your research? Deception here is not as
  dangerous, and often useful
• Deception is sometimes necessary, but can be
  harmful
• Reasons for deception must be compelling
• Debriefing is a common technique to mitigate the
  problems of deception

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Whats Ethical in Research?

• Ethical analysis and reporting
• We must reveal limitations and problems with our
  research
• We must report negative findings that occur in
  our research or in the literature
• No significance is as important as significance
• Dont recreate history after your analysis

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IRBs

• Institutional Review Boards
• Reviews research proposals involving humans so
  they can guarantee the rights and interests are
  protected
• Federally-funded research must comply with laws
  concerning research ethics
• Goal minimize risks to participants
• Initial impetus was medical experimentation
• Social research is usually exempt, but most
  universities use the process with all research
• See page 69 for exemption rules

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Ethics Boards

• Professional Codes of Ethics
• Most professional associations have formal codes
  of conduct that describe acceptable and
  unacceptable professional behavior
• See example Code of Conduct on page 72
• Compare IA and IC with IIB1 or IIC1
• Remember that legal, ethical and moral are
  different concepts

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Examples

• Trouble in the Tearoom example
• What happened?
• Researcher collected license numbers, tracked
  down unwilling and unknowing participants
• Researcher hid his role from subjects
• Some condemned the methodology, some defended it.
  Why?
• Ends justify the means
• No other way

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Examples

• Milgram studies
• What was the study about?
• 26 of the 40 subjects continued administering
  shocks even after they screamed, kicked the
  walls, and finally went silent
• Obedience and compliance issues
• Following orders as an ethical defense for
  unethical behavior

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Intersubjectivity

• An answer to the threat posed by insufficient
  objectivity
• Subjective views of disparate researchers should
  arrive at similar conclusions if methodologies
  are sound
• Not all researchers agree that research should be
  objective
• Studying society and its ills without a
  commitment to making society more humane has been
  called irresponsible

13
Politics and Research Ethics

• Race research
• Separate but equal issue and segregation
• Colemans integration studies (p76) and Jensons
  IQ studies
• Gender research
• Differences between sexes, representation,
  compensation issues
• Sexual orientation research
• Nature vs. nurture, rights issues

14
Politics and Research Ethics

• Politics and the Census
• Project Camelot
• What is vs. what should be research
• Research supporting popular beliefs receive less
  rigorous criticism

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Politics in Perspective

• Four issues to keep in mind
• Science is not untouched by politics.
• Science does proceed in the midst of political
  controversy.
• But politicized research is useless
• Awareness of ideologies enriches the study and
  practice of social research methods.
• Careful, honest research does not demand that we
  abandon our personal values, or remove ourselves
  from the political conversation