An ethic is basically a moral principle or code of conduct which influences what individuals and communities do. In academics (projects and dissertations), ethics are concerned with the way students behave in conducting their research work. It is important to carry out research work in accordance with sound ethical practice.
A research work may be considered unethical due to the way in which the research question is formulated, if there are weaknesses in the design of the research project, if inappropriate methods of data collection are used, if analysis & interpretation is flawed, or if the presentation is not tight.
Ethical considerations that you must factor in: Consent, Coercion, Deception, Violation of rights, Self esteem, Stress. These issues can weaken the quality of research.
Questions to ask: Do any of these apply to your work? Why/Why Not? How will you deal with them in planning your project?
Other Ethical Considerations include: Privacy, Lack of respect, Cultural sensitivity, Time wasting, Anonymity, Confidentiality.
You need to aim to show in your research proposal that you have given careful thought to the ethical dimension of your intended activity. You should be clear about what you are going to do and how you are going to do it.
Students must apply ethical practice throughout the research process:
- Planning stage and the literature review
- Data gathering and analysis stage
- Writing up stage and when presenting your research (findings, interpretation, conclusions, recommendations, implications)
- Once the research has been concluded
All universities and colleges will have polices related to the ethical aspects of research. You will need to fill a ethical compliance form (as well as a few other documents) as part of the proposal submission to assist you with the ethical issues related to your research.
Related: The Step-by-step Research Process
Final Checklist of Things to Consider
Make sure to elaborate how participants will be selected and the data collection steps so that the study’s risks can be determined. The research procedures need to ensure privacy during data collection, and the data must be stored securely with adequate provisions to maintain the confidentiality of the data.
You must fully acknowledge and describe all potential psychological, relationship, legal , economic/professional, physical, and other risks, and have them minimized as much as possible.
Make sure the participants are recruited in a non-coercive manner. Coercive elements include: leveraging an existing relationship to “encourage” participation, recruiting in a group setting, extravagant compensation, recruiting individuals in a context of their treatment or evaluation , etc. A researcher must disclose here whether/how the researcher may already be known to the participants and explain how perceptions of coerced research participation will be minimized.
Ensure informed consent procedures are followed and the consent documents preserve the participant’s legal rights.
The researcher must inform the participants about the research purpose, clearly state that participation is voluntary, convey that the participant has the right to decline or discontinue participation at any time, provide an estimate of the time commitment for participation, provide an understandable description of the data collection procedures, describe how privacy will be maintained, disclose all potential conflicts of interest (specifying that this study is separate from the researcher’s other professional role).
The researcher should also explain to the participant how they can contact the researcher and the Supervisor.
