Avoiding ethical problems

You can do at least two things to head off or minimize ethical problems. First, you should identify possible ethical problems before they arise and then be prepared for them and face them honestly when they occur. Examine your plans for data collection. What ethical issues could arise? For any issue you see, think about the alternative courses of action you could take to avoid any conflict that might occur. Have a course of action ready rather just letting things happen.

Second, have a frank discussion about issues you see with anyone who has claim on your research, such as your advisor, persons who helped you gain entry to the group you are studying, or local leaders whose help you will need to do the study. Try to get clear, explicit agreement about the freedom you will have in collecting and analyzing data and in reporting what was found. By bringing an issue out in the open, you can prepare people for possibly different outcomes than they might expect and help them accept these findings. This course of action can also save you and others a lot of grief.

A number of professional and governmental organizations have issued ethical guidelines for research involving humans. We mention only the following examples of codes of conduct for social research:

Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, American Psychological Association, provides the code of ethics of the American Psychological Association

American Sociological Association Code of Ethics, provides the code of conduce of the American Sociological Association

The Canadian Code of Conduct for Research Involving Humans, provides the Canadian code of conduce for research involving humans

Ethics in Research, discusses ethical issues that arise as researchers seek to establish the validity of evaluation results

Examining these ethical codes of conduct may help you in thinking about ethical issues you might face in your research.

Aids

Internet resources

In addition to Web sites mentioned earlier in this chapter, we call your attention to several that provide alternative explanations of topics in this chapter.

Measurement, Reliability, and Validity, discusses conceptualization, operationalization, unit of analysis, and reliability and validity

Overview: Reliability and Validity, presents an alternative description of reliability and validity and ways to estimate each. This site also contains commentary on the difficulty of achieving reliability, defines key terms related to reliability and validity, and provides an annotated bibliography on reliability and validity issues.