BINDURA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE EDUCATION

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

PEACE AND GOVERNANCE DEPARTMENT

Names : Lucas Mamvura

Reg number : B1439624

Course code and description : PC 503, Research Methods and Statistics

Lecturer : DR NYONI

Question. Discuss the ethical consideration that must be kept in mind when conducting research.

Regardless of whether a research work is quantitative, qualitative or mixed, there is need for a
researcher to keep in mind various ethical considerations prior to conducting a study, beginning a
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study, during data collection and analysis as well as the reporting, sharing and data storing
stages. In order to provide a befitting discussion of these ethical considerations, the conceptual
underpinnings or framework of the study represented by a definition of ethics is first given
followed by the discussion based on the frameworks given above.

According to Brester (1995), ethics are principles which particular groups accept as right or
wrong. Brester (ibid), further notes that different research paradigms result in different ethical
considerations. Rivera and Ezcurra (2013), posit that research ethics gained prominence in the
1960s due to emerging issues in the medical fraternity and social sciences. Brester (supra), cites
the historic 1946-47 Doctors Trial of the Nuremberg Trials for Nazi War criminals as a
fundamental basis for analyzing the ubiquity of ethical considerations in present-day research. In
that research, Nazi doctors tortured, crippled and even murdered research subjects all in the name
of research (Brester, 1995). This was widely condemned and became a rallying point for the
need of research ethics resulting in the popular Nuremberg Code upon which research ethics
generally hinge. Cresswell (2014), lists several objectives of ethics including the protection of
participants and ensuring that the research is done in a manner which benefits the whole
community. Key elements in research are informed consent, confidentiality, privacy and
anonymity.

Prior to conducting a study, a researcher needs to consider various ethical considerations, two of
which are discussed hereunder. One such factor is obtaining permission (Cresswell, 2014). This
can be security at the gates, management or the concerned individuals. In the Zimbabwe
Republic Police for example, authority to carry out a study within the police can only be
authorized by the Commissioner General of Police. Obviously the ethicality of obtaining
permission is arduous yet carrying out an unauthorized research may have civil and criminal
implications to the researcher. One therefore has to plan the research work in such a way that
permission has to be obtained before anything can be done. Lack of permission is argued to
mean changing the research topic especially for academic researches.

Last but not least on ethical consideration prior to the research, there is the need to select a site
without vested interests (Cresswell, 2014). Although there is a general impression among
researchers that an area of interest is most welcome in research, this has been shown to be laden
with irregularities. Rivera and Ezcurra (2013), argue that for a qualitative research, an area of

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interest may prevent the disclosure of an approach that may not favour the researcher’s
personally preferred outcome for example, a feminist who believes that women’s emancipation
from male dominance can only be removed from society by the removal of patriarchy may
overlook such issues like the anatomy of women and religious factors. Cresswell (ibid), avers
that in quantitative research, this may have serious repercussions on objectivity. Reading
between the lines here implied that it is not necessarily that a researcher should choose an area he
or she is not interested or knowledgeable with, but he or she needs to avoid an area where it is
possible from the standpoint of the researcher, to write down the conclusion before doing any
field work.

As the research commences, the researcher too needs to take into account different ethical
considerations. Two of them are discussed hereunder. Firstly the researcher must formulate a
beneficial research problem. According to Yin (2012), a beneficial research problem is one
which satisfies both the researcher and the researched. It therefore follows that a research
problem for example, where the researcher intends to demonstrate his or her research acumen
whilst exposing a particular society as a symbol of dullard does not qualify. In the same way, one
needs to disclose the purpose of the research. Sarantakos (2005) in Cresswell (2014), observes
that some scrupulous researcher use deception for ulterior motives. It is thus imperative that
participants be informed at the earliest possible moment of the extent of the research in order to
decide whether to participate or not. Quite often, a researcher explains this, for example that the
research is purely academic.

Another ethical consideration at the commencement of the research is the respect of indigenous
cultures of the researched (LaFrance & Bull, 2009). Although it is difficult to know the culture of
research participants, a research therefore has to anticipate the culture of the researched. In
Zimbabwe for example, speaking to elders whilst standing is a sign of disrespect but this may not
be the case in Europe. A researcher thus needs to do a prior research on the culture of Europe
rather than using own culture as a pioneering model of analysis which may have a negative effect
on consent and objectivity.

The data collection stage of the research process further presents an avenue for keeping in mind
some ethical considerations. Two such issues are discussed here. Patton (2002), opines that in
some researches particularly experimental researches, data has to be collected in a manner which

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benefits other groups outside the experimental group, for example through providing a wait list.
An expansion of this issue may entail the involvement of participants, for example as co-
researchers throughout the research process (Cresswell, 2014). It can be argued here, however,
that the involvement of the participants should be in such a way that power influences on the
researcher and taking over the research by the research must not be allowed to creep in. This thus
calls for extreme fidelity, stamina and acme on the researcher which may not be easy to attain
especially for novice researchers.

Related to the above factor is the ethical requirement to avoid collecting information which
harms the researched especially psychologically. It is argued here that such information may be
of a very personal nature, for example discussing with a policeman how they take bribes when
the very nature of policing directs otherwise. In such a scenario, the privacy of the participant
must be guaranteed.

Having collected the data, a researcher naturally has to analyse it thus ethicality creeps in again.
A clearest example here is what Cresswell (2014) calls, ‘going native’. This is whereby the
researcher becomes biased towards the participants’ views in qualitative research. This can
arguably be due to power a difference that is the research participants exerting too much power
on the researcher. For quantitative researchers, this is obviously the discarding of data which is
not concomitant with a predetermined personal hypothesis. Chances are high that this going
native scenario is motivated by carrying out a study with vested interest. One can therefore
surmise that should vested interests studies be avoided, then chances of going native will be
greatly reduced.

The reporting, sharing and storing of data stage of the research process also takes into account
different research ethical considerations. A common consideration here is the avoidance of
plagiarism (Patton, 2002). This just refers to acknowledging the works of others. The ability to
do so, requires a lot of intuition, experience and training which may not be not always be
common traits.

In summary, it can be said that the research process needs one to consistently take into
consideration various ethical issues. These issues are all equally important. Even though there
are challenges in achieving them, there is no way one can ignore them as there are always
possible solutions to such challenges.

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References

Brester, L. (1995). Ethical Issues in Qualitative Research Methodology. Bulletin of the Council
for Research in Music Education¸26, 29-41.

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Creswell, J.W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods
Approaches (4th ed.). London: Sage Publications.

Patton, M.Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications.

Rivera, R & Ezcurra, E. (2013). IRB: Ethics and Human Research. Journal of Ethical Research,
23(5), 9-12.

Yin, R.K. (2012). Applications of case study research (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, C.A: Sage
Publications.