Ethical Considerations in Research

Introduction

Ethical considerations in research are a set of principles that guide your research designs and practices. Scientists and researchers must always follow a certain code of conduct when collecting data from people.

The goals of human research often include understanding real phenomena, studying effective treatments, investigating behaviour, and improving lives in other ways. What you choose to research and how you conduct that research involves key ethical considerations.

These considerations work

• protect the rights of research participants
• increase the validity of the research
• maintain scientific integrity

Why do research ethics matter?

Research ethics are important for scientific integrity, human rights and dignity, and cooperation between science and society. These policies ensure that participation in studies is voluntary, informed and safe for research subjects.

There are several reasons why it is necessary to observe the basic norms of scientific behaviour in academic research. The credibility of the scientific community and the perception of the public to assess and accept new results strongly depends on the authenticity of the results that have been published. It is particularly important to make a clear distinction between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, especially when human beings or animals are involved in the study. Given the competitive nature of research, it is increasingly challenging for scientists to report unique and ground-breaking research. However, some members of the research community continue to follow the practice of misreporting data and scientific results.

Principles of good ethical research

• Voluntary and informed participation – without coercion or undue influence
• It is worth it and provides value that outweighs any risk or harm
• Respecting the rights and dignity of participants, including confidentiality and anonymity
• Conducted honestly and transparently
• Independent (and any conflicts of interest or bias expressly stated)
• Clear definition of lines of responsibility and accountability

ETHICAL ISSUES

Ethical considerations play a crucial role, especially in research. All your research efforts can go to waste if you do not follow any of the ethical considerations. The following are ethical issues to consider when conducting a research study.

• Research validity

The first and most basic ethical problem that can arise in research is the invalidity of research questions. Research is conducted to answer a specific research question. The conclusion of the research must match the research question posed at the beginning.

Disagreement between the research questions with the conclusion of the research will be considered a breach of ethical consideration.

• The research method used for the research

The research method is an essential part of any study. Many research methods can be used to conduct research. The most suitable research method is selected for conducting the study. Choosing the right research method becomes crucial when it comes to ethical considerations.

Below are the points to keep in mind when choosing a research method for research purposes.

• The method should fully correspond to the purpose of the research.
• The method should not have risks associated with the specific research method used. All risks associated with a research method should be declared before it is used for research purposes.

• Consent of participants

Most research involves participants. In order to be guided by ethical considerations, the researcher must inform the participants about all activities involved in the research and obtain informed consent from them before starting the research work. The information that participants have a right to know is as follows:

• The purpose of the research project
• Expected search result
• Adverse effect of research on participants
• Who is funding the research project and how the funding will be used?

The reason for obtaining informed consent from participants is that they will be aware of what they are getting into. If they are aware of the purpose of the research, they can decide whether they want to participate in the research.

In addition, participants are also entitled to ask for additional information if they have any doubts or are concerned in the middle of the research. Once you have cleared all the doubts of the participants, you can ask them to sign the consent form. The form will act as a sign of trust between the researcher and the participants.

• Confidentiality

One of the most important ethical aspects is the confidentiality of the information provided by the participant. The purpose of privacy is that any information related to or provided by participants cannot be disclosed or made available to anyone other than the researcher under any circumstances. The information is only used to protect participants from an external threat.

In addition, confidentiality ensures that participants’ identifying information is not disclosed in research reports or other published documents. Participants are always referred to as anonymous in research reports.

• Risk to the Participant

We previously learned that participants should be informed about the nature of the study and the risks involved. However, if the risk to the participant outweighs the benefit, then the study should be abandoned.

The risk can be physical or psychological. The study should be suspended if participants become stressed, anxious or in pain.

• Anonymity of participants

Preserving the participant’s anonymity is very important in the study process. Participants should also not be known to the research team. The research team should never be aware of participants’ names and should refer to participants by name “subject number”.

It is very difficult to monitor the anonymity of the participants because most of the participants are known to the researchers and it is human nature to communicate with each other when working together.

• Selection of participants

Sampling is one of the initial tasks that a researcher must perform before starting a research work. The researcher must explain why he chose a particular group of participants for the purpose of the study and why he did not include certain people.

All of this information should be clear and provided to sponsors and participants if they have any objections to your sampling style.

• Access only relevant information

When participants sign the consent form, they agree to provide only relevant information for research purposes. This means that researchers cannot use them as guinea pigs to gather information about any topic of interest.

Legally, the researcher cannot ask questions other than those related to the purpose of the research. Participants have the right to withdraw from the research if they feel any violation of the accessibility of information.

Therefore, it is always recommended that researchers use the simplest possible research methods and explain everything to the participants in detail to avoid repercussions related to ethical violations.

• Integrity and Transparency

Another ethical issue that could arise in research is the question of honesty and transparency. The researcher must ensure that he maintains integrity and transparency before the ethics committee.

The researcher is expected to share any potential conflicts of interest that could affect his research work.

Conclusion

Ethical considerations are principles that must be followed when conducting any type of research. Ethical considerations ensure that no human rights are violated and the research conducted has no hidden agenda.

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