Research ethics are the moral principles that govern how researchers conduct their studies. As there are elements of uncertainty and risk involved in any study, every researcher has to consider how they can uphold these ethical principles and conduct the research in a way that protects the interests and welfare of participants and other stakeholders of various organisations.
Whenever we conduct research on people, the well-being of research participants must be our top priority. The research question is always of secondary importance. As researchers we should be very clear that our research work is kept confidential.
By keeping our research work confidential we can just keep our work safe in our hands. Some people pursue their research under some organizations so those people need to be very much clear in safeguarding their research data.
Ethical Issues in Research
Ethics to be followed while doing the research work is fully dependant on the individual and with the organisation. There are many ways of harm and hazard comes through various factors in the research programme
We should keep certain things in mind when it comes to ethical considerations in research. They are:
- Work with Interest
We have to choose the research work based on our area of interest so that we can bring out the novelty in our research. By working in our area of interest we can avoid plagiarism in the work. By showing at most interest in our research work we can customise our work in a standard way based on the requirements for bringing best work in our research.
- Work with Acceptance
We have to understand one thing very clearly, that is we should obey and follow the laws of the organisation under which we are going to pursue our research works.
This kind of acceptance quality gives the betterment for the people who are participating in the research work and also for the organisation who gives us guidance throughout the research.
This kind of acceptance process can be made with the signing of a form between the organisation and the people participating in the research programme.
The form should include the following things listed down:
- The brief details of the research work should be mentioned.
- Various methods of working should be mentioned.
- We assure 100 % safety for your personal and official informations
- The benefits of participating in the research programme.
- The total length of the study period.
- Work with staying anonymous
We should be aware of keeping all our work confidential for that we can give the participants with an anonymous id to stay safe with their research work. The anonymous id should be totally different from the usual name. The id can contain different characters or numbers in it.
We should create the proper anonymous id of the participants or the researchers. The anonymous id should contain:
- Name of the researcher or the participant
- Address of the researcher or the participant.
- Email address of the researcher or the participant.
- Photographs or the image proofs of the researcher or the participant.
- Video proof attachment of the researcher or the participant.
- Work with Confidentiality:
Information gathered during a study must be kept confidential. Confidentiality helps to protect the privacy of research participants. It also ensures that their information isn’t disclosed to unauthorized individuals.
Some ways to ensure confidentiality include:
- Avoid sharing of work in any online sites.
- Our work should be in the traditional format.
- The research work should be unique without copying.
- Available proof for the research topic.
- Avoiding discussion of research findings in public forums.
We should also think about how to avoid imposing an unnecessary burden or costs on our participants when we are at the organisation side. We should identify the measures that you will take to store the participants’ data safely and maintain their confidentiality and anonymity when we report our findings.
We could do this by storing interview and video recordings in a secure server and securing their names and those of their organisations using pseudonyms.
Professional codes such as the Code of Human Research Ethics provides guidance on undertaking research with children. Being an ‘insider’ researching within our own organisation has advantages.
However, we should be conscious whether this is producing any kind of problems with the Organisation, other researchers or consent who are all involved in the research.
By following ethics and enhancing all kinds of research side and giving secured activity in the proper manner provides the betterment for both the organisation and for the participants in the research process.
