Table of Contents

Selected Topic. 1

Introduction. 1

Major Ethical Problems in Conducting Research. 2

1.     Informed Consent and Voluntary Participation. 2

2.     Anonymity and Confidentially. 3

3.     Fulfill the Requirement of Valid Referencing. 4

4.     General Ethical Implications. 6

5.     Conclusion. 8

Bibliography. 9

 Ethical Concerns in Research

Selected Topic

10.       Using other people’s narratives in research raises ethical concerns, how should a researcher manage them?

Introduction of Using other people’s narratives in research raises ethical concerns, how should a researcher manage them

The most essential part of human life is ethics because it is the only characteristic that make difference between humans and non-humans. We, as human beings have more responsibilities than other creatures because we have been possessed by Reason or Intellect. As rational being the humans are not supposed to behave in an immoral way in every aspect of life. The moral responsibility matters in all personal and shared life dimensions. Morality is the complete set of principles that are being prescribed by moral philosophers (Rachel, 2012). It is the branch of philosophy that determines, analyzes, and prescribes moral values. A moral philosopher studies the nature of moral principles like good, bad, right, wrong, behavior, character, and customs. There are two main dimensions of ethics including theoretical and practical. The theoretical foundations or different theories prescribe as well as analyze the moral values or rules. These different positions help to determine suitable behavior in many aspects of life. In academics, ethics is divided into three parts which are Metaethics, Normative ethics, and Applied ethics (Rachel, 2012). The metaphysics analyzes and defines the ethical terms or words and their truth values. Meta-ethics is examining ethical language. The normative ethics prescribes the moral principles and standards of morality for human life. The main dictum of normative ethics is “how one ought to behave” (Rachel, 2012). The third part is applied ethics which is concerned with the practical field and real issues of life. This part deals with different situations of human life like business, medical, environment, personal life, social life, education, research, and job. In applied ethics, different domains of human life are being selected and then apply the moral principles in that particular situation (Haggerty, 2004).

            The issue of ethical dilemmas in research has been widely discussed among the researchers and educationists. In the modern world, it has become the main topic or problem of discussion in the educational system. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the moral issues in the field of research; therefore, we will apply the two dimensions of ethics, including Normative and Applied. We will select some moral dictums by normative ethics and then we will apply those principles in the field of Research. The normative ethical positions like deontological, Utilitarian, and Virtue theories will be used for the answers of moral issues. So this piece of research is the application of Normative Ethics in Research (Haggerty, 2004).      

Major Ethical Problems in Conducting Research

Every part of research is conducted by using different sources of study like books, journals articles, websites, and encyclopedias. Moreover, the interviews, questionnaires are also collected from different people in qualitative research. In this type of research certain phenomena, problems, or issues discuss and ask why and how it occurs. This essay will discuss the different fields or areas of study in which moral responsibility matters. Among those fields, the medical and academic areas are most prominent. We will discuss some specific cases in medicine and academics (Mahnaz Sanjari, 2014).

Now the question is that should the researchers follow the proper ethical guidelines? Ethical principles should be followed by every researcher. This essay will explore some salient moral rules.  

1.     Informed Consent and Voluntary Participation

In qualitative research, the data collection from the public is used for the analysis of the overall picture of society. The researches use different methods for data collection including questionnaires, interviews, case studies, life stories, and many other observational means. The data collection plays a very significant part in qualitative research which is widely used in natural and social sciences, medical, business, and marketing (Binti Mohd Arifin, 2018). The social scientists discuss the social problems and collect the data or opinions of the common or relevant people. The scientific method consists of the method in which the data is collected and after the data analysis, the tentative conclusion is being derived (Jensen, 2002).  These results do not consist of universal implications but they can be changed with time. Now the question arises what are those moral responsibilities which should be accepted of every researcher?

            The first and major moral responsibility of the researcher is the informed consent and voluntary participation. It means that all the participants should be informed by the proper written documents. The subjects should know that what is being asked of them or they should be fully aware of the nature of the topic (Orb A E. L., 2001). The researcher first should inform them about the nature, aims, and outcomes of the topic. Many pieces of research have some risks and dangers. Thus they should have fully revealed to the participants. The subjects of data collection need to be competent for the decision making about their free participation in research or not (Orb A E. L., 2001). In some cases, the participants have to get permission from their families. Mostly it happens with women or any vulnerable group of people. Thus the proper time should be given to them because it is their right to do so. The participants have to give the proper time for the complete decision making about their participation that whether they are interested or not (Parveen, 2017). If they want to participate in research then a researcher needs to be involved, otherwise, nobody could collect data from anyone. The notion of “Freedom or Respect for the person” is the main dictum of Kantian Philosophy which is called the Deontological Ethics. Kant considers human freedom and dignity as the most vital moral principle which is universally applied to all humans without any exception (Rachel, 2012). Everyone has to be moral apart from the consequences or results. The Kantian ethics revolves around one major principle and that is

“Treat others as an end, not as means” (Rachel, 2012).

This principle stresses the rational essence of human beings. All humans possess the reason, so they all should be considered as equal human beings. In light of this principle, no researcher can use anyone for his or her purpose.  Without proper consent, nobody has the right to be involved with anyone (Rachel, 2012).  Moreover, the research must be conducted on the potential participants who could be able to decide for him or herself.

2.     Anonymity and Confidentially of Using other people’s narratives in research raises ethical concerns, how should a researcher manage them

As it has already been mentioned that the social sciences and business studies conduct their researchers in the open markets. They discuss the ideas, demands, and needs of different people and derive some conclusions. For instance, a business farm wants to launch the new product for the safety of the skin, and before launching they want to get the public opinion (Binti Mohd Arifin, 2018).  They make some questionnaires or arrange interviews with the public. People give their opinion that whether they want that type of product or not. In the same way, the sociologist researches the impact of fashion magazines on the minds of people. He will use the same methods of data collection (Binti Mohd Arifin, 2018). In this process, many people give their original point of view which they have but in routine lives, they do not express or adopt due to the social, cultural, and religious bindings. In that type of situation, the principle of anonymity must be considered by every researcher. The unknown interviews and questionnaires can fulfill this moral requirement. The names of the participants should be secret and carefully manage in the process of research (Fleming, (2018)).

It is the right of every citizen to express his or her point of view because the Right to Speak or Express is the major part of moral as well as political philosophy. The researcher is not supposed to reveal the secrets of any person to his or her family and friends. This practice can be rescued from the external harms. For instance, a psychologist makes a phone call to his patient who could only be available on telephone (Georgia Fouka, 2011). On the phone call, some family members of anyone could also be the listener or attend the phone. So here the notion of confidentiality and anonymity needs to be applied by him. Moreover, during the treatment and researchers in hospitals, the doctors and researchers must conduct the interviews in complete privacy or separate rooms. They remain all the facts, ideas, and findings in the secret files (Haggerty, 2004).  

3.     Fulfill the Requirement of Valid Referencing

The most common moral principle is “Honesty”. It has been considering the highest virtue for almost twenty-five hundred years ago since the time of Socrates. Socrates claims that Honesty, Courage, and Wisdom should be presented and flourished in the character of every human being because these are virtues that make separate humans from animals. This principle is completely interlinked with the notion of research (Held, 2006). The issue of valid Credit Ship or Authorship is a major dispute among modern educationists and researchers. During the research, people use relevant journals, articles, books, websites, blogs, and encyclopedias. These sources have consisted of the findings of educationists or researchers. The major requirement of today’s research is to put the proper referencing system including APA. Chicago, Harvard Style, and many others are being used by all researchers (Held, 2006). The purpose of this requirement and compulsion is to give the proper right of authorship of relevant person who has conducted the research. The referencing system fulfills two moral requirements. One is honesty and the other is to give the right od authorship who has done that work (Hoeyer K, 2005).

            The references should not only be managed by the proper bibliography but they need to be also highlighted in the endnotes as well as footnotes. Sometimes people use the material of the people who belong to different cultural and religious backgrounds. Based on disagreement, the researchers do not mention the names of the authors (Mahnaz Sanjari, 2014).  This is an unethical activity. In research, no business could be considered. The name of every author must be written in the referencing section. Inauthentic research all the sources are carefully and rightly managed (Mahnaz Sanjari, 2014). Every researcher must avoid any fabrication and misrepresentation of facts and ideas. No false idea or thought be connected with anyone. The representation of the original idea makes any research ethical. These practices can reduce plagiarism which is the most vital and primary requirement in research (SMITH, 2003).  

            This requirement is also applied to the authors and writers. The authors have to present their works to higher authorities for the complete verifications. The higher authorities analyze the research findings and conclusions and make some suggestions and guidelines (Parveen, 2017).  Many people want to complete their work immediately and put false or invalid data and findings in the researches. Moreover, the researchers do not change, accept, and modify their errors because they immediately want to publish them. People do these things for the academic benefits like the promotion in the jobs (Parveen, 2017). Nowadays, every professor, doctor, and other professionals must write a specific number of researches for promotions or other job securities. Everyone wants to gain the proper benefits so people write and publish many unauthentic, irrelevant, and bogus researches (SMITH, 2003).

The proper ethical institutions should be established for every academic and professional institute. These institutions have to be focused on the researches qualities and authenticity of data findings. Moreover, they could also be managed the issue of conflict of interest. The existing relationships could create a conflict of interest (Binti Mohd Arifin, 2018). For instance, a teacher must remove himself from the supervision of his or her student and the data collection and other task need to be under the supervision of the third party. These issues could be resolved by the independent authorities (Binti Mohd Arifin, 2018).

 Many ethical institutions work in different countries for the morale check and balance including, APA Ethics Code, Committee on Publishing Ethics, and many others. Most of the ethical institutions work in the medical field. It must also be expanded especially for academic institutions, as it can be secured the quality of academic research. Moreover, it could also promote academic progress (Binti Mohd Arifin, 2018).

4.     General Ethical Implications of Using other people’s narratives in research raises ethical concerns, how should a researcher manage them

It is described issues previously in research which are considered authentic. Sometimes we encounter unaccepted situations or problems during work and no moral considerations are available to solve them. Moreover, many general moral principles need to be considered and obeyed by everyone. The general ethical considerations are the following,

1.      The researcher must be unbiased. He needs to be completely objective while selecting and analyzing the data. In qualitative research, the researcher needs to be sincere. He should avoid discrimination based on culture and religion.   

2.      He has to be set aside his or her personal financial, national, and cultural interests. The researcher must be open-minded who could easily ignore the emotional biases.

3.      In any research basic requirement is to consider the facts, so the analysis of facts in light of wisdom enhances the quality of work (J., 2008).

4.      The biggest problem emerges when some people conduct researches against the prevalent beliefs and traditions which are being captivated by the whole social structure. These traditions have been converted into the values of societies. People follow and obey them with strong convictions (Jensen, 2002). It is the first responsibility of any researcher that he should be careful in the selection of the issue. The researchers must not be condemned or criticized the established values and traditions. He should be careful and upholder of moral and traditional values (Jensen, 2002).

5.      The researcher must take care of the emotions of any person. He should not be unveiling personal attacks or discriminatory remarks against any religion, culture, and society (J., 2008).

6.      The researches should learn critical thinking skills. Critical thinking skills enable individuals to be critical of their work. He could bear criticism and improve his work. Both the positive and negative findings must be exposed (Fleming, (2018)).   

7.      In applied ethics, the issue of Animal rights has been widely discussing throughout the academic circles. Many groups want to secure the rights and welfare of animals (Rachel, 2012). In the medical field, many doctors or researchers test medicines on animals. Moreover, they use and treat animals as a non-human entity. For the advocators of animal rights, this is a completely unethical activity because in this way we treat animals as means or tools. In any research work, both animals and humans must treat equally and carefully (Rachel, 2012). Peter Singer is a moral philosopher who has written several books and articles on the rights of animals. He maintains that the animals feel pain as humans do, so we cannot slaughter the animals for meat, cumber them, and medical testing. Since the animals take a breath and feel pain, nobody has the right to give them pain (Rachel, 2012).  

8.      The other area of applied ethics is Environmental Ethics which considers the welfare of the environment. This field is concerned with the protection of the natural environment. Again it is the moral responsibility of the researcher to secure the ecosystem. To maintain the natural environment, he should not harm the trees, plants, and animals (Held, 2006).  

9.      In any research work, different people help and guide, so it is the moral responsibility of any researcher to express or mention the names of those people who have helped or indulged with you during the research (Fleming, (2018)).

10.  Any piece of research must contain a substantive amount of authentic knowledge or facts.  

11.  The language barrier is the main hurdle that could create a problem during research. Everyone cannot understand every language, as everyone is interconnected with his or her native language. So they should be given the proper opportunity to communicate in their native language (Haggerty, 2004).

12.  The authors must keep the data of their research as they could be asked by authorities at any time.  

13.  The specific suits and costumes must be available for the members who participate in scientific researches. The protective equipment can save the participants from the external dangers (Haggerty, 2004).

Conclusion  of Using other people’s narratives in research raises ethical concerns, how should a researcher manage them     

The major finding of the above discussion is that ethical and moral responsibility is a vital part of the research. Mostly in qualitative research, the ethical considerations are applied because the qualitative researchers involve in labs as well as with the common public. It deals with the most sensitive issues of society.  It is being interlinked with the opinion of the different sections of society. The vulnerable, as well as invulnerable group of people, participate and express their views. Not only the people but the animals and environment are also being involved in this process. Since the research is being connected with the overall structure of society, it must have moral or ethical requirements that need to be followed by every researcher. It is the responsibility of every researcher to make sure the secrecy, informed consent, and security of people. A researcher should not be disclosed the names of the participants and get the complete consent of them. Furthermore, he also needs to be careful about the moral, cultural, and religious values of them. The author will have to be free from all the biases and prejudices. The protection of the environment and animals should not be overlooked because they are equally important as humans. The security of animals and the natural environment must be under consideration. The references and names of the authors should completely have mentioned in any research article, journal, and book. The right to authorship is the main moral principle in today’s research system. The authenticity of any research is being judged by the proper bibliography, footnotes, and endnotes. In a nutshell, we can say that the research should be completely free form ambiguity, vagueness, fabrication, falsehood, and violence. The purpose of any research is the welfare of society. All the above mentioned ethical principles are the hallmarks of authenticity and quality of research as well as the welfare of humanity.   

Bibliography of Using other people’s narratives in research raises ethical concerns, how should a researcher manage them

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