Ethics in Business Research

8/9/2019 Ethics in Business Research

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Learning Objectives

• Understand . . .

• What issues are covered in research

ethics.• The goal of “no harm” for all research

activities and what constitutes no harm forparticipant, researcher, and researchsponsor.

Presented By: Viqar A.Usmani 2


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Learning Objectives

Understand . . .Differing ethical dilemmas and

responsibilities of researchers, sponsors,and research assistants.

Role of ethical codes of conduct in

professional associations.



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PulsePoint:

Research Revelation

The percent of consumer PCs

infected with spyware.



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Data Collectors Face

Responsibilities

“[Privacy pragmatists are] often willing to allowpeople to have access to, and to use, theirpersonal information where they understandthe reasons for its use, where they see tangiblebenefits for so doing, and when they believecare is taken to prevent the misuse of thisinformation.”

Humphrey Taylor chairman of The Harris Poll®

Harris Interactive.



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Ethics are norms or standards of behavior that guide

moral choices about our behavior and our

relationships with others.

The goal of ethics in research is to ensure that no

one is harmed or suffers adverse consequences fromresearch activities.

Unethical activities are pervasive and include many

types of activities.

Some of these are listed in the next slide.For some researchers, ethical and legal norms are

the same.

We feel that legal constraints are the minimum

standard but not the ideal.



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Types of Ethical Violations

•Violatingdisclosure

agreements

•Breaking

confidentiality

•Padded

invoices

• Misrepresentingresults

•Deceiving

participants

•Avoiding

legal liability



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Procter & Gamble

Admits to competitive

intelligence gatheringContracted BI firm

took documents from

Unilever trashreceptacles

Out-of-court

settlement rumored(and reported) at$10m



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In April 2001, Procter and Gamble notified itscompetitor Unilever that more than 80 discarded

documents detailing Unilever’s marketing plan for

its hair care business had been collected by P&G

information agents.Unilever sought financial restitution and

restrictions on P&G’s marketing activities, but the

two companies settled out of court.



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Ethical Approaches

Ethical

standardsEthical

RelativismDeontology



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There is no single approach to ethics.

Deontology advocates that ethical behavior shouldbe directed by duties regardless of the positive

circumstances that might result from behavior that is

in contradiction to the duty.

An example might be “Do not lie,” even when lying

might result in a positive outcome.

Another approach is that of ethical relativism.

Ethical relativism is based on an individual’s senseof morality.

Therefore, each person decides for his or herself

what is ethical behavior.

A middle ground is necessary and provided throughethical standards of behavior for researchers.



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Ethical Approaches

Ethical

RelativismDeontology

How would you assess the P&G case using

the two ethical approaches?



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Three organizations offering codesspecifically for researchers are the :

• Marketing Research Association (MRA),

• The American Marketing Association(AMA), and

• The Council for American Survey

Research Organizations(CASRO).

The logos in the next slide are linked to the

respective organization’s website where youcan view the codes of ethics.



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Ethical Codes of Conduct



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PulsePoint:

Research Revelation

The amount, in millions,

that employers will lose

this year due to employeefraud.



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Ethical Issues at all Stages of the

Research Process



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Sponsored research activities may require access to

information that is proprietary or otherwise

considered by the sponsor to be privileged andconfidential.

Such information must be specifically identified by the

sponsor and must be determined to be confidential

Sponsors usually require formal agreements prior to the exchange

of confidential information (nondisclosure or secrecy agreements)Presented By: Viqar A.Usmani 17


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Business Research Methods



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Sponsor’s Right to Quality Research

An important ethical consideration for the

researcher and the sponsor is the sponsor’s rightto quality research.

This right entails:

• Providing a research design appropriate forthe research question.

• Maximizing the sponsor’s value for the

resources expended.

• Providing data handling and reporting

techniques appropriate for the data

collected.



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Sponsor’s Right of Purpose Non Disclosure

A research sponsor may be testing a new ideathat is not yet patented and may not want to

know of its plans:

• It may be investigating employee

complaints and may not want to sparkunion activity or

• The sponsor might be contemplating a new

public stock offering, where advance

disclosure would spark the interest of

authorities or cost the firm heavily.



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Researcher’s Right to Absence of Sponsor

Coercion

Sometimes researchers will be asked by sponsors toparticipate in unethical behavior.

To avoid coercion by sponsor the researcher should:

• Educate sponsor to the purpose of research

• Explain researcher’s role

• Explain how distortion of the truth leads to

future problems

• If necessary, terminate relationship withsponsor



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Participant Deception

Deception occurs when the participants are toldonly part of the truth or when the truth is fully

compromised.

Two reasons suggested for deception are:

1. To prevent biasing the participants before

the survey or experiment; and

2. To protect the confidentiality of a third

party (e.g., the sponsor)



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to nform

'Y



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Participant’s Right of informed Consent

Securing informed consent from participants is amatter of fully disclosing the procedures of theproposed survey or other research design beforerequesting permission to proceed with the study.

If there is a chance the data could harm theparticipant (offering only limited confidentiality, asigned form detailing the types of limits should be

obtained.

For most business research, oral consent issufficient.



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Participant’s Right to Privacy (Refusal)

Privacy is more than confidentiality.

A right to privacy means one has the right to refuse to

be interviewed or to refuse to answer any question in

an interview.

To address these rights, ethical researchers do the

following:

• Inform participants of their right to refuse toanswer any question or participate in the study.

• Obtain permission to interview participants.

• Schedule field and phone interviews.• Limit the time required for participation.

• Restrict observation to public behavior only.



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Researcher’s Right to Safety

• Safety• Ethical behavior of assistants

• Protection of anonymity

Researchers are bound by a code of ethics that includes thefollowing protections for subjects

1.Protected from physical or psychological harm (including

loss of dignity, loss of autonomy, and loss of self-esteem)2.Protection of privacy and confidentiality

3.Protection against unjustifiable deception

4.The subject must give voluntary informed consent to

participate in research.Guardians must give consent for minors to participate.

In addition to guardian consent, minors over age 7 must also

give their consent to participate.Presented By: Viqar A.Usmani 26

B i R h M th d


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Research must be designed so that a participant

does not suffer physical harm, discomfort, pain,embarrassment, or loss of privacy.

The previous slide lists the three guidelines

researchers should follow to protect participants.

When discussing benefits, the researcher should be

careful not to overstate or understate the benefits.

Informed consent means that the participant hasgiven full consent to participation after receiving full

disclosure of the procedures of the proposed study.



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• Begin data collection by explaining to theparticipant the benefits expected from the research

• Explain to the participants that their rights andwell-being will be adequately protected, and sayhow this will be done

• Be certain that interviewers obtain the informedconsent of the participant



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Components of

Informed Consent

•Identify researchers•Describe survey topic

•Describe target sample

•Identify sponsor •Describe purpose ofresearch

•Promise anonymityand confidentiality

•Give “good-faith”estimate of requiredtime commitment

•State participation is

voluntary•State item-non responseis acceptable

• Ask for permission

The informed consent procedures used by the Indiana Center for SurveyResearch



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Characteristics of Informed Consent

Elements

Competence

Informed

Knowledge Voluntary



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Since 1966, all projects with federal funding are

required to be reviewed by an Institutional Review

Board (IRB).

An IRB evaluates the risks and benefits of proposedresearch.

The review requirement may be more relaxed for

projects that are unlikely to be risky

–such as marketing research projects.Many institutions require that all research

– whether funded or unfunded by the federal

Government

– be reviewed by a local IRB..



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The IRBs concentrate on two areas.

First is the guarantee of obtaining complete, informed consentfrom participants.

The second is the risk assessment and benefit analysis review.

Complete informed consent has four characteristics and these are

named in the slide.1.The participant must be competent to give consent.

2.Consent must be voluntary, and free from coercion.

3.Participants must be adequately informed to make a decision.

4.Participants should know the possible risks or outcomesassociated with the research



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Ethical Responsibilities

Special guidelines

apply to children!

Informed consentmeans parental

approval.



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Special consideration is necessary when

researching the behavior and attitudes of

children.Besides providing informed consent, parents

are often interviewed during the selection

process to ensure that the child is mature

enough and has the verbal and physicalcapabilities necessary



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Deception

Disguising non-

research activities

Camouflaging true

research objectives



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Debriefing

Explain any dec

Describe

Sh

eption

purpose

are results

Provide follow-up



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In situations where participants are intentionallyor accidentally deceived,

they should be debriefed once the research is

complete.

Debriefing describes the goals of the research,as well as the truth and reasons for any

deception.

Results are shared after the study is complete.

Participants who require any medical orpsychological follow-up attention will receive it

during the debriefing process.



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Participant Confidentiality

Minimize

instrumentsrequiring ID

Non-

disclosure of

data subsets

Restrict

access to ID

Obtain signed

nondisclosure

Reveal only

with writtenconsent


As discussed before;


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As discussed before;

All individuals have a right to privacy, and

researchers must respect that right.Once a guarantee of confidentiality is given,

protecting that confidentiality is essential.

Researchers protect participant confidentiality in

several ways.1.Obtaining signed nondisclosure documents

only researchers who have signed nondisclosure forms should

be allowed access to the data.

2.Restricting access to participant identification.

3.Revealing participant information only with written consent.

4.Restricting access to data instruments where the participant is

identified.5.Nondisclosure of data subsets.



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Methods 2-5 deal with minimizing the chance for aparticipant to identified and matched with his or her

responses.

Links between data and identifying information must

be minimized.Interview response sheets should be inaccessible to

everyone except the editors and data entry

personnel.

Data collection instruments may be destroyed once

data are in a data file.

For very small groups, data should not be made

available if it would be easy to pinpoint a person inthe group.



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Right to refuse

Prior permission to

interview

Limit time required

Right to Privacy

Prior permission tointerview

Limit time required


The U S Safe Harbor


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The U.S. Safe Harbor

Agreement

Security

Notice Access

Enforcement

Choice

Onward

Transfer Data

Integrity


The convenience of collecting data online has


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g

created new ethical issues.

Data mining offers infinite possibilities for researchabuse.

The primary ethical data mining issues in

cyberspace are privacy-related including consent

to information collection and control of informationdissemination.

Legitimate data miners publicly post their information

security policies.

The EU countries have passed the European Commission’s data

protection directive.

Under the directive, commissioners can prosecute companies

and block Web sites that fail to live up to its strict privacystandards.


Exhibit 2-3 identifies the seven basic principle that


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p p

companies must comply with to be granted

immunity from legal action under the EU’s directive.These seven principles are:

• Notice: Companies must notify consumers/participants about

what information is being collected, how that information will be

used, who that information will be shared with, and how

individuals can contact the organization with inquiries or

complaints.

• Choice: Consumers/participants must be provided with an opt-out mechanism for any secondary uses of data and for

disclosures to third parties. For sensitive information,

participants must opt in before providing data that will be shared.

• Access: Individuals must have access to personal informationthat the organization holds and be able to correct, amend, or

delete information where it is in accurate, except where the

burden or expense of providing access would be

disproportionate to the risks to the individual’s privacy.Presented By: Viqar A.Usmani 46


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• Security: Organizations must take reasonableprecautions to protect personal information from

loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure,

alteration, and destruction.

• Onward transfer: Companies disclosing personaldata to a third party must adhere to the notice and

choice principles. A third party must subscribe to the

safe-harbor principles.

• Data integrity: Reasonable steps must be taken to

ensure that data collected are reliable, accurate,

complete, and current.

• Enforcement: Companies must ensure there arereadily available and affordable independent

mechanisms to investigate consumer complaints.


C fid ti lit


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Sponsor Nondisclosure

Confidentiality

Purpose Nondisclosure

Findings Nondisclosure


Wh t T D If C d?


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What To Do If Coerced?

Educateon

purpose

Emphasize

fact-findingrole

Explainproblems

Terminate

relationship



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Occasionally, researchers may be asked by sponsors

to participate in unethical behavior.What can the researcher do to remain ethical?

There are four suggestions provided in the slide.

The researcher can attempt to

1.educate the sponsor to the purpose of the research,2. explain the researcher’s role as a fact-finder,

3.explain how distorting the truth or breaking faith will

lead to future problems, and

4.if the others fail, terminate the relationship.


Eff ti C d f Ethi


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Effective Codes of Ethics

Enforceable

SpecifyBehavior

Regulate

Protect


Many organizations have codes of ethics.

A d f thi i i ti ’ difi d t


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A code of ethics is an organization’s codified set

of norms or standards of behavior that guidemoral choices about research behavior .

Effective codes are those that

1) are regulative,

2) protect the public interest and the interests of theprofession served by the code,

3) are behavior-specific, and

4) are enforceable.

Exhibit in previous slide provides additional sourcesfor ethics resources.


Key Terms


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Key Terms

• Code of ethics• Confidentiality• Debriefing

• Deception• Ethics• Informed consent

• Nondisclosure – Findings

– Purpose

– Sponsor

• Right to privacy• Right to quality• Right to safety


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Ethics in Business Research

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