Another important ethical consideration for the researcher is the safety of research team and their own safety. The responsibility for observance of ethical behaviour lies with the research who along with research assistants, is charged with the responsibility of maintaining the anonymity of both the sponsor and the respondent.
1. SAFETY:
It is the prime responsibility of the researcher to design a project in such a manner that the safety of all interview, survey, experiment assistants or observers is ensured. Different factors may be crucial in different situations for ensuring a researcher’s right to safety. Some urban and undeveloped rural areas may not be safe for research assistants. If, for example, the researcher must personally interview people in a high-crime district, it is wise to arrange a second team to safeguard the researcher. If an assistant finds unsafe after visiting a locality by car, an alternate researcher ought to be assigned for this purpose. To ask staff persons to enter a situation where they feel physically unsafe is unethical. Researchers who are insensitive to such issues may have to encounter both research and legal risks.
2. ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR OF ASSISTANTS:
As sponsors demand ethical behaviour from researcher, researcher should also demand ethical compliance from the members of research team. The research must expect the assistants carry out the sampling plan, interview or observe respondents without any bias, and to accurately record all required data. Instances of unethical behaviour, such as filling in an interview sheet without conducting the interview, may occur and must not be tolerated. If an assistant behaves improperly in an interview or discloses a respondent’s interview sheet with an unauthorized person, it is the researcher’s responsibility. This requires that all assistants are well trained and supervised.
3. PROTECTION OF ANONYMITY:
Researchers and assistants safeguard the confidentiality of the sponsor’s data and the anonymity of the respondents. Each researcher possessing information and using data should be asked to sign a confidentiality and nondisclosure statement.
4. PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS:
Several yardsticks of ethics exist for the research. Corporate, professional associations and universities prescribe and enforce a Code of ethics.
1. SAFETY:
It is the prime responsibility of the researcher to design a project in such a manner that the safety of all interview, survey, experiment assistants or observers is ensured. Different factors may be crucial in different situations for ensuring a researcher’s right to safety. Some urban and undeveloped rural areas may not be safe for research assistants. If, for example, the researcher must personally interview people in a high-crime district, it is wise to arrange a second team to safeguard the researcher. If an assistant finds unsafe after visiting a locality by car, an alternate researcher ought to be assigned for this purpose. To ask staff persons to enter a situation where they feel physically unsafe is unethical. Researchers who are insensitive to such issues may have to encounter both research and legal risks.
2. ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR OF ASSISTANTS:
As sponsors demand ethical behaviour from researcher, researcher should also demand ethical compliance from the members of research team. The research must expect the assistants carry out the sampling plan, interview or observe respondents without any bias, and to accurately record all required data. Instances of unethical behaviour, such as filling in an interview sheet without conducting the interview, may occur and must not be tolerated. If an assistant behaves improperly in an interview or discloses a respondent’s interview sheet with an unauthorized person, it is the researcher’s responsibility. This requires that all assistants are well trained and supervised.
3. PROTECTION OF ANONYMITY:
Researchers and assistants safeguard the confidentiality of the sponsor’s data and the anonymity of the respondents. Each researcher possessing information and using data should be asked to sign a confidentiality and nondisclosure statement.
4. PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS:
Several yardsticks of ethics exist for the research. Corporate, professional associations and universities prescribe and enforce a Code of ethics.
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