ethics in business research
TRANSCRIPT
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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.
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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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Business Research Methods
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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Business Research Methods
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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
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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
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The U S Safe Harbor
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The U.S. Safe Harbor
Agreement
Security
Notice Access
Enforcement
Choice
Onward
Transfer Data
Integrity
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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.
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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.
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C fid ti lit
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Sponsor Nondisclosure
Confidentiality
Purpose Nondisclosure
Findings Nondisclosure
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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.
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Eff ti C d f Ethi
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Effective Codes of Ethics
Enforceable
SpecifyBehavior
Regulate
Protect
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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.
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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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