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Ethics in Data Collection

Apart from the debate regarding quality and trustworthiness concerns in the conduct of qualitative studies, challenges relating to research ethics too have dominated qualitative research discussions as well (Babbie, 2016; Glesne, 2016; Culnan, & Williams, 2009). Babbie (2016, pp. 62) defines ethical action as a “condition forming to the standards of conduct of a given profession or group”. As such, social researchers, engaging in qualitative research need to be aware of standards agreed and shared among researchers to be proper when conducting a scientific inquiry.

According to Babbie (2016), some of the important ethical agreements in social research require that participation in a research study be voluntary, and that the researcher should commit to confidentiality and to keep private the information obtained for the study. In doing so, researchers protect participants privacy and minimize any harm that could be inflicted on them, as a result of their participation in research. Glesne (2016) emphasized on the importance of confidentiality and further argued that even when there are justifications to relax confidentiality requirement, still it would be important that researchers make efforts not to harm the participants to the extend possible and that they should seek an informed consent of the participants and with full understanding of the possible risks involved.

Ravitch and Carl (2016) argued that the criticality of participants’ privacy protection from ham is an important ethical issue given the role that researchers play, as central instruments in any qualitative research setting. As such, it becomes an ethical imperative that researchers consider their role throughout all phases of the research process. According to Babbie (2016), this is critical since it is sometimes difficult to separate researchers from their own possible biases and it becomes unethical for the researcher not to explain own biases and prejudices and the context that shapes them. As argued by Ravitch and Carl (2016), one of the central area to this believe is with respect to the relational dimensions of research and the role that researcher plays in the development of research process and it is through the processes of dialogue and critical self-reflection that the researcher can uncover and confront such prejudices. Addressing ethical responsibilities therefore require a reflexive approach to research that includes developing and maintaining a commitment to specific and holistic openness to critical feedback and change (Burkholder, Cox, and Crawford, 2016).

However, given the relational dynamics between researchers and participants, Culnan and Williams (2009), argued that participants often remain vulnerable to risk of not being protected. In the case of consumers, for example, when dealing with businesses, the use of their personal information collected by organization may pose risks and ethical concerns. Culnan and Williams (2009) argued that organizations, in such situations have a moral responsibility to these individuals to avoid causing harm and to take reasonable precautions toward that end. As such, the authors argued that firms can enhance their privacy programs by moving beyond merely complying with laws and other regulations and creating a culture of integrity that combines a concern for the law with an emphasis on managerial responsibility for the firm’s organizational privacy behaviors.

References

Babbie, E. (2016). Basics of social research (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Burkholder, G. J., Cox, K. A., & Crawford, L. M. (2016). The scholar-practitioner’s guide to research design. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Publishing.

Culnan, M. J., & Williams, C., C (2009). How ethics can enhance organizational privacy: Lessons from the choicepoint and TJX data breaches. MIS Quarterly. Vol. 33(4), pp. 673-687

Glesne, C. (2016). Becoming qualitative researchers: An introduction (5^th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson, Allyn & Bacon.

Markham, A. (2012). Fabrication as ethical practice. Information, Communication & Society. Vol. 15(3), pp. 334-353. DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2011.641993

Ravitch, S. M., & Carl, N. M. (2016). Qualitative research: Bridging the conceptual, theoretical, and methodological. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.