Business Research Week One Assignment

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Ethics in Business Research

Chapter 2

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

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This chapter explains the ethical issues faced by researchers.

Learning Objectives

Understand . . .

What issues are covered in research ethics.

The goal of “no harm” for all research activities and what constitutes no harm for participant, researcher, and research sponsor.

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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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Pull Quote

“Today, it would be remiss to say that the privacy profession is anything but flourishing. Companies are increasingly hiring privacy officers and even elevating them to C-suite positions; the European Commission has proposed a statute in its amended data protection framework that would require data protection officers at certain organizations, and, at the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) membership recently hit 10,000 worldwide.”

Angelique Carson, CIPP/US,

International Association of Privacy Professionals

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Ethical Issues and the Research Process

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Types of Ethical Violations

Violating

disclosure

agreements

Breaking

confidentiality

Misrepresenting

results

Deceiving

participants

Padded

invoices

Avoiding

legal liability

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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 from research activities.

Unethical activities are pervasive and include many types of activities. Some of these are listed in the slide.

For some researchers, ethical and legal norms are the same. The text authors feel that legal constraints are the minimum standard but not the ideal.

Ethical Codes of Conduct

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These organizations offering codes specifically for researchers. Some of the logos in the slide are linked to the respective organization’s website where you can view the codes of ethics.

Ethical Treatment of Participants

Do no harm

Explain study benefits

Explain participant rights and protections

Obtain informed consent

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Research must be designed so that a participant does not suffer physical harm, discomfort, pain, embarrassment, or loss of privacy. This 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 has given full consent to participation after receiving full disclosure of the procedures of the proposed study.

Components of Informed Consent

Researcher Intro

Describe Survey Topic

Describe geographic sample

Reveal sponsor

Describe purpose

Good Faith Time Estimate

Anonymity & confidentiality

Voluntary Participation

Item nonresponse acceptable

Permission to begin

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When discussing benefits, the researcher should be careful not to overstate or understate the benefits.

Informed consent means that the participant has given full consent to participation after receiving full disclosure of the procedures of the proposed study.

Characteristics of Informed Consent

Elements

Competent to

Give Consent

Adequately Informed

Knowledge

of Risks

Voluntary

Consent

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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 proposed research. 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.

The IRBs concentrate on two areas. First is the guarantee of obtaining complete, informed consent from participants. The second is the risk assessment and benefit analysis review.

Complete informed consent has four characteristics and these are named in the slide.

The participant must be competent to give consent.

Consent must be voluntary, and free from coercion.

Participants must be adequately informed to make a decision.

Participants should know the possible risks or outcomes associated with the research.

Ethical Responsibilities

Special guidelines apply to children!

Informed consent means 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 physical capabilities necessary.

Deception

Disguising

non-research

activities

Camouflaging

true research

objectives

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Deception occurs when participants are told only part of the truth or when the truth is fully compromised.

Deception occurs when the participants are only told part of the truth or when the truth is fully compromised. Deception can take two forms. One form relates to disguising nonresearch activities as opinion or business research. For instance, research might be used to collect data that are used to sell merchandise. Personal information could be collected for illegal purposes.

Sometimes researchers use deception as part of a research design. It involves camouflaging the true research objects or the identity of the sponsor. This form of deception is used to prevent biasing respondents or to protect the confidentiality of a third party.

Some researchers believe that deception should never occur. It is generally accepted in the industry that the benefits to be gained by appropriate research design-based deception should be balanced against the risks to the participants.

Reasons for Deception

Prevent biasing

participants

Protect confidentiality

of the sponsor

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Deception occurs when participants are told only part of the truth or when the truth is fully compromised.

Debriefing

Explain any deception

Describe hypothesis, goal or purpose

Share results

Provide follow-up

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In situations where participants are intentionally or 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 or psychological follow-up attention will receive it during the debriefing process.

Protect Participant Confidentiality

Minimize instruments requiring ID

Non-

disclosure of data subsets

Restrict access to ID

Obtain signed

nondisclosure

Reveal only with written consent

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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.

Obtaining signed nondisclosure documents – only researchers who have signed nondisclosure forms should be allowed access to the data.

Restricting access to participant identification.

Revealing participant information only with written consent.

Restricting access to data instruments where the participant is identified.

Nondisclosure of data subsets.

Methods 2-5 deal with minimizing the chance for a participant 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 in the group.

Right to Privacy

Right to refuse

Prior permission to interview

Limit time required

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For researchers to fully address participants’ right to privacy, they must also 1) inform participants of their right to refuse to answer any questions or participate in the study; 2) obtain prior permission to interview or observe participants; and 3) limit the time required for participation to limit the amount of information collected to only that which is deemed critical.

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 created new ethical issues.

Data mining offers infinite possibilities for research abuse. The primary ethical data mining issues in cyberspace are privacy-related including consent to information collection and control of information dissemination. 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 privacy standards.

Exhibit 2-3 identifies the seven basic principle that 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 information that 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.

Security: Organizations must take reasonable precautions to protect personal information from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction.

Onward transfer: Companies disclosing personal data 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 are readily available and affordable independent mechanisms to investigate consumer complaints.

Sponsor Confidentiality

Sponsor Nondisclosure

Purpose Nondisclosure

Findings Nondisclosure

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Some sponsors wish to undertake research without revealing themselves. They have a right to several types of confidentiality.

Sponsor nondisclosure is used when the sponsor of the research restricts revealing the sponsorship. In this case, the sponsor may hire an outside firm to complete the research projects.

Purpose nondisclosure is used when the sponsor camouflages the true research objective of the study.

Findings nondisclosure is used when the sponsor restricts the researcher from discussing the findings of the research project.

Unethical Behavior to Avoid

Violating participant confidentiality

Changing data

Creating false data

Changing data interpretations

Changing data presentation

Injecting bias in interpretations

Omitting sections of data

Making recommendations beyond scope of data

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When discussing benefits, the researcher should be careful not to overstate or understate the benefits.

Informed consent means that the participant has given full consent to participation after receiving full disclosure of the procedures of the proposed study.

What To Do If Coerced?

Educate

purpose

Emphasize

fact-finding

role

Explain

problems

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

educate the sponsor to the purpose of the research,

explain the researcher’s role as a fact-finder,

explain how distorting the truth or breaking faith will lead to future problems, and

if the others fail, terminate the relationship.

Principles of Effective Codes of Ethics

Enforceable

Specify Behavior

Regulate

Protect

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Many organizations have codes of ethics. A code of ethics is an organization’s codified set of norms or standards of behavior that guide moral choices about research behavior. Effective codes are those that 1) are regulative, 2) protect the public interest and the interests of the profession served by the code, 3) are behavior-specific, and 4) are enforceable.

Exhibit 2-5 provides additional sources for ethics resources.

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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Additional Discussion opportunities

Chapter 2

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

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Snapshot: Location Based Services

Know data collection, sharing procedures

Appoint privacy trained personnel to ensure privacy

Treat LBS as sensitive information

Demonstrate informed consent

Sensitive to parent expectations

Stay current on privacy developments

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Snapshot: Ethics of Mobile Surveys

Recruiting

Financial Disadvantage

Privacy & Intrusion

Tracking Behavior

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Snapshot: Has Trust Trumped Privacy

“91 percent of U.S.

online adults worry to some degree about their privacy online, while 53 percent said they ‘don’t completely trust companies with their business online.”

Privacy Fundamentalists

PrivacyPragmatists

Privacy Unconcerneds

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Snapshot: Offshoring

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Research Thought Leaders

“[Privacy pragmatists are] often willing to allow people to have access to, and to use, their personal information where they understand the reasons for its use, where they see tangible benefits for so doing, and when they believe care is taken to prevent the misuse of this information.”

Humphrey Taylor

chairman of The Harris Poll®

Harris Interactive.

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Procter & Gamble

Admits to competitive intelligence gathering

Contracted BI firm took documents from Unilever trash receptacles

Out-of-court settlement rumored (and reported) at $10m

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In April 2001, Procter and Gamble notified its competitor 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. You’ll find the full mini-case in the Instructor’s Manual, under Additional Discussion Opportunities.

Ethical Approaches

Ethical

standards

Ethical

Relativism

Deontology

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There is no single approach to ethics.

Deontology advocates that ethical behavior should be 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 sense of morality. Therefore, each person decides for his or herself what is ethical behavior. A middle ground is necessary and provided through ethical standards of behavior for researchers.

Ethical Approaches

Ethical

Relativism

Deontology

How would you assess the P&G case using the two ethical approaches?

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Ethics in Business Research

Chapter 2

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

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This chapter explains the ethical issues faced by researchers.

Photo Attributions

Slide	Source
6	Chris Ryan/Getty Images
14	Polka Dot Images/Jupiterimages
18	ERproductions Ltd./Getty Images
20	Brand X Pictures/Photolibrary
24	©Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/Blend Images LLC
25	©Siri Stafford/Digital Vision/Getty Images
26	Ingram Publishing
27	Courtesy of Foundation for Transparency in Offshoring
31	Florian Franke/Purestock/SuperStock
33	Ingram Publishing

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