Ethical Dilemma in Research
Scenario selected:As a graduate student researcher, you want to investigate racist
hiring practices. However, you are concerned that unless you disguise the focus of
inquiry, you may not be able to truly assess these practices.
PROFESSIONAL LETTER:
Dear Dr. Smith, Graduate Research Advisor,
I am writing you this letter to let you know about the current situation I am finding in
my research planning to investigate racist hiring practices in the High-Tech industry
specifically in the area of Silicon Valley in California. It would be extremely difficult to
get a buy in from any company and organization in this area and industry to conduct
this type of research if we approach them with the actual focus of “racist hiring
practices.” Public Relationships (PR), reputation with Customers, external optics are
very important aspects for these companies in the marketplace, and if there is any
sense that a research is being conducted to investigate racist hiring practices in their
offices, that fact can impact their market value and reputation. Nowadays these
companies are investing large budgets in their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI),
which opposes to any racist hiring practice. Therefore, it is most likely that they won’t
be willing to participate in the research with this explicit focus. In addition to the PR
part, it is highly possible that participants observed bias behaviors if they know the
actual focus of the research. It would be natural that participants tend to hide any
racist behavior during the entire hiring process; from selecting resumes from
candidates, to make an initial call, scheduling and conducting interviews and making
an offer which includes salary ranges, etc. Because of these factors, I am proposing
to apply a deception research approach, disguising the focus of racist hiring
practices and position the research to investigate timing on the steps of the hiring
process and body language during the interviews. The potential data collected from
the study is very significative and valuable in the marketplace, academia and science
that otherwise would be impossible to gather. Additionally, the research is NOT
expected to cause physical pain or severe emotional distress to participants. It is my
understanding that an alteration of the required elements of consent must be
requested in the IRB application to waive the element of consent associated with the
deception, but I would need more guidance regarding the informed consent process.
I look forward to discussing in more details this research position with you in person
or over the phone. If any additional information will help to clarify anything, please let
me know, Thanks for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
