Lesson 5: Ethics in Research

Importance of Ethics in Research  

Resnik (2015), in his article, “What is Ethics in Research & Why is it important?”, as cited by Cristobal & Cristobal (2017), enumerates the following reasons why it is important to follow ethical principles in writing and conducting a research: 

1.     It promotes the aims of research.  

 Ethics guides the researchers in obtaining knowledge, truth, and avoidance of error by prohibiting fabrication, falsification and misrepresentation of research data. 

2.     It upholds values that are essential to collaborative work.  

 Many researchers who are working in different disciplines and institutions cooperate and coordinate to accomplish particular research. With ethics in mind, they also maintain trust, accountability, mutual respect, and fairness. 

3.     It ensures that researchers can be held accountable to the public.  

 Ethical norms guarantee the public that researchers are deemed responsible for committing any form of research misconduct. 

4.     It builds public support for research.  

 People express and lend their support by all means if they can trust the quality and integrity of research. 

5.     It promotes a variety of moral and social values.  

Ethical principles help the researcher avoid practices that can adversely harm the research subjects and the community. Thus, it encourages social responsibility, human rights, animal welfare, compliance with the law, and public health and safety. 

Ethical Codes and Policies for Research 

Cristobal & Cristobal (2017), in their book, “Practical Research 1 for Senior High School”, lists the following ethical codes and policies that the researcher needs to consider in conducting a study:  

1. Honesty 

The researcher should strive to truthfully report data in whatever form of communication all throughout the study.  

2. Objectivity 

The researcher should avoid being biased. The study should not be influenced by his/her personal motives, beliefs and opinions.  

3. Integrity 

The researcher should establish credibility through the consistency of his/her thought and action. He/she should act with sincerity especially on keeping agreements.  

4. Care 

The researcher should never neglect even the smallest detail of the study. All information should be critically examined. Records of research activities should be properly and securely kept.  

5. Openness 

The researcher should be willing to accept criticisms and new ideas for the betterment of the study. Research results and findings should be shared to the public.  

6. Respect for intellectual property 

The researcher should not plagiarize. Credit should be given to who or where it is due. All authors cited and sources used in the study should be properly acknowledged. 

Plagiarism refers to the act of illegally using another person’s ideas, works, processes, and results. Thus, it constitutes claiming an intellectual property as one’s own that can be penalized through Republic Act 8293 known as the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines.    

7. Confidentiality 

The researcher should take steps to protect all confidential communications or documents from being discovered by others.  

8. Responsible publication 

The researcher should ensure that his/her work is clear, honest, complete, accurate, and balanced, thus avoiding wasteful and duplicate publication. It should likewise refrain from selective, misleading, or ambiguous reporting. 

9. Responsible mentoring 

The researcher should teach responsible conduct of research and share professional knowledge and skills especially to new or less experienced researchers. 

10. Respect for colleagues 

The researcher should show courtesy to his/her colleagues by treating them equally and fairly.

11. Social responsibility 

The researcher should promote social good by working for the best interests and benefits of the environment and society as a whole. 

12. Non-discrimination 

The researcher should not discriminate based on sex, race, ethnicity, or any factor relating to scientific competence and integrity. Thus, research should be open to all people or entities who will participate in research. 

13. Competence 

The researcher should possess necessary knowledge and skills in conducting a study. He/she should be equipped with a sense of professionalism and expertise to ensure competent results.  

14. Legality 

The researcher should know and abide by relevant laws, institutional and government policies concerning the legal conduct of research.  

15. Human Subject Protection 

The researcher should protect human lives by preventing and minimizing harms and risks. He/she should always uphold the human dignity, privacy, and autonomy of human subjects to be used in the study. 

Rights of Research Participants  

In every aspect of life, rights and responsibilities are inseparably linked to one another. This means that both the researcher and the participant have necessary obligations to perform as a prerequisite of their privileges in conducting research.

According to Trochim (2006), Smith (2003) and Polit (2006), the following are some of the rights of research participants, as cited by Cristobal & Cristobal (2017): 

1. Human Rights. They are moral principles or norms that describe certain standards of human behaviour and are regularly protected as natural and legal rights. They constitute a set of rights and duties necessary for the protection of human dignity, inherent to all human beings. 

2. Intellectual Property. It protects creations of the mind, which have both a moral and a commercial value. 

3. Copyright Infringement. It is the use or production of copyright-protected material without permission of the copyright holder. Copyright infringement means that the rights accorded to the copyright holder, such as the exclusive use of a work for a set period of time, are breached by a third party Examples: a. Downloading movies and music without proper payment for use. b. Recording movies in a theatre c. Using others’ photographs for a blog without permission d. Copying software code without giving proper credit e. Creating videos with unlicensed music clips 

4. Voluntary Participation. People must not be coerced into participating in research process. Essentially, this means that prospective research participants must be informed about the procedures and risks involved in research and must give their consent to participate. 

5. Anonymity. It is the protection of people’s identity through not disclosing their name or not exposing their identity. It is a situation in data gathering activities in which informant’s name is not given nor known. 

6. Privacy. It is someone’s right to keep his personal matters and relationships secret. It is the ability of an individual to seclude him from disturbance of any research activity.