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Social Research Ethics
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Ethics within research (qual and quan)
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January 27th, 2021SOCI2151H Week 3: Social Research Ethics
Reading: Chapter 3 & 5 (quantitative)
Quantitative = hypothesis
Qualitative = research statement
Complete online ethics tutorial!!! - Due Feb. 12
Doing research is cyclical
What part of the research process would you think ethics is MOST important?
● This stage: we are now dealing with human beings
Operationalization
● To administer the method we are using
○ Certain procedures may be too impractical to use
○ We must avoid breaching (to deceive someone in order to observe their
reaction - does not happen often in soci)
Part One: Why Care About Ethics
Why Care?
● Physical, psychological, legal and professional harm to participants
● Funding opportunities tied to ethical standards
● Scholarly publications
● University ethics approval: research ethic boards (REBs) called “ORE” at
universities like Trent
● Public humiliation - media attention
● Lawyers and legal action
Several Examples to Care
● In the history of SRM’s, ethics only gained importance after the 1950s in
response to several experiments involving humans
○ Medical experimentation on human subjects
○ 1957-64 CIA-funded LSD studies on psychiatric patients at McGill
■ LSD given to patients without their knowledge (no therapeutic
value)
○ Experiments conducted on soldiers and civilians violated basic human
rights
○ 1970s Bad Blood scandal (Tuskegee Syphilis Study)
○ Social experiments post-WW2 attempting to explain violence in humans
, ● HUMANS ARE NOT GUINEA PIGS
Milgram’s Obedience to Authority Study
● Told respondents that he was studying memory and learning
● True objective was to ask → how willing are people to obey immoral
behaviour including potential for murder
● Research idea was influenced by asking why defendants in the Nuremberg Trials
justified their unethical behaviour by saying they were just following orders
● Used deception to recruit participants by calling his project, “learning and
memory” studies
● Naive participants (called “teachers”) believed they were applying punishment by
escalating the severity of electric shocks to a “learner” in response to incorrect
answers for word-pair matching questions
● The “learner” (working for the researcher) was only audible to the “teacher” and
their indication of discomfort increased with each shock
Result: Code of ethics became prevalent
● A standard of ethical norms was created and continues to be added and updated
as more and more research continues that push the boundaries of what is ethical
or not
● Examples:
○ Tri-Council Working Group was established
1. Medical Research Council (MRC)
2. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
3. The National Science of Engineering Research Council (NSERC)
4. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Counsil (SSHRC)
Not everyone agrees on what is or isn't ethical!
● Max Weber: social research must be Value Free
● But each society operates within their own social paradigms
○ Individual social conduct
○ To be a part of a society is knowing what that society considers to be
ethical or unethical (moral norms)
● Thus, can look at the common norms
Part Two: The Primary Ethical Principles
Examples
● Voluntary participation
● Informed consent
● Avoid harm to participants
● Avoid use of deception unless necessary
● Ensure privacy/Protect identity
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