Role of ethics in research

INTRODUCTION When people talk about ethics (or morals), they talk about rules and regulations of society , what is right or what is wrong.But it is very subjective term as, if something is ethical for some one may be, it is unethical for others .This is the reason many professions formed code of conducts and it is helpful to understand people working there what is the norm and if they cross the limit of norms it is unethical, for e.g. ippocrates oath , it is a way of defining, ethics of medical profession,!"#$ for % profession, like wise role of ethics in research is also important The birth of ethical norms begins from family, and then from society. &ccording to 'reudian developmental theory ('reud,()*+) a child learn difference of right and wrong , when he develops superego , it teaches how to follow norms and behave ethically in the society. %,-. ,' .T "!/ "0 %./.&%! "t is found by some researches that research ethics are less .thics play a vital role in making code of conduct and rules in several professions and disciplines , it is important to built a trustworthy bond between public and profession 1 discipline, like in medical profession,surgeons fill a form before operation, in law profession before hanging a man a judge follow ethics. %esnik, (2*(()3.thical norms serve the aims or goals of research and apply to people who conduct research or other scholarly or creative activities. There is even a speciali4ed discipline, research ethics, which studies norms5. %esearch is the heart of society, population, market, law,medicine ,and it serves in countries growth and development , so it must be done authentically and ethically. Importance of ethics in Research Knowledge Of rules

"t gives the overall knowledge and views of rules and regulations before starting research for e.g. "f a person doing research in social science he would take in considerations all the things that is according to law , and do not harm anybody or society.

Helps Other Researcher "f a research is done ethically, it will be helpful to other researchers to 6uote the research findings. Authentic Research &uthentic research and followed ethics can serve society ,for e.g. %esearch in %7 on how to motivate employees to stay committed, this research can help an organi4ation to motivate employees in that company by implying e8pectancy theory 9oal theory etc. Generate undings & ethical research , is helps a university or any organi4ation to generate funding like ./%! gives funding to authentic researches. Achie!e High "tandards "f the research has done ethically and each and every point of law is considered then , a research achieve high standards, and that can never be rejected by committee . Confirms Research is "afe "f research is ethically correct then it proves that it is safe for human beings, animals,and patients.

#oti!ates researcher to wor$ fearlessl% .thical research motivate researcher to work honestly and fearlessly,if a researcher working on human sample if he follows all guidelines he can work with concentration without any stress of infringing rules. &thics are helpful in de!eloping mutual trust %esearcher inform subject , produce a participation leaflet and informed consent, it develop trust among subject and researcher . %esearch scholar insures subject that the data which is produced will remain confidential , never be disclosed and use for other purpose e8cept research. Respect .thical research respects every subjects opinion and respect every persons view, respect all the cultural issues, age, gender etc. Intellectual propert% rights .thical research is the measure for patenting or copyright of research. "n other words no other,researcher can steal or copy work from the original writer. &'ualit% By ethics e6uality for every person can be managed and can take fair steps for every researcher .

CI(D GUID&)IN&" OR &THICA) R&"&ARCH IN HR !"#$ (2**:) Can put researcher or su*+ect in danger "f research data is not followed properly or confidentiality is not kept ,it can infringe

the law , and it could be harm subjects also like in a organi4ation complaint about bullying by their bosses and data was not kept confidential it can affect adversely to the employee , he can be fired. Ris$ of distress or &m*arrassment & researcher must take some measures during the data collection , he must consider the well;being , if he derived the 6uestionnaire or collecting data by interview techni6ue , he must be careful about asking 6uestions , eg . "f some thing is distressing or embarrassing or inconvenience. (ri!ac% and confidentialit% What ever data taken , it must be used in research not against them eg. .mployee gave his view on management , a research must consider it for research as proof against organi4ation to belittle the managers or organi4ations reputation,or sell the information to media or other companies. Informed consent !onsent must be taken from subjects or organi4ations to collect data ,they must be informed that what<s the aim of research = what type of 6uestion would be asked to them= ow does it help them in their organi4ation = A!oid In!ol!ement of Deception "f there is a lot of manipulation in research methodology and data has produced or cooked data to complete the research or to harm the reputation of organi4ation , it is a punishable act under the !"#$ code . Interpretation of data $ata must be collected and interpreted carefully and objectively ,for eg if study has done on company policies it could be used in company 1organi4ation so the data analysis must be done authentically. CRITICA) ,I&-

By discussing all the principles, roles, importance ,it is found that during the research process confidentiality,consent and privacy of participants play a crucial role in a ethical research ,after taking all the above principles in considerations , many times researches are not found authentic and ethical ."t also bear social responsibility (>line 2*(?). /o research must be planned . &THIC" IN ()ANNING O R&"&ARCH $uring the planning of research ,researcher must take the consent from organi4ation or subject ,as participants has right to what type of research is going on them , but some times it is found by Bryne (2*(?) that subjects ,are forced to participate in research. <unplanned research is mere waste of time< (&nderson, 2**)). /o this this is not right on the behalf of researcher ,it raise ethical issue. &THIC" IN DATA CO))&CTION O R&"&ARCH "t is important what type of techni6ue has been used in data collection ./ome researches is done by o*ser!ation. for eg. "f the observation is done in organi4ational employee ,it is important to take consent by the participants , authority1 management. This is the drawback of observation that employees,come to know that they are been observed they become cautious and it affects the data obtaining process , a researcher can,t get a reliable and valid. "f covert observation for eg a <reporter< writer, or % practitioner involved in % research , it raise the issue of ethics because there is lack of consent from the participants , and if recording is done by camera it would be unethical research ."f the identity of researcher would revealed it may ruin the whole data. "n the end debriefing has been done then it might upset some employees ,it affects directly on organi4ational relationship.(/aunders et al , 2**@) /uestionnaire techni'ue "t serves a reliable data , but the drawbacks are sample si4e must be very big say not less than (**."t time taking if somebody sends 6uestionnaire by email problem of invalid data could be occur,because its not sure who is filling the data sheet,problem of large sample to manage ./ending by post adds on e8tra cost in research. -ots of time , a researcher didnAt get the response. /o again issue is practising unethical research. Inter!iew techni'ue "t includes 6ualitative data analysis which is based content

analysis , drawbacks of this type of data , subjectivity of researcher occurs ,during the analysis,it could be less reliable ."nterview techni6ue is tedious techni6ue , sample is for this small,researcher can<t generali4e a research . ere, a researcher has to face ethical issues .$uring the time of interview if subject is embarrassed by any 6uestion ,or become upset , it could be unethical . &THIC" IN (O"T DATA GATH&RING O R&"&ARCH &fter collecting data now the time is to interpret data and draw conclusion (Bikmund,2***) ,but it also raises a lots of ethical issues , for eg. "f a researcher has done data collection accurately and objectively , now it must be interpreted and evaluated properly and the anonymity and confidentiality of participants is kept throughout the whole research process ,it should be maintained ,and the data should be analysed fairly , it should not be manipulated or edited. .verything must be interpret accurately. %esearcher edit the drawbacks of the research which lowers down the validity and reliability of research . "nterpretation of the data "t is the important part of the research it must be done carefully and ethically ,it is found that researcher sometimes to meet the deadlines of dissertation just misinterpret the results and draw the conclusions (>ane,())+).&gain this is unethical . /ome organi4ations are not ready to disclose there confidential issues which is found by the researcher , during the research ,so researcher can<t disclose the identity without the permission of organi4ation ,for suppose manager is found that he bullies employees, then researcher can<t disclose name to make a change, with out the consent of organi4ation ,but if the researcher will not try to make a change it is again unethical on the behalf of researcher for not giving the accurate and ethical information. DATA #U"T 0& D&"TRO1&D &fter the research has been done ,data must be burned ,or torn properly ,not just thrown in dustbin or left just on table , because it could be used by other competitor of the organi4ation, which could harm the employees or organi4ational growth. "f in the data is kept for further research then it is kept in right place and all the names of

participants or organi4ation are removed. "f it is used in publishing article, or journal or used in presenting in seminar , it would disclose the identity of the concerned subject,now the issue of privacy is not maintained which again unethical (&nderson, 2**@). (ROC&DUR& OR &THICA) A((RO,A) CO,&NTR1 UNI,&R"IT1 %esearch in !oventry university,is done on the basis of doing risk assessments and health and safety and various other considerations it 3re6uires 'aculty1/chool .thics and 9overnance -eader to take the lead in creating and managing teams of ethics reviewers who would then be tasked with reviewing all low and medium risk ethics applications in each 'aculty1/chool. This will ensure that ethical approval is given at 'aculty1/chool level where accountability will lie. &ny applications dealt with in this way will therefore be subject to random audit to ensure compliance with good ethical practice and the CniversityAs policy. The audit process will be managed by the $irector of #ostgraduate %esearch with assistance from the 'aculty1/chool .thics and 9overnance -eaders and the Registr% Research Unit (RRU)5. are taken before passing a research proposal5( !oventry Cniversity revised policy 2**)1(*). Ris$ assessment test has been done on the basis of igh risk, medium risk and low risk in research to their subjects and researcher. %esearch ethical staff of !oventry university,go through each an every application and do risk assessment , and give their view that what kinds of harm is associated with research ."t is important to take ethical approval as in medium risk , and high risk research ,human subjects are involved , may be high risk scientific research ,involved $0& of human being and without any consent of the subject it is unethical to use $0& molecules .%isk assessment must be done before during the planning stage. &ccording to new revised 3!oventry Cniversity #olicy( 2**)12*(* ); ie. <)ow Ris$<, <#edium to High Ris$< and <High Ris$< process and includes prompts for ealth D

/afety ( D/) %isk &ssessment consideration5.%isk assessment has been done online, there are three colours circles which stands for low to high risk assessment .%ed colour circle stands for low risk involved in research ,orange circle says medium to high risk involvement and 9reen circle is for high risk. -,W %"/> %./.&%! &ccording to new revised version of !C .T "!/ (2**)1(*), "t is important to fill and take approval the low ,medium to high and high risk check list before collecting data , if it is not done the researcher will be penali4ed. "f data collection has low risk involvement,ie. No li!ing participants. then fill the low risk check list and then take approval by the use of (rincipal In!estigator Certification (#"!) to state that there is no need for ethical approval and can be used as #"! declaration, if some 6uery occurs. -iving participants Cnder graduate small projects are generally based on secondary data ,it is the data which collected by some other researcher and it is now used by students , so low risk involve in it because there is no direct dealing of data with subjects for applying 6uestionnaire. ere also a student can take approval by #"! ie. #rincipal "nvestigator certification. $uring the data collection participants leaflets and "nformed consent has been filled by participants,it must approved by supervisor and faculty research leader and if a participant can<t able to fill participant leaflet (#") and informed consent ("!) for eg. participant is disabled 0ienabar,(2*(?) or children below (: yrs. There are special regulations and legal re6uirements about these groups which must be followed and approval must be taken from supervisor and other faculty member. 7.$"C7 T, "9 %"/> %./.&%!

This type of research by postgraduate students, #h$ students ,staff researchers,ans research needs from many other professional bodies like 0 /,Cniversity &pplied

%esearch !ommittee(C&%!),%esearch degree /ub !ommittee(%$/!) etc.or if one can e8plain that research is based on low rist or medium to high risk ethics and approval forms are filled then it is considered. >ent (2*(*) proposed a map for !oventry Cniversity ethical approval process 2**)1(*,for 7edium to low %isk check list, "t is divided in four stages "tage 23 &pplication and 7edium to high risk check list is been completed by researcher for ethical approval from !oventry university . "tage 43 "ncludes submission of medium to high check list and application to,faculty ethics leader ,then ethic leader forward it to other leader and after some feedbacks are given to researcher,then researcher add those feedbacks and finally approval has been given by faculty ethics leader. "tage 53Then random audit done by %egistry %esearch Cnit (%%C ) and ethics leader from various faculty,then a report has been made and all the amendments done which was raised during auditing , and improved version is practiced. "tage 63 "n each term audit report is formed by faculty ethics leader,then it is added in term by 'aculty1/chool .thics -eader added in '&%! 1/&%! annual report. The importance of 7edium to igh risk research approval , once the researcher get approval , then no other approval is needed for research and researcher can collect data safely. "9 %"/> %./.&%! .thical &pproval #rocedures for 0 / and 7edical %isk research projects,it is important to approve these types of researches by "ntegrated %esearch &pproval /ystem ("%&/) ,because there is high risk in these researches , and it deals with human anatomy and diseases (Tripathy,2*(?) it is *enefited in ensuring about validity and reliability of data it gives insight to researcher that data ethics is collected ,for the study is accurate and useful in proceeding research and approval helps to meet all the conditions of .thical regulatory and governance body (!oventry

university 2**)12*(*). By the whole discussion about ethical approval in conduct research in !oventry university ,"t is found that ealth and safety issue of participants and researcher is very important and the policy of !C .thics keep each and every measure to save from risk , they have risk assessment approval ,to see the nature of study -ow ,medium to high and high risk researcher and participants. Before collecting risk assessment ethics approval form and consent form and participant "nformation form is filled and by supervisor and faculty research leader , feedbacks are given by them is amended by researcher .'inally researcher get approval to start data collection . CONC)U"ION "t is to be concluded that ,ethics role in conduct research process is significantly correlated to health and well;being of participants and researcher and !oventry Cniversity ethical approval program is playing positive role in conduct research .