Chapter 3 – The Ethical Principles that Guide Researchers (pp. 48-76)

Overall teaching objective: To introduce undergraduate criminal justice research methods students to the potential ethical problems that researchers confront and how these problems are mitigated.

Making Research Real 3.1 – Please Help Our Son!(p. 48)

  • This is a story about an experiment of a promising psychotropic drug designed to reduce aggressive behavior among juveniles.
  • The preliminary results of the drug trial show promising results.
  • The parents of a research subject want their troubled son to be in the experimental group, i.e. receive the actual drug rather than a placebo.
  • The experimental researchers decide not to honor this request because it might adversely affect the results of the experiment.

Principles of Ethical Research Practice (p. 48)

  • Social science researchers should be concerned about ethics because ultimately their obligation is to improve the human condition through research.
  • What constitutes ethical behavior often depends on the particular circumstances of individual research projects.

Note to Instructors: For your convenience the ethical principles discussed below are summarized at the end of this section. This table also appears in the textbook.

Principle 1: Do No Harm (p. 49)

  • The principle of doing no harm means that researchers should never subject research participants to physical danger, cause them psychological harm or expose them to legal liability.
  • Researchers should build contingencies into the research plan to prevent or mitigate potential harm. In extreme cases, they should abandon the research project altogether.

Table 3.1 - Types of potential harm caused by the research process.(p. 50)

Type of harm / Description
Physical / Occurs when research subjects are exposed to situations and elements in the research process that could cause them physical injury or death.
Psychological / Occurs when research subjects are exposed to situations and elements in the research process that could cause them severe psychological pain or exacerbate a mental illness.
Legal / Occurs when research subjects are exposed to situations and elements in the research process that could expose them to serious legal harm including criminal or civil prosecution.

Making Research Real 3.2 – Who Knew? (p. 52)

  • Student researchers want to do research on the long term effects of divorce.
  • Some of the respondents could have been psychologically harmed during the research because they were asked to recount bad childhood memories.
  • To avoid a potential harm, the researchers included the telephone number to a campus counseling service on the survey form.

Principle 2: Ensure Privacy (p. 53)

  • Privacy means the right to be left alone and free from public scrutiny.
  • There are two types of privacy in research.
  • Confidentiality means that the researcher knows who the research subjects are, but does not disclose their identity to others.
  • Anonymity means that nobody, not even the researcher, knows the identity of the research subjects.

Principle 3: Obtain Voluntary and Informed Consent (p. 54)

  • Researchers must obtain consent from research subjects prior to collecting information from them.
  • This consent must be given voluntarily, meaning that the research subjects must be completely free to participate or not participate without threat.
  • In addition, the consent must be informed, meaning that the researcher must inform the research subjects about the research and any risks associated with participation in the research.

Principle 4: Get Permission (p. 55)

  • Researchers must seek and obtain permission to work with individuals who are considered vulnerable by virtue of their diminished capacity to direct their own affairs.
  • Vulnerable populations include children, the mentally ill, the infirm, the elderly and prisoners.

Principle 5: Avoid Sponsorship Bias and Suppression (p. 56)

  • Sponsorship bias occurs when the sponsor of a research project attempts to influence the study design or interpretation of data for its own benefit.
  • Suppression occurs when a research sponsor fails to disclose findings that shed an unfavorable light on the sponsor’s products or services.

Making Research Real 3.3 – Daring D.A.R.E. (p. 57)

  • The company that produces material for the popular Drug Abuse Resistance Education program sponsored research and then suppressed it when it learned that its findings did not support the companies claims about the effectiveness of the program.

Making Research Real 3.4 – Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire (p. 57)

  • A company that provides services (on a contractual basis) to juvenile offenders agreed to allow a researcher to evaluate its program’s effectiveness.
  • However, the company excluded data relating to cases that were not successful in the program prior to transmitting it to the researcher for analysis.

Principle 6: Prevent Misrepresentation (p. 58)

  • Research misrepresentation involves lying about data, results and authorship in research.
  • Misrepresentaion may include;
  • research fraud, which is fabricating research data or results;
  • plagiarism, which is presenting the intellectual property of another as your own, or
  • deception, which is lending one’s name and/or reputation to a research project that one does not know much about.

Making Research Real 3.5 – The MMR Vaccine/Autism Connection (p. 59)

  • In 1998, Andrew Wakefield, a British surgeon and medical researcher published an article in a prestigious medical journal.
  • In this research Dr. Wakefield alleged a connection between the MMR vaccine and Autism
  • These results cause a controversy in the medical community.
  • Many parents refused to allow their children to be vaccinated.
  • Unfortunately, the results were misrepresented and thousands of children contracted the measles, mumps and rubella.

Making Research Real 3.6 – It’s Really Not Safe in That Neighborhood (p. 60)

  • The owner of an apartment complex misrepresented data to show that his facility had a low crime rate, when in fact it experienced a high crime rate.
  • The owner duped a university professor into lending his name (and reputation) to this ‘research’ for a small fee of course.

Principle 7: Ensure the Safety of Researchers (p. 61)

  • The principle of doing no harm extends to the safety of researchers.
  • Research supervisors should ensure the physical and psychological safety of researchers, who may find themselves in potentially dangerous situations.
  • They should also ensure that researchers are protected from legal harm.
  • Consistent with this principle, researchers have an ethical obligation to report criminal activity that could cause harm to themselves or others.

Making Research Real 3.7 – Harrowing Homelessness (p. 62)

  • A researcher conducts observations of homeless individuals while disguised as a homeless person.
  • During the process the researcher is threatened physically and adversely affected psychologically.
  • He decides to terminate the research in the interest of his own safety.

Making Research Real 3.8 – How About NO! (p. 63)

  • A university professor is presented a research plan that would require researchers to run stop signs in front of police officers.
  • The purpose of this research is to see if police officers are more likely to stop drivers who are racial minorities.
  • The researcher rejects the plan because it would place the research assistants in both legal and physical danger.

Table 3.2 - Principles of ethical research practice. (p. 64)

Principle / Description / Application
Do No Harm / The research process should never cause physical, psychological or legal harm to research subjects. / Researchers should know all the potential harm that research subjects may be exposed to during a research project. They should prevent, mitigate and inform participants of these potential harms.
Ensure Privacy / Researchers should respect an individual’s right to be left alone and ensure that the personal information of research subjects will not be inappropriately divulged. / When personal information about research subjects is collected confidentially, the researcher should be the only person that can attribute the information to a particular research subject. When personal information is collected anonymously, nobody, not even the researcher, should be able to attribute it to a particular research subject.
Obtain Voluntary and Informed Consent / Researchers should secure consent from research subjects before they participate in a research project. / Consent must be given voluntarily, without threat or duress. Researchers must disclose, up front, what the research subjects will be asked to do and whether there are any risks involved.
Get Permission / Researchers should get special permission to study members of vulnerable populations. / Certain populations, like children, the elderly, the mentally ill, and prisoners are particularly vulnerable to abuse. Researchers must use special care and receive special permission to study these populations.
Avoid Sponsorship Bias and Suppression / Researchers should avoid relationships that may lead to sponsorship bias and/or suppression. / Some research sponsors may attempt to control the research process so that it results in findings favorable to their financial, political or personal interests. Researchers should never agree to participate in research if there is a chance that their objectivity or intellectual freedom will be limited.
Prevent Misrepresentation / Researchers should not lie about or fabricate their research findings (research fraud), represent another person’s work as their own (plagiarism) or sanction another person’s work without conducting a careful analysis (deception). / To avoid the potential for misrepresentation, researchers must subject their work to rigorous and well informed peer review. They must be honest about their methodology and their findings. And, when necessary, they must permit another party to independently evaluate their data and analysis.
Ensure the Safety of Researchers / The research process should never cause physical, psychological or legal harm to researchers or their assistants. / Researchers have an obligation to know the potential harms that they, their colleagues, and their assistants may be exposed to during a research project. These potential harms must be mitigated and researchers must accept their responsibility to intervene if necessary, even if it means terminating the project.

Minimizing Ethical Dilemmas(p. 65)

  • Most of the ethical principles discussed in the previous section have been codified into statutes, regulations and procedures by governments, research institutions and universities.
  • In this section, we will take a look at some of the rules and procedures that have been put into place to make sure researchers adhere to minimum standards for ethical research practice.
  • Compliance with these rules, however, is not always enough.
  • Just because a researcher complies with the letter of the law does not mean that no harm will come to the research subjects or the researchers.
  • Therefore, the rules discussed in this section should be considered a minimum ethical standard.

Legislation and Policy Oversight (p. 65)

  • Researchers are subject to numerous international treaties, federal and state laws, and institutional regulations that are designed to protect human research subjects.
  • Some of the more prominent of these are;
  • The Nuremberg Code (1947) – This code was created following the Nuremberg Trial of Nazi doctors who conducted cruel experiments on human beings during World War II. It consists of ten points defining legitimate research on human subjects and includes such principles as informed consent and avoidance of potential harm to subjects.
  • The Declaration of Helsinki (1964) – This declaration was developed by the 18th World Medical Assembly to provide ethical guidelines in human experimentation. It includes twelve principles to guide physicians on ethical issues relating to biomedical research and puts forth the idea that the needs of the research subject should come before research.
  • The Belmont Report (1979) – This report was created by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. It establishes three principles for ethical conduct in research, including respect for persons, beneficence and justice.
  • In the United States, there are also numerous federal and state statutes governing the treatment of human research subjects.
  • At the federal level, the Common Rule (45 CFR Part 46) requires that each research institution with federally sponsored research involving human subjects have an Assurance with the Office of Human Research Protections on file.

Institutional Review Boards (p. 66)

  • Nearly every university and many research organizations maintain Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and require researchers to seek approval from these boards prior to doing research on human subjects.
  • Research projects that pose minimal risk to human subjects undergo an expedited review.
  • Research projects that pose considerable risk to human subjects undergo a full review. The level of scrutiny depends on the potential for human harm.

Codes of Ethics(p. 67)

  • Many professional organizations and most universities publish formally written codes of ethics. These codes are intended to provide guidance to professionals and members of organizations on how to behave ethically.

Making Research Real 3.9 – Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences’ Code of Ethics (p. 67)

  • This is a lengthy list of the ACJS Code of Ethics governing the research activities of its members.

Getting to the Point (Chapter Summary) (p. 70)

  • Social science researchers should be concerned about ethics because ultimately their obligation is to improve the human condition through research. What constitutes ethical behavior often depends on the particular circumstances of individual research projects.
  • The principle of doing no harm means that researchers should never subject research participants to physical danger, cause them psychological harm or expose them to legal liability. Researchers should build contingencies into the research plan to prevent or mitigate potential harm. In extreme cases, they should abandon the research project altogether.
  • Privacy means the right to be left alone and free from public scrutiny. There are two types of privacy in research. Confidentiality means that the researcher knows who the research subjects are, but does not disclose their identity to others. Anonymity means that nobody, not even the researcher, knows the identity of the research subjects.
  • Researchers must obtain consent from research subjects prior to collecting information from them. This consent must be given voluntarily, meaning that the research subjects must be completely free to participate or not participate without threat. In addition, the consent must be informed, meaning that the researcher must inform the research subjects about the research and any risks associated with participation in the research.
  • Researchers must seek and obtain permission to work with individuals who are considered vulnerable by virtue of their diminished capacity to direct their own affairs. Vulnerable populations include children, the mentally ill, the infirm, the elderly and prisoners.
  • Sponsorship bias occurs when the sponsor of a research project attempts to influence the study design or interpretation of data for its own benefit. Suppression occurs when a research sponsor fails to disclose findings that shed an unfavorable light on the sponsor’s products or services.
  • Research misrepresentation involves lying about data, results and authorship in research. It may include research fraud, which is fabricating research data or results; plagiarism, which is presenting the intellectual property of another as your own; or deception, which is lending one’s name and/or reputation to a research project that one does not know much about.
  • The principle of doing no harm extends to the safety of researchers. Research supervisors should ensure the physical and psychological safety of researchers, who may find themselves in potentially dangerous situations. They should also ensure that researchers are protected from legal harm. Consistent with this principle, researchers have an ethical obligation to report criminal activity that could cause harm to themselves or others.
  • Researchers are subject to numerous international treaties, federal and state laws, and institutional regulations that are designed to protect human research subjects.
  • Nearly every university and many research organizations maintain Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and require researchers to seek approval from these boards prior to doing research on human subjects. Research projects that pose minimal risk to human subjects undergo an expedited review; research projects that pose considerable risk to human subjects undergo a full review. The level of scrutiny depends on the potential for human harm.
  • Many professional organizations and most universities publish formally written codes of ethics. These codes are intended to provide guidance to professionals and members of organizations on how to behave ethically.