Practice Problems: Ethics

What do we mean by “Ethics”?

Where do “Ethics” come from?

How would we quantify how Ethical someone is?

Ethical Issues in Business Research

http://www.businessethics.ca/blog/

Institutional Review Board

IRB

Consent

Rights and Obligations of the Respondent

• They are obliged to be truthful having given their consent– Privacy

• This is extremely important to individuals.• Phone interviews may be invasive• Identify yourself and be professional

– Deception• Vs. discreet silence, when is it okay to deceive?

– The Right to be informed

Rights and obligations of the researcher

• Get proper consent

• Inform respondent

• The purpose of the research is research (no push polling)

• Objectivity (Make an effort)

• Don’t misrepresent research (no data mining)

• Dissemination of Faulty conclusions

Example Survey Preamble/EmailDear Respondent:

 

My name is XXXXX and I am conducting a research project on business advisory boards at colleges and universities. We are interested in the opinions of faculty from AACSB schools as The University of Somewhere is in the start-up phase for establishing a business advisory board. Could you please take a few moments and answer this very short survey on the attached file? Even if you have very little contact with your advisory board I am very interested in your opinion.

 

By completing this survey you will be contributing to the goal of identifying best practices for establishing and maintaining a business advisory board and I will send you the study findings upon request.

 

All answers will be kept confidential to the extent possible, acknowledging that any form of communication over the Internet does carry a minimal risk of loss of confidentiality.  All information will be reported in the aggregate. Participation in this study is voluntary, and all participants may refuse to answer any question found on the survey.

 

I thank you for your time and consideration in contributing to this project and if you have any questions about your rights as a research subject you may contact my advising professor name here in the XXX Office of Sponsored Research at XXXXXX or email here to discuss them.

 

Sincerely,

 

XXXXX