QUESTION
Discuss any five key ethical issues to consider during data collection and data analysis stages
of research
Cooper and Schindler (2008) define ethics as the norms or standards of behaviour that guide moral
choices about our behavior and our relationships with others’. In the context of research, ethics
refers to the appropriateness of one’s behaviour in relation to the rights of those who become the
subject of research work or are affected by it. Potential ethical issues should be recognized and
considered from the outset of a research and are one of the criteria against which the research is
judged. Ethics in research is therefore made available in order to safeguard the participants of the
study and make sure that their rights are not being infringed upon and also to protect the
community or society that the research is being conducted in. Another reason is to hold the
researcher accountable to the public so that they act in an ethical manner and their methods are
guided by the standards that have been set out to do things in a legal manner.
Ethical concerns can occur at all stages of the research project for example when seeking access,
during data collection, as the researcher analyze data and when the findings are being reported.
For the purposes of this assignment the stages that will be looked at are data collection and data
analysis and five key ethical issues will be discussed.
Consent and possible deception of participants
During the collection of data there are a number of ethical issues that must be looked into. The
collection of data is usually done in one of three ways and these are by observation, interviews and
questionnaires. In regard to any of the three one should have permission from participants (people
providing the data) and they should be made aware that their involvement is voluntary. There
should be voluntary nature of participation and the right to withdraw partially or completely.
As a researcher, it’s the question which arises is should you tell participants that you are observing
them and get their consent? If they did agree, would the observation produce the desired results
since the participants would consciously know they are being observed? This raises an ethical
dilemma to the researcher. Lokesh et al (2013) outlines the evolution of informed consent which
was developed in 1947 in what is called the Nuremburg code. The Code which was developed
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over the years stretching to 1996 generally emphasize that a research must voluntary if (a)
participants are able to consent- they should be of the right legal age; they should be of sound
mind; (b)they should be free from coercion- no outside pressure of any kind; (c) they should
comprehend the risks and rewards involved. Participants are free to withdraw from any active data
collection or intervention program at any point without pressure or fear of retaliation (Wainwrigh
and Sambrook, 2010). For example, let’s consider the scenario of an experiment in medical
treatment of HIV or the novel Corona Virus where participants volunteer to be used as a test run.
The participants may agree but has the right to withdraw. The dilemma to the researcher arises
when they know the consequences of withdrawal mid-way the experiment. Lokesh et al (2013)
highlight that there are times when a waiver may be considered and the research continues. They
argue that a waiver can be obtained or waived from 45 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 46.116
(d) under three circumstances: (i) The research involves no more than minimal risk to the subjects;
(ii) The waiver or alteration will not adversely affect the rights and welfare of the subjects; (iii)
The research could not practicably be carried out without the waiver or alteration, and (iv)
Whenever appropriate, the subjects will be provided with additional pertinent information after
participation.
This is much easier to ensure when conducting an interview for example as the interviewee must
accept the invitation having understood the research before attending the interview, the same is
true in the case of questionnaires in that usually all details pertaining to why and how data is being
collected is made available to the participant before they choose to go ahead and answer or not.
However, there is a slightly more difficult dynamic when it comes to observations in terms of
observing human behavior. Most times there is no consent that has been given by those passing by
or those in who are engaging in activities of interest to the researcher who is observing them. This
can be viewed as a violation to people’s privacy.
Another key aspect of consent is to note that whether we realize it or not, most times the questions
that we use during interviews and questionnaires will in some way guide the answers of the
participant in line with the research that is being done. Also that people are emotional beings and
so they will answer the questions based on how they feel that day, that is why it is important to
allow people to withdraw from the study at any point without feeling as though they will be in
some sort of trouble for doing so (Alshenqeeti, 2014).
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The Tri-Council Policy Statement: “Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans” has gone
further in stipulating that consent for data collection should be given by someone who has the
capacity to truly understand what the researcher is doing and how the data they are providing will
be used. The person must also be able to understand all the possible consequences of providing
the information that the researcher has requested from them (Facca et al, 2020).
On the issue of possible deception of participants, it is important to note that people make decisions
based on what they know about the situation per time. It is therefore important for the researcher
to be honest and open about their research and not withhold or purposely leave out information
that they feel may discourage people from wanting to participate in the research, otherwise their
participation cannot be fully regarded as voluntary. If the participant may have declined to
participate in the research had they been privy to the withheld information then the study is not
ethical (Oregan University, 2019).
Maintenance of the Confidentiality of Data Provided by Individuals or Identifiable
Participants and Their Anonymity.
Confidentiality is the process of protecting an individual’s privacy. It pertains to treatment of
information that an individual has disclosed in a relationship of trust, with the expectation that this
information will not be divulged to others without permission (National Human Genome Research
Institute, 1993).
Collecting data through surveys is often done under the assumption that information provided is
confidential and the findings will be anonymous. Participants should know when confidentiality
will be broken for example in the case of harm to themselves or someone else and whether results
will be anonymous or not.
In an online world this can become increasingly hard to ensure, for instance where a focus group
interview or any interviews are done online via zoom or google meet for instance the interviewer
must make sure that through use of password and access restrictions that intruders are not able to
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log onto the meeting and listen in on the conversations. Online surveys and questionnaires can also
be accessed by hackers and so today researchers must take good care in ensuring that the
information being shared for their research is kept confidential (Lobe, Morgan and Hoffman,
2020). Covid 19 has brought about the need for social distancing and generally not meeting and
gathering where it is not necessary to so but it has also brought about new perspectives to research
and the way data is collected.
Whether data collection is being done in person or online it is important to try to remove all person
identifiers from the process in order to try to keep data anonymous. Researchers can for instance
try to avoid collecting personal information about the participants such as their names and home
addressees (Anderon and Cornelli, 2018). This becomes a challenge in an online world as if for
instance an online platform is used to collect data certain personal identifiers can be accessed such
as people’s phone numbers, email addresses and login IDs. Another challenge with online video
meetings is that the participants personal surrounding is being captured and this essentially
dampens the concept of being anonymous.
Privacy of Possible and Actual Participants
A researcher should be sure to protect the data collected from people. Personal information should
not be left in a place that can easily be accessed by people who do not need to see the data. The
information should be kept in a secure or locked location. Similarly, to the above mentioned ethical
concern not only is the participant’s identity to be protected but even the data that is being collected
from them must be protected. This is mainly because some topics of research are still delicate in
certain areas of the World and contributing to such studies often contains a certain amount of a
risk elements.
Also it is noted by Faca et al (2020) that most times people give answers to questions in a therapist
and patient relationship manner, they often have hope that one’s research could fix a number of
problems that may be affecting them and so they speak to the questions as if they are confiding in
someone who could make things better for them. That is why some people may regret having
participated after handing in their answers or giving their answers through an interview and
withdraw. This being said it is very important for the researcher to take into considerations these
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human dynamics of research and keep peoples contributions to the study or area of research private
and only use it for what they have said they would use the information for.
As mentioned above in today’s world with applications like monkey survey that are online
platforms there must be great care put into how people’s responses are stored, who has access to
these files and the researcher must make sure that they put great effort into using secure sights
when collecting data (Anderon and Cornelli, 2018). Also the researcher must put in place good
safety protocols to avoid people listening into conversations during online live interviews and have
good passwords to make it hard for possible hackers to access questionnaires off online platforms
used to collect data for the study.
Participants should feel safe to be part of your study and should not feel as though information that
they give will be used against them in any way or let out to the public especially where the topic
is one that is not easy to share about in public circles.
Physical or emotional harm to participants and Reactions of Participants
Physical or emotional harm to participants
This speaks to the way in which the effects of a research should not cause any harm to participants
in the process of collecting data. The reactions of participants should not bring about emotions that
include and may not be limited to embarrassment, stress, discomfort, pain and harm. A researcher
should avoid or minimize anything that will cause harm to the participants as part of the ethical
considerations when conducting a research. The researcher should make participants aware of any
potential harm prior to their participation so that the participant is in a position accept or reject
being part of the research.
Oldendick (2012) purports that in survey research it is a requirement to avoid unnecessary physical
and mental suffering to participants. It is worthy to note the harm may come to participants in two
ways that is through the actual research being conducted the type of research maybe one that
arouses feelings of discomfort among the participants. The other way is through the surroundings
that may endanger the participants hence emphasis is given on the appropriate time and place to
conduct research.
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Compensation vs Coercion
Another important ethical concern that can be considered during the collection of data is the issue
of compensation for participation. It is generally allowed to compensate participants who are to be
part of the study, especially where they may need to travel and stay in a place that is not their home
for the duration of the study (Van Wijk and Harrison, 2014). The concern that has arisen over the
years however is whether people can still be seen to be voluntarily being part of the research if
there is some sort of payment which under Human Resources Management study can be regarded
as one of the highest motivation forces for human engagement in any activity.
Since participants must be part of a study in a voluntary way, the paying of participants to
contribute to a study may be seen as coercion in a stealth manner as usually they are not openly
being paid to participate but are being paid to make their participating in the study “more
comfortable” by the researcher covering costs that are attached to the participant participating such
as transportation and stationary costs. This is an ethical issue that is still being built upon by various
researchers especially in the medical field as they look into research that may involve clinical trials
(Wainwrigh and Sambrook, 2010).
Reference List
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1. Alshenqeeti. H, (2014), Interviewing as a Data Collection Method: A Critical Review,
English Linguistics Research, 3 (1), pp 39
2. Facca. D, Smith M.J, Shelley J, Lizotte. D, Donelle. L, (2020), Exploring the ethical issues
in research using digital data collection strategies with minors: A scoping review, PLoS
ONE 15(8), pp 5, e0237875. [Link] pone.0237875
3. Oregan State University, (2019), Research Involving Deception,
[Link]
4. Wainwrigh. D and Sambrook. S, (2010), The ethics of data collection: Unintended
consequences?. Journal of health organization and management. 24 (3), pp 277-87,
doi10.1108/14777261011054617.
5. Anderson, E. and Corneli, A. (2018). 100 Questions (and answers) about research ethics,
Sage,Vol 5
6. Lobe. B, Morgan. D and Hoffman K.A, (2020), Qualitative Data Collection in an Era of
Social Distancing, International Journal of Qualotative Methods, Vol 19, pp 1- 8, DOI:
10.1177/1609406920937875
7. Lokesh P. Nijhawan, Manthan D. Janodia, B. S. Muddukrishna, K. M. Bhat, K. L. Bairy,
N. Udupa, Prashant B. Musmade J Adv Pharm Technol Res. 2013 Jul-Sep; 4(3): 134–140.
doi: 10.4103/2231-4040.116779 PMCID: PMC3777303
8. National Human Genome Research Institute [Web site on the Internet]. Washington, DC:
Protecting Human Research Subjects: Office for Protection from Research Risks, 1993
Institutional Review Board Guidebook; [updated 2005 Sept; cited 2005 December 3].
Available from: [Link]
9. Oldendick, R.W., 2012. Survey Research Ethics. Handbook of Survey Methodology for the
Social Sciences.
10. Columbia University, (2007). [Link]
11. Van Wijk. E and Harrison. T, (2013), Managing Ethical Problems in Qualitative Research
Involving Vulnerable Populations, Using a Pilot Study, International Journal of Qualitative
Methods, Vol 12.
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