Why are ethical considerations important in contermporary social research - Essay Example

This essay will attempt to give explanations as to why ethical considerations are important in contemporary social research. In the ethical guidelines from the Social Research Association (2003), a social scientist has a sense of obligation to certain key stakeholders of the research they are undertaking. This means that the social scientist must fulfill these obligations. They include an obligation to the society in which the research is taking place. A researcher has to ensure that information collection is done under scientific methods and without subjectivity that the researcher may feel towards the society.

The second obligation is to the sponsors or employers of the researcher, where the researcher is required to ensure that the relationship is well defined and do not influence the findings of the research being undertaken. The third obligations fall to the colleagues in the field of the social research. This duty is fulfilled by the researcher ensuring that high standards of collection of data and analysis are maintained for the benefit of all researchers who are involved in the field. This promotes trust in the research findings because of the high level of professionalism.

The fourth obligation is to the subjects that will take part in the research the e4thical consideration dictates that the subjects should be made aware of all that entails being part of the particular research. This information is necessary so that the subjects can be able to make informed decisions about their participation. Following the broad aspect of ethical guidelines stated above, it is clear that for a contemporary social research to be undertaken, there are a couple of things that need to be fulfilled to ensure that the findings are not tainted in anyway by using un-scientific methods.

These are the ethical considerations that need to