Elements of Research Ethics - Essay Example

Research Ethics According to Family Health International, application of ethical research tenancies is considered a universal practice which transcends all boundaries; geographically and culturally. Any research study with human beings as the participants rests on three important aspects which should be maintained for any of the studies to earn the required scientific rigor. These include; respect for persons, protection of the well being of the participants both physically and mentally, and being just to all the participants. In any research study, the benefits of the benefits from such a study need always to be commensurate with the risks attached. One of the statements which is un-ethical is Dr Andrew Collingwood negotiating with the Organization Support for Murder Victims for their contact details. Ethically, individual information security and confidentiality should be maintained and should be solely used for the sole purpose of which it was collected for. In this case, Organization Support for Murder Victims has victims information in order to assist them during the difficult moment and they give it to somebody else (third party) to facilitate another research study. This also covered under the requirements of honesty where the researcher is not supposed deceive or negotiate for information from any granting authority. According to the statement of research ethics, such a practice is unethical. Further, according to the justice practice in research ethics, vulnerable groups should not be used in any research study-if possible. Such groups include women, children, prisoners and in this case murder victim’s parents. Research ethics dictates that such groups should not be used at all for the benefit of any other group (or interested party). In this case, Dr Andrew Collingwood uses data for a vulnerable group for his benefit and that of the Organization Support for Murder Victims. Research ethics advocates for the protection of such groups instead of using them in research studies since their involvement risks are more pronounced than those for other groups of participants. From this scenario, it is evident that Organization Support for Murder Victims needs the research to be done to benefit them internally since the participants are not aware that Organization Support for Murder Victims is in the picture and only know Dr Andrew Collingwood. Research ethics further advocates for free consent from all the participants before participating in any research study. In this case, from the brief provided, first they are not allowed to freely consent to their contact details being to Dr Andrew Collingwood by Organization Support for Murder Victims for their involvement in research. According to Callahan (1998), consents should be obtained through writing and should not be a one-off thing, it should be something carried out continuously. The participants should be allowed to go through all the pertinent issues and ask questions related to the research and its benefits. Participants should always be given the chance to write consent and understand the benefits he/she will reap from the participation in the research study. Again the participants should always be taken through the requirements of the research study. Consent should be written in a language that is well understood and which is easy to read and comprehend. Following the victim parents discussions with Dr Andrew Collingwood, it is assumed that he (Dr Andrew Collingwood) will be conducting the research and not a third party. However, due to financial constraints, Dr Andrew Collingwood decides to use a research assistant (Ms Dawn Phillips) to conduct the research. This is un-ethical as it means that the consent obtained by Dr Andrew Collingwood is no longer valid as it was an agreement between the parents and Dr Andrew Collingwood. According to tenets of research ethics, if any thing new should be introduced in a research study, in this case Ms Dawn Phillips, the superiors, in this case Organization Support for Murder Victims should be informed. This is not the case in this scenario since Dr Andrew Collingwood decides alone to include Ms Dawn Phillips without consulting the Organization Support for Murder Victims. Further, for the validity and reliability of the research findings, biasness of the sample should be avoided as much as possible. The selection of the sample should be unbiased and if possible stratified sampling should be used since the targeted population is not homogenous. Further, the person who administers a research tool should be the same person to come up with the research findings basing on the reasons for asking certain information. In this case, the introduction of another researcher, Dr Maureen Johnson, is un-ethical. Ms Dawn Phillips should be the one to report the findings in order to avoid extreme biasness. In conclusion, research ethics advocates for protections of research participants, seeking of free and informed consent from the participant before taking part and avoiding un-biasness. Part 2 The first question before conducting any research is to develop research questions which determine the research technique to be used, either qualitative or quantitative (Bryman 1992). In case the researcher would like to add richness of knowledge on certain aspect, then qualitative research will be used. In case, the researcher would like to get information about the targeted population in terms of numbers then quantitative research is used. However, some situations allow the use of both approaches for exhaustiveness of the findings. However, before the conducting of the research all ethical considerations, as covered above, needs to be considered. This research study involves human beings and there is need for their protection. Further, there is need for informing them that they will be involved in a research study so that they can make an informed decision (consent). Quantitative Elements In quantitative researcher, the driving force is the measure of how many participants reason, act or behave in a certain manner. Quantitative research is all about quantifying the relationships between the variables. It aims at establishing the kind of relationship that exists between the independent variable and the dependent variable. Such variable includes age, weight, performance and other measures. In quantitative research, mainly the researcher is concerned a lot with counting and developing statistical models from the data collected. One of the characteristics of quantitative research is that the researcher is aware the kind of data he/she is looking for and that all the aspects under discussion have been designed and developed before collecting the data. The aspect of counting is manifested in this research through counting. The researcher through her observations counts those that gamble due to social factors and those that gamble for money. This is one of the characteristics of quantitative research which involves the counting of participants and coming up with a model that can be used to make estimations. Another important aspect is the development of research aspects before conducting the research. In this case, Alisha Shah has designed all the aspects and has come up with a theory before conducting the research study. Analyzing literature to understand what others say of the scenario is another important assumption that is applicable in quantitative research design. Outcomes of a certain research may have a bearing on the outcomes of a planned study. Further, the assumptions made by a researcher may have affected a previous research and in this case may end up affecting the findings. Thus, quantitative research assumes that designing aspects before hand is a better method of determining and influencing the findings of as pending research as well as guiding the researcher in conducting his/her research. Another characteristic of quantitative research that is applied in this research study is the use of questionnaire to collect the research data. Quantitative researcher assumes that the information to be collected is in form of numeric. In this case, the assumption that the age of the respondent will be part of the collected data is valid since age is a numeric. Further, the researcher tries to separate himself/herself from the subject matter. In this case, Alisha Shah is not a gambler but tries to understand the reasons as to why people gamble. Further, the Alisha Shah ensures that she is not the one to administer the research tool, questionnaire, in person but by using her staff who will in turn mail them back. Another very important characteristic of quantitative research that is consistent is that she knows what she is looking for in advance. Looking from the developed research tool, it is evident that Alisha Shah knows what she is looking for in the research study. However, she is not aware of the counts and the models which will become clear once she analyzes the data and writes a report. The aspect of dependence, a characteristic in quantitative research, is evident from the analyzed data where the results indicate that the young are involved in gambling for the excitement while the old involve themselves as a tradition making age the dependent variable while the other attributes i.e. excitement and tradition, as the independent variables. Qualitative Elements The main aim of qualitative research is to complete a detailed description of a certain situation. One of the characteristics of qualitative research that is evident in this case is the partial understanding of what is expected. This is realized through the analysis of existing literature by the researcher and also through observations of the behaviour of the participants. Another very important aspect of the scenario is the use of qualitative research in the initial stages of any research design and development. This is the case with Alisha Shah’s research as she begins by making observations of the research participants as they play bingo. According to the definition of qualitative research, its application should come first before the application of quantitative research as it makes the researcher to understand the problem at hand well before embarking on the real data collection. This is followed by literature review. In qualitative research, the data is inform of words e.g. yes, no, don’t know. In this case, this assumption is consistent since the researcher wants to know some of these aspects whose answers will be in words. For example, the first research questions on whether one gambles for money the answer will either be ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Analysis of words data is effected through the use of data codes. Another characteristic of qualitative research manifested in this scenario is the involvement of the researcher in the subject matter as it is evident in the involvement of Alisha Shah in the research by observing gamblers gamble. This, according to researchers, accords the researcher the best experience to understand the subject matter well and helps in the design and development of a reliable and valid research study. Subjective interpretation of results is another characteristic of qualitative research that manifests itself in this research scenario. From the first instance of observing the gamblers, she objectively analyzes the data and comes to the conclusion that gambling is a due to social factors as opposed to the need for more money. Objective analysis and interpretation of data is one of the requirements for a good research report and is encouraged as one of the important practices in research ethics. Further, qualitative research is more rich in terms of results and takes more time to come up with tangible results. This is evident in the analysis of the fractured communities in order to conclude that one of the driving forces of the gambling addiction is socially related. The characteristic of detailed description of scenarios in qualitative research is also manifested in the use of open questions in the research tool. This is so because, detailed description cannot be gotten from closed questions mostly associated with quantitative research. Further, the decisions to allow the participants fill the questionnaires and mail them back confirms this aspect since in this case it means the participants may give more details which can only be gotten if he/she is given the necessary time to answer and mail back. References Callahan, T.C (1998). Research Ethics: Ethics in Medicine. [Online] Available from: http://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/resrch.html    Family Health International. [Online] Available from: http://www.fhi.org/ Bryman, A (1992). Quantity and quality in social research 2nd ed. Read More