Ethics in Management Research

 Introduction

The ethics of a research is very important in any instances of physical research involving individuals and groups. Attention on ethics of studying humanitarian crises has been increased in recent years (Bruno and Haar, 2020). The many authors cited that ethics in a research is a significant part of that which is influenced by general trust, data protection, confidential, anonymity and the ability to create a relationship with the participants of the research and maintain throughout the research. The research ethics is not only mere “formality” but also the important criteria such as transparency of research, reliability of result and the reputation of the researcher for academic group to create a successful in new knowledge in practice (Zukauskas et al., 2018).

 Identifying and selecting most suitable and appreciating research methodology and method is very importing for ethical consideration when conducting a research (Fleming and Zegwaard, 2018). Hence, it is necessary to pay much attention and discuss difference ethical issues when conducting a research including study design, ethical approval, data analysis, conflict of interest and duplicate publication and plagiarism (Navalta et al., 2019; Misra and Agarwal, 2020). Further, various types of research can be highlighted various kind of issues regarding ethics. The standard of the research project, aim and objectives of the study are very important for ethical issues of it as there will be no any advantages for the society if there is no any value of the research (George, 2016).

However, some reports show that the way of carry out the research such as filling consent form and waiting the approval to expedite the research are the main focus is compliance on the part of the researcher with organizing of institutional regulations (Henderson and Esposito, 2017).

This literature review will be carried out to identify and evaluate ethical issues in management research from recent peer-reviewed journal articles and the most important ethical issues will be addressed.

Ethical Consideration

Become an ethical person while conducting a research is something related that the researcher has to deal with as main part of the research project. Paying much attention for ethical consideration with ethics turns the focus on describes to be the person for ethics. Ethics can describe as the awareness, recognize, observation and consequences. The researcher needs to understand what ethical conduct is all around and what might be reorganize to be for unethical behaviour (Geis et al., 2019). Bromley et al. (2015) has stated that the researcher is the main responsible person for developing procedures and control to confirm that all individuals in a research are treated ethically. However, according to the nature and objective of the research the criteria such as responsible person of the research and worthwhile is dependent on the culture, the researcher’s values, and who will be the targeted audience in which it is taking place will depend on it (Smith, 2016; Henderson and Esposito, 2017).

Further, Satalkar and Shaw (2019) argued that as an ethical researcher and when ethical consideration in a research, the researcher brings integrity, fairness and honest to their research work (Janssens et al., 2015). Many researchers indicated that some of the arguments for ethical issues highlighted in contrast of review and found that expedite an ethical approval procedure helped researchers to think descriptively about to carry out the research (Velardo and Elliot, 2018). An ethical researcher will treat participants and stakeholders with dignity, respect for their welfare, rights and safety (Livingston et al., 2016).

However, as Henderson et al. (2017) indicated that ethical issues can be raised due to the nature of the relationships between researchers and individuals or groups and others argue that issues of ethical is monitored, increased and become as the relationship between researchers and individuals can be negotiated while carried out the research process (Baykara et al., 2015; Henderson and Esposito, 2017; Velardo and Elliot, 2018). Indeed, Fendler (2016) highlighted four issues of ethics in a research connected to data handling in qualitative researchers such as bootstrapping, stereotyping, dehumanization, and determinism. Those issues will be raised throughout quantitative research that can be applied accordingly and can be reorganized in reliability and validity, qualitative research depends on its credibility and trustworthiness.

Inform Consent

Inform consent is a process that the decision of the participants to confirm their willingness to participate for the research and confirm to the researcher (Manti and Licari, 2018). When conducting a research and starting without inform consent such as no approval from the participants considered as misconducted research. Further, various guidelines have been implemented by many sectors and authorities and concern regarding ethical issues in the conduct of research exposure of subjects to physical or psychological harm. The report shows that the main duty of the researcher is to get basic primary data which is relevant to the ongoing research from the participants and main responsibility is to protect the personal information, life, health and integrity of the participants (Yip et al., 2016).

Further, Manti and Licari (2018) highlighted that obtaining informed consent is necessary when conducting clinical research especially. Furthermore, it is highlighted in the report that the information and other relevant data should be provided by the researcher to the participants and it should be considered the emotional and psychological capacity and the location to carry out the inform consent within the participants in research. However, the children and adults not able to provide the data according to the informed consent and the researcher should pay much attention regarding them to provide specific information when conducting research. Moreover, it is very complicated to obtain informed consent from the population in clinical research and it has been identified that it should be carried out friendly procedure for this kind of population group.

Respect for anonymity and confidentiality

In addressing some of these ethical issues it is very important to respect for the anonymity and confidentiality of the participants in a research to build up a proper relationship with the researcher (Lancaster, 2017). The researcher should be more considered about the issues of anonymity and confidentiality when conducting a research to respect for the dignity and fidelity (Wasnik, 2019). Roberts and Allen (2015) reported that anonymity of research subjects is one of the most common ethical issues which need to be addressed by the researcher and which also participants should have a free choice about whether they participate for the research or not.

Further, Roulston and Choi (2018) described about ethical issues and highlighted that the researcher has to be considered about consent form for interviews and explanatory information at the start of the questionnaires from the participants of the research. Furthermore, many authors cited that the anonymity is a discussion or a conversation that the researcher need to have with the participants which should not expedite in publicly in order to manage anonymity of the participants. The researcher has to be aware of inadvertently identifying the participants or their organization in the research (Saunders et al., 2015).

 In contrast to this view, Sim and Waterfield (2019) argued that the researchers always must pay their attention for all psychological and social implications, inform on their rights and use coding system for each scenario in order to protect the participants and confidentiality may have on research subjects. Ensuring to store or manage the information separately which provided by the participants in the research will bring the confidentiality to the research.  

On the other hand, many authors argued that storing data and data management are very complicated even there are proper guidelines for the practice of keeping data confidential and researchers should follow many variety of methods to maintain the confidentiality with security tools. If the researcher unable to protect the anonymity and confidentiality of the participants and the research study may face for termination or suspension of the ongoing research (Tenopir et al., 2015).    

Conclusion

The main focus of this literature review is to identify and critically analyse some major ethical issues relating to both researcher and individuals or groups in the research.  Informed consent, anonymity and confidentiality are the major and necessary ethical practices in a research which also the researcher has to ensure that the research study complete the standards and protection of the participants in the research in order to manage the ethical issues. Managing the ethical practices in a research is very important to protect the privacy of the participants while gathering, analyzing and storing the information. The researchers should follow the ethical practices seriously while conducting the research in order to data management and protection.

Obtaining informed consent is required when expedite a research study to understand the research related subjects and express the willingness of the participants to participate for the research. By following ethical practices in proper manner the researcher can bring the integrity, fairness and honesty to the own research work and treat for individuals or groups with dignity, respect for their welfare, rights and safety.  

 

 References

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