Ethical Considerations in the Research of Applied Linguistics

Ethical guidelines are the frameworks and standards that govern psychologists in conducting a morally justified research to respect the rights of the participants. Since the researchers are responsible for the welfare of the participants, it is vital for them to act in accordance with a specific strict code of ethics and moral principles. One of the common ethical framework used in many psychological studies is IVCARD where ‘I’ stands for Informed Consent, ‘V’ equals Voluntary Participation, ‘C’ is Confidentiality, ‘A’ being Accurate Reporting, ‘R’ is Right To Withdraw and ‘D’ as Do No Harm. Although there are few disadvantages of these strict ethical guidelines, the advantages outweigh them. This is evident from two of the

To ensure that a researcher’s enthusiasm for knowledge and understanding doesn’t let them get carried away, clear guidelines for ethical behaviour in research, a Code of Ethics, have been established by governments, institutions and various professional societies such as the American Psychological Association(APA), the British Psychological Society (BPS) and the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI).

A review of the proposed participants of the study will ensure high-risk groups (if any) will be considered as per the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (‘National Statement’; NHMRC, 2007). While some of these high-risk

Our study will comply with standard ethical research procedures. We will obtain informed consent from our participants before they participate in our study. Our potential participants will be fully informed about what will happen during our study; in addition, they will understand the effects that our study will have on them and our research (Grinnell, Unrau, and Williams, 2014). We will not use bribery, deception, threats, or any other forms of coercion in order to gain participants for our study. The physical/emotional safety of the participants will come before the research; therefore, we will adhere to all ethical research procedures.

A number of key terms describe the system of ethical considerations that the modern research establishments have set up to protect the rights of research subjects. Voluntary participation and confidentiality are principles that demands that the respondents to be free from coercion in any way when participating in the research, protected in the raw data, and published

The psychologist should also consider using evaluation procedures grounded in the code of conducts for better decision-making, so that they can avoid falling into ethical trap while taking both the client’s interest and the ethical system into account (Bardick & Bernes,

On the other hand, the current study does not specify if the consent of the participants was obtained. According to the British Sociological Association’s Statement of Ethical Practice (2004) consent of participants should not be asked just once but every time the data is used in other studies. However, the ethic code maybe is not broke if it is alleged that information provided maintains the anonymity of participants. Therefore, it cannot be said that the research failed the ethic code of research due to the lack of guide lines that regulate the use of past data in recent

Informed consent is an essential part of the research process. Informed consent allows participants the choice to participate in the study or

However, research that can cause psychological harm to a child should be re-evaluated. Researchers must maintain a good code of ethics when conducting their studies. Ethics have always raised a question of concern, especially in research. Again, ethics is simply about knowing the differences between right and wrong and making good and bad

Ethics are the norms or standards for conduct that distinguish between right and wrong. They help to determine the difference between acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. Why are ethical considerations so important in research? First, ethical standards prevent against the fabrication or falsifying of data and therefore, promote the pursuit of knowledge and truth which is the primary goal of research. Ethical behavior is also critical for collaborative work because it encourages an environment of trust, accountability, and mutual respect among researchers. This is especially important when considering issues related to data sharing, co-authorship, copyright guidelines, confidentiality, and many other issues. Researchers must also adhere to ethical standards in order for the public to support and believe in the research. The public wants to be assured that researchers followed the appropriate guidelines for issues such as human rights, animal welfare, compliance with the law, conflicts of interest, safety, health standards and so on. The handling of these ethical issues greatly impact the integrity of the research project and can affect whether or not the project receives funding. Because ethical considerations are so important in research, many professional associations and agencies have adopted codes and policies that outline ethical behavior and guide researchers. These codes address issues such as honesty, objectivity,

Principle B: Fidelity and Responsibility – According to Trevino and Youngblood (1990) ethical misconduct should be pointed out whenever we can spot it, “but it is always to be done with respect to the researcher who conducted it, as decision-making in relation to ethics is fairly complex and influenced by factors that may lie beyond one’s control” (Trevino & Youngblood, p. 378, 1990). Principle C: Integrity – Psychologists have a serious obligation to consider the need for, “the possible consequences of, and their responsibility to correct any resulting mistrust or other harmful effects that arise from the use of such techniques” (APA, 2010). Principle D: Justice – Relates to fairness and justice, concluding that all persons have access to and benefit from the contributions of psychology, i.e. freedom of press. Lastly, Principle E: Respect for People’s Rights and Dignity – Involves obtaining an individual’s consent and protecting their confidentiality and

Human subjects are recruited to participate in a variety of research projects to include clinical trials, experiments, data collection, sampling, surveys, etc. Over time it has come under fire because of the influx of ethical issues associated with human participant research. The American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (hereinafter referred to as the Ethics Code which is made up of 5 principles and 8 standards) provide guidance and serves to protect the public from ethical misconduct, it also serves to guide and protect professionals.

There are several ethical issues that can arise when conducting research. A few of these are field of study dilemmas, the researchers’ integrity, social and economic issues, physical and psychological issues. Field of study refers to areas of research that are controversial in nature. Ethical dilemmas that can arise under fields of study are contentious topics such as embryo research and fetal tissue research (National Institute of Health, 2008). Studies such as this could be deemed not ethically acceptable research. Researchers’ integrity can pose problems when researchers behave in ways that are not appropriate for the sake of research. Social and economic issues in research include problems such as stigma, embarrassment within social groups and financial burdens. If research data is disclosed to outside sources it could damage a participant’s reputation, they can become

Psychological research has been growing and developing new ways of studying human behavior, collecting knowledge and expanding our understanding of our nature. For instance, studies involving human subjects presented risks for violation of ethical research guidelines, by pushing the limits of human experience (Kim, 2012). Throughout history, there have been numerous studies that elevated this concern, such as the Milgram Experiment of 1963. One of the major ethical raised was that it lacked informed consent from the participants and eventually raised the issue of protecting human subjects. This paper examines the ethical compliance in psychological research and emphasizes the importance of ethics and professionalism by analyzing different

Ethics is a set of moral values, principles, norms or standards that guide our relationships and behaviour that inform moral choices when conducting a research study (Buchholtz and Carroll (2012) and Saunders et al. (2009)). According to Crowther and Lancaster (2009), unethical issues in research include violation of privacy, nondisclosure and confidentiality requirements, misrepresentation of results and deception. Ethical considerations in research are there to ensure that the research process does not cause harm or other undesirable negative consequences to the respondents and stakeholders involved in the research.