Ethical Issues In Qualitative Research And Credibility

Within this assignment there will be a clear demonstration and understanding of the concept of research in relation to the acquisition of underpinning knowledge appropriate to my programme of study. I will also be undertaking a comparative analysis of the nature and validity of quantitative and qualitative research methods. I will also be demonstrating skills in critical analysis of methods of data collection and selection of appropriate methods to informing future working practice. I will also be analyse the ethical considerations in relation to the development and undertaking of research.

Validity refers to whether the research conducted is what it intended to be. Validity involves dependability, which means, a valid measure must be reliable. But, reliability doesn’t have to link to validity, a reliable measure is not required to be valid.

It is essential that robust methods are used in qualitative research as maintaining confidentiality is critical. Confidentiality issues must be addressed by the researcher in relation to individual participants as well as to the sites in which the research is conducted. With regard to individual participants, researchers may need to address confidentiality by using not only pseudonyms --non-identifying names in all written records, but also to be selective when describing defining characteristics of participants which could reveal their identity (Polit & Beck

The actions researchers can take to ensure they retain their ethical and neutral stance in performing qualitative research and reporting their qualitative research results can begin with a written permission note from the informant, legally granting to obtain accurate information needed to perform the case study. Include any statements about past experiences that will help the reader understand the connection between the researchers and the study, also know your limitations. While information can be gathered many different ways some ways are from interviews, documents, and observations that informant should be reminded that they have the right to leave the setting at any given time and are not forced to give any information against their will.

Throughout research in Health and social care settings, there are many implications with the research, which takes place. Many research methods include ethical issues which have to be considered when conducting research. Ethical issues need to be considered when research is being conducted, in all methods of conducting the research information.

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

Assessing ethical concerns is of key importance in planning, performing, and evaluating research, and includes four key issue areas of protection from harm, informed consent, right to privacy, and professional code of APA ethics (Cozby & Bates, 2012) These four areas of ethical issues must be considered whenever research involves human participants. Another important area for the researcher to review relative to ethical issues in human research is the importance of gaining an understanding of the internal review board (IRB). The purpose of this paper is to examine ethical concerns, and provide a brief review of the IRB, including when completion of an IRB application is required.

All forms of media whether scientific or medical journals to school essays and even visual media such as news broadcast all share a common thread- the requirement of credibility. Credibility is the cornerstone to any successful presentation of information. An author must examine the credibility of sources before the inclusion of any information while audience members should also review credibility to determine the validity of information presented. Credibility can be complex but by determining on the origin of the source, conducting an in-depth evaluation of the source and focusing on both utilization and citation of the source the credibility of the presentation will resonate.

There are a number of ethical consideration that should be evaluated and implemented when it comes to healthcare research. Healthcare research is conducted in a number of ways, each way different from the other trying to come up with conclusions for specific issues in the industry. Qualitative research method is a research method in healthcare that focuses on explaining problems in their context. Through this method of research data is gathered in its entirety and represented fully. Due to the broad application of the research method and the manner in which the data required is produced, this form of research requires a number of ethical considerations.

Bell (2005) mentioned that ethical research involves acquiring informed consent of people to be interviewed, questioned, observed or taken materials from and reaching to an understanding of how the data will be used and analysis will be reported and published. In guiding the activities of researchers, Denscombe (2010) described three ethical; “protection of participants’ interest”, “avoiding deception or misinterpretation” and “informed consent of participants”.

The Belmont Report establishes ethical standards for researchers seeking to involve human subjects (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1979). Among these standards is respect for persons- the right of people to be treated as autonomous agents (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1979). Privacy, anonymity, and confidentiality (PAC) fall under this standard (Farrimond, 2013). In research studies, privacy refers to an expectation that access to participants ' information will be limited to those that have a legitimate right to it (Farrimond, 2013). It is also expected that reasonable steps will be taken to prevent unauthorized access to the information. To expand on privacy, most studies allow anonymity- the removal of names and other identifying information (addresses, job titles, age) to protect the identities of participants (Farrimond, 2013). Anonymity increases the likelihood that potential subjects will agree to participate in a study, as they feel more comfortable disclosing information that may otherwise result in negative consequences (Farrimond, 2013). Confidentiality ensures study participants that their information will not be shared beyond the scope of the study (Farrimond, 2013).

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

Validity refers to that measuring tool or approaches can accurately measure things needed to be measured. It can be considered as an extent that measured results reflect investigative contents. Measured results more tend to be identical, validity will be higher, vice versa. Guba and Lincoln (1981) argued that whole social research must include invalidity in order to acquire worthwhile data within both the rationalistic paradigm (quantitative research) and naturalistic paradigm (qualitative research). Some factors can determine the level of validity, which include bias, construct

I like your analogy of validity and reliability. It is very critical that the reliability and validity of the data collection tools that are used in qualitative research are validated because of the outcome of the research results. If the data tools are not valid, it could have a negative impact to the outcome of patients such as a treatment or drug that is being researched. The probability of harming a patient is high if a new treatment is incorrect.

Qualitative research is conducted in a natural setting and attempts to understand a human problem by developing a holistic narrative and reporting detailed views of informants about the culture of a problem. It forms a report with pictures and words. One of the most important distinctions that sets qualitative research apart from more traditional types of research is that qualitative research is holistic in that researchers study phenomena in their entirety rather than narrowing the focus to specific defined variables” (p. 93). Similarly, Cresswell (1984) indicated that qualitative research “is defined as an inquiry process of understanding a social or human problem, based on building a holistic picture, formed with words, reporting detailed views of informants, and conducted in a natural setting” (p. 2). Cresswell’s definition clearly delineates the major characteristics of qualitative research. Pg. 50 (Smith & Davis, 2010).