Research Ethics: Doing Research the Right Way

What are research ethics?

Ethics means knowing what is right and wrong. Research ethics are the rules for doing research in a right way.

Research often studies people: their answers, habits and feelings. These people are called participants. They trust the researcher. Ethics protects that trust.

A good researcher also has good attitudes:

• Objectivity: look at the facts, not your own wishes.
• Open mind: accept results even if they surprise you.
• Respect: treat every participant and every culture fairly.
• Responsibility: think about how results will be used.

Protecting the people in a study

Do no harm

A study must not hurt people. Harm can be to the body, the mind (fear, shame, stress), money or reputation. If some risk is possible, keep it small and have help ready.

Informed consent

Informed means people are told the aim, what they will do, how long it takes, and any risk. Consent means they then say yes freely. Nobody is forced, tricked or paid so much that they cannot say no. People may withdraw (stop) at any time without a reason.

Children and other vulnerable groups

Children, sick people or people under someone's power need extra care. For children, a parent or guardian also gives consent, and the child must agree too.

Privacy

• Anonymity: no names are collected, or names are replaced by codes (P1, P2).
• Confidentiality: the researcher knows who said what but keeps it secret and stores data safely.

Deception (hiding the true aim) is allowed only rarely, only if no harm is done, and people must be told the truth at the end (debriefing).

Honesty with data and credit for ideas

• Fabrication: making up data that was never collected.
• Falsification: changing real data or hiding results you did not like.
• Plagiarism: using someone's words or ideas as if they were yours.

All three are serious cheating in research. Instead, report the real results, say what went wrong, and cite every source: author, year, title, where it is from.

Universities and hospitals have an ethics committee (also called a review board). It checks a study plan before it starts. In medicine, these rules grew after the Nuremberg Code (1947) and the Declaration of Helsinki (1964), written because some past experiments had hurt people badly.

Try it: check a study plan

Plan a tiny survey: "How many hours do students in my class sleep?"

1. Write two lines explaining the aim to classmates.
2. Add: "You can skip any question or stop anytime."
3. Do not ask for names. Give each form a number.
4. Report the real average, even if it surprises you.
5. If you used a sleep chart from a website, write its name under your result.

Now go to the last 3D step and tick each rule you followed. Did the light turn green?

Key formulas and definitions

• Five rules: Do no harm · Informed consent · Privacy · Honest data · Credit sources
• Informed consent = clear information + free choice + right to stop
• Anonymity = no one, not even the researcher, can link answers to a name
• Confidentiality = researcher knows, but keeps it secret
• Research misconduct = fabrication + falsification + plagiarism

Worked examples

Common mistakes

• Thinking consent is only a signature. People must truly understand the study and feel free to say no.
• Mixing up anonymity and confidentiality. Anonymous = no names at all; confidential = names known but kept secret.
• Thinking it is fine to drop 'bad' results. Hiding results is falsification.
• Thinking that changing a few words of someone else's text avoids plagiarism. You must still cite the source.