Ethical Issues In Business Research 1j2x64

ETHICAL ISSUES IN BUSINESS RESEARCH Ethics is nothing but the accepted codes of conduct. Ethics in business research is very much required and relevant in today’s industrial scenario. The ethical issues involved in business research can be studied from three different angles. 

Ethics in the treatment of the respondent.

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Ethics in the treatment of buyers and clients.

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Ethics in the treatment of researchers.

ETHICS IN THE TREATMENT OF RESPONDENT An ethical code of conduct must consider the following things: 

Information that should not be disclosed and made public, i.e., participants name and secrecy must be protected.

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Data collected from respondents must be correct and should not be manipulated.

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The rights of respondents must be protected. 

Right to privacy: The researchers should convince the customer that the survey does not involve unethical things and it is being conducted for mutual benefit. Eg: Health care products should not mislead the .

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Right to choose: The customer must be allowed to choose what he wants. No force should be exerted by the sellers on the buyers.

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Right to safety: The researcher must not inflict psychological harm by putting the respondents under pressure to answer.

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Right to be informed: The researcher must inform the customer in advance about the purpose of gathering the information.

ETHICS IN THE TREATMENT OF BUYERS AND CLIENTS 

The method of conducting the research and the results obtained should be accurate.

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The researcher should keep the identity of the client confidential.

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If the client requests or demands an unethical research, the researcher should refuse to take up the ill advised research for his clients. Maintaining confidentiality and secrecy is of utmost importance.

ETHICS IN THE TREATMENT OF RESEARCHERS 

Selecting the bidders: Sometimes firms, for the sake of formality, call for quotations from a number of market research agencies, even though they have already decided to whom the project should be given. This is an unethical practice in the matter of selection of researchers.

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Limited funds: Certain firms have limited funds allocated to carry out the research Eg: The firm may have a budget to conduct research on any basis. This is an unethical practise. A firm has to make this clear to the researcher while inviting proposals.

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Non-availability of data: Some firms give projects to their researcher, but do not provide him with required sales and cost data. Since this may the basis for carrying out the research, the researcher feels frustrated at nor receiving the basic data. This is unethical on the part of the client firm.

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Pseudo-Pilot studies: Some clients ask the research agencies to conduct pilot studies and promise that if the researcher does a good job during the pilot study stages, there will be an additional major contract immediately. This is not an ethical practise.

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Political research: Political organisations hire some research consultants to carry out a research. In such cases, there is all likelihood that the consulting firm or organisation will be policatically pressurised to produce reports and forecast in favour of the party commissioning it. This is an unethical practice. .