Saturday, August 17, 2019
Research Ethics for Social Scientists: Between Ethical Conduct and Regulatory Essay
In this case, the questions of when researchers may possibly feel that they had a responsibility to protect research subjects along with what they can do when faced with criminal behavior are addressed (191). The commentators in this case included ted Palys, john Lowman, Monique marks and Dick Hobbs. On the question of intervening on the violence incidences, Dick Hobbs points out that intervening would be counterproductive but since violence is both emotive and seductive to men intervening would be due to personal relations with one of the fighters but not on the basis of social justice (192). All the commentators were cautious of intervening because they feared it would alter the behavior which they were studying. However, apart from Dick Hobbs the rest believed that it was crucial to report the incidence if someone got seriously injured. On the issue of revealing the information they gathered in the field some suggested they would be willing to do so (Palys and Lowman), others (Dick Hobbs and Marks) argued that they would not since the information was meant for academic purposes only and testifying would elevate research profile and make it hard to perform another research on similar sites (193). All the commentators agreed that the source of funding would not affect their decisions to intervene and testify. However, Marks and Hobbs highly criticized the attempts of directing researchers’ responses to ethical dilemmas since their decisions in the field were not governed by formal codes, but were rather situational and responses cannot be determined outside the field (194, 195).                                                                     Conclusion This reading shows that although it may not be their duty, social researchers in criminal investigation have a duty to protect the respondents especially when someone may get injured in the processes. They should do so by reporting such incidences and testify upon what happened for the purposes of social justice. References Mark, I. (2006). Case study 2. Research ethics for social scientists: between ethical conduct and     regulatory compliance. Sage publications, London. Â
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