Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Define research ethics
- Understand the purpose of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)
Now that you have become familiar with many of the details associated with the scientific method, research design, and the various methods for conducting research, we still have one final puzzle to address—how do we conduct research the “right” way? Just as individual judgments and choices are guided by a society’s morals, norms, and principles, so too is the discipline of political science. For instance, what is the right way to frame our questions without misleading our research subjects? How ought we interpret results that may be ‘fuzzy’ or prone to manipulation? And what, if anything, do we owe the individuals and communities that makes much of our scholarship possible in the first place?
These are just a few of the ethical challenges that confront political science researcher, and like the principles that guide any given society, they are subject to debate, interpretation, and tend to operate at the intersection of theory and practice. Thus, in order to research and produce knowledge in an ethical way, our craft is governed by a number of principles and rules that depends on researchers exercising sound judgment when their exact application may be unclear.
The word ethics comes from the Greek work word ēthos, meaning moral character, and ēthikos, pertaining to customary behavior. Put another way, ethics are the systems of principles that guide a particular group’s appropriate action. Indeed, all scientists are expected to conduct research in a particular way, which observes agreed upon principles established and revised by various “epistemic communities,” or communities of learning and knowledge production. Some of these ethical principles may seem obvious: not claiming credit for the work of others (e.g. plagiarism); misrepresenting sources or inventing data; using unreliable data, and distorting opposing views (Booth, Colomb, and Williams 2008). However, some ethical considerations are less straightforward, such as contemplating the potential effects of one’s research on society. Indeed, from the invention of dynamite to the creation of the internet, scientists are seldom capable of maintaining a monopoly on how their research, inventions, and discoveries will ultimately impact individuals, society, or our planet.
Failing to take ethical considerations in one’s research may not only do irreparable harm to others, but also to your reputation, that of your home institution and our discipline—political science. It is for this reason that in the United States, political scientists must submit their research proposals to Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), which assesses the degree to which the researcher and their project’s design has taken appropriate measures to protect the rights and well-being of their “human subjects.” A full discussion of IRBs is beyond the scope of this chapter, as their particular protocols and emphasis varies depending on their location. Yet generally speaking, IRBs were developed between 1970-1990 in response to unethical research on human subjects, such as that conducted by Dr. Josef Menegle and others during the Nazi Regime (Yanow and Schwartz-Shea 2011). Although designed to protect the researcher, their research participants, and the universities or institutions in which they are typically housed, they have been critiqued for being overly bureaucratic and legalistic in nature (Yanow and SchwartzShea 2011).
Moreover, because IRBs cannot anticipate the numerous judgments calls we may confront when conducting research, a common refrain by most IRBs is that when in doubt, err on the side of caution(Shively 2017). Thus, the task of preparing young political scientists for the ethical challenges that await them in designing, conducting, and hopefully, publishing their findings is largely the responsibility of the guardians and practitioners of our discipline—such as authors of this text and your instructor. That being said, what follows is by no means a compressive guide to ethical research nor can your instructor prepare you for all the potential ethical questions and dilemmas that may arise as you progress in this field. What we instead offer are a number of key principles, some of which are subject to debate, that you must grapple with and consider when engaged in research.
