Principles of ethical research

Ross Woods, 2018 edn. rev. 2020

1. Researchers are to be respectful of persons, their culture, and their institutions.
2. Observation in a public place is deemed to be publicly available knowledge, except where specific individuals are identifiable.
3. Researchers are to get informant's permission before eliciting information from them. This varies with jurisdiction and the kind of information:
1. Some privacy laws require the researcher to obtain the written consent of informants.
2. Tacit approval might be sufficient.
3. Oral permission might be adequate.
4. Identities of informants may not be made public unless they explicitly give permission.
5. Informant approval does not nullify the researcher’s right to present a different point of view.
6. In some cultures, oral permission is preferable; anything more can raise suspicions and/or cause people to act unnaturally in ways that would subvert the research.
7. Researchers shall maintain the integrity of the informants' information by keeping it distinct from the researcher’s analysis.
8. Researchers shall safeguard any information in their care.
9. Researchers shall not mention in a public document an organization by name without its permission unless its activities are on public record. In some cases, specific items of public record need to be given in references.
10. Researchers shall protect the interests of individual research subjects from embarrassment, exploitation, recrimination, arrest, and persecution.
11. Research, including the researchers' relationships with informants and any means used to acquire information, may not be exploitative, or seen to be so.
12. Researchers shall protect the intellectual property of authors, informants, colleagues and research assistants.
13. Researchers may not plagiarize or submit work resulting from unauthorized collusion.
14. Researchers may not use deceptive means to obtain information.
15. Reporting needs to be honest and representative of what is observed, read, and heard.
    1. Researchers may not use fictitious information. This includes manufactured information, as well as "bending", "adjusting", or exaggerating aspects to suit one's own ends.
    2. Researchers may not delete or omit information that would create an impression different from what was observed.
16. In educational institutions where students and/or staff conduct research, the bounds for privacy and access to information are as follows:
    1. Supervisors are responsible to establish the authenticity and honesty of research processes.
    2. Immediate supervisors shall have access to all research information and raw data and are also required to comply with ethical standards.
    3. In cases of research misconduct, the persons handling the case shall have access to all research information and raw data and are also required to comply with ethical standards.