Ethical issues arise from the kinds of problems that social scientists investigate and the methods used to obtain valid and reliable data. As the scope of the social sciences has expanded, and as our methods of research and analysis have become more sophisticated, there has been a heightened concern with the ethics involved in social science research.
The Milgram study of obedience to authority is an important and controversial case that illustrates key ethical questions such as deception of research participants, the possibility of psychological harm being done to participants, the influence the experimentation had on participants' trust of authority figures, privacy, and the ethical implications of future research.
Balancing Costs and BenefitsThe ethical dilemma of social science research involves the conflict between two rights: the right of investigators to conduct research and acquire knowledge and the right of individual research participants to self determination, privacy, and dignity. Within the context of costs versus benefits, two central problems emerge that most often concern investigators: informed consent and privacy.
Informed ConsentThere is a wide consensus among social scientists that research involving human participants should be performed with the informed consent of the participants; informed consent is absolutely essential whenever participants are exposed to substantial risks or are asked to forfeit personal rights.
The idea of informed consent derives from cultural values and from legal considerations; it rests upon the high preference we give to freedom and self determination. Although there is now general acceptance of the principle of informed consent, there are wide variations. This is mainly a result of disagreements about what informed consent means in particular. The major elements of informed consent are competence, voluntarism, full information, and comprehension.
Privacy The right to privacy may easily be violated during an investigation or after its completion. Privacy may be considered from three different perspectives: the sensitivity of information being given, the setting being observed, and dissemination of the information. Applying the right of anonymity requires that the identity of individuals be separated from the information they give. Investigators have a strict moral and professional obligation to keep the promise of confidentiality: even though researchers are able to identify a particular participant's information, they would not reveal it publicly. Despite this obligation, there are circumstances in which it may be difficult or impossible for investigators to maintain confidentiality. Professional Code of Ethics The major professional societies representing social scientists have developed codes of ethics to assist their members. These codes comprise the consensus of values within the different professions and help the individual research to delineate and explicate what is required and what is forbidden. Every institution that conducts research on human subjects is required to house an institutional review board (IRB). The primary duty of an IRB is to oversee human subject research to assure protection and safety of any research participants