Social Work Research Methods: Qualitative and
Quantitative Approaches
Topic 5: Ethics and Politics in Social Work
Research
Find Out What the Government Says About Basic
Human Subjects Issues:
http://ohrp.osophs.dhhs.gov/humansubjects/
guidance/basics.htm
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Topic 5: Ethics and Politics in Social Work
Research
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Why be ethical?
What are the basic human subjects issues?
What is informed consent?
What does an informed consent statement look like?
Why be concerned about special populations?
What are subjects rights?
What are the boundaries between research and practice?
What are some misuses of evaluation of practice?
Copyright @ Allyn & Bacon 2003
Why Be Ethical?
• Most unethical behavior results from a lack of
awareness, or pressures to take shortcuts in
building a career, gaining prestige or holding a
job.
• Ethical social work research takes longer to
complete, costs more money, is more complicated,
is more difficult to do (compared to other social
science research), and is required by NASW,
CSWE and other licensing bodies and professional
associations.
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Why Be Ethical? continued…
• Scientific misconduct – occurs when a researcher
falsifies or distorts the data or methods of data
collection, or plagiarizes the work of others.
• Research fraud occurs when a social work
researcher fakes or invents data or falsely reports
how research was conducted.
• Plagiarism – is fraud that occurs when a social
work researcher steals the ideas or writings of
another or uses them without permission
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Why Be Ethical? continued…
• Power – the relationships between social work
researchers and clients or subjects involves power
and trust legitimized by credentials, expertise,
training and respect for the role of science.
• Scientific behavior should be both legal and
ethical; but it could be legal and unethical, it could
be illegal and ethical, or both illegal and
unethical.
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What are the basic Human Subjects Issues?
• Social work research can harm a client or
participant in several ways.
• Physical harm – basic safety and protection from
injury, special provisions for high-risk clients.
• Psychological harm – care not to subject people
to stressful, embarrassing, anxiety-producing or
unpleasant situations.
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Human Subjects Issues continued…
• Legal Harm – protecting people from increased
risk for arrest; dealing with the discovery of illegal
behavior.
• Deception – social work researchers follow the
ethical principle of voluntary consent: never force
anyone to participate in research. Any researcher
anticipating deception would need to receive
guidance from an IRB, or Institutional Review
Board.
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What is Informed Consent?
• A basic ethical principle of never forcing anyone
into participating in research, it must be
completely voluntary.
• It is not enough to get permission, researchers
must acquire a written agreement that specifies a
number of very specific procedures to protect the
client’s or subject’s rights.
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What does An Informed Consent Statement
Look Like?
• A brief description of the purpose and procedures.
• A statement of any risks or discomfort.
• A guarantee of anonymity and the confidentiality
of records.
• Identification of the researcher and information
about rights, oversight and auspice.
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An Informed Consent Statement continued…
• A statement that participation is completely
voluntary and can be terminated at any time
without penalty.
• A description of any alternative procedures.
• A statement of any benefits or compensation
available and the number of subjects involved.
• An offer to provide a summary of the findings.
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Why be Concerned about Special
Populations?
• Students, prison inmates, employees, military personnel,
people who are homeless, TANF recipients, children, those
developmentally delayed may agree to participate, but they
may not be fully capable of making an informed decision
and hence it may be necessary to obtain permission from a
legal guardian.
• Creating new inequalities can arise if a researcher designs
a study to introduce a new treatment to be offered to those
in an experimental group but not to a control group. In
these cases special creative solutions in study design may
need to be developed to be sure no one suffers.
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What are Subjects’ Rights?
• Privacy – the right of the individual to decide
whether to share personal information, including
identity, with others.
• Anonymity – the right to remain unknown and
nameless.
• Confidentiality – the right to keep information
that is shared with others from being distributed.
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What are the Boundaries Between Research
and Practice?
• Practice – interventions that are designed solely
to enhance the well being of a client or client
system and that have a reasonable expectation of
success.
• Research – activities designed to answer a
question, test a hypothesis and permit conclusions
and contribute to a larger body of knowledge.
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What are some Misuses of Evaluation of
Practice?
• Asking the ‘wrong’ research question.
• Requesting a review after a decision has
already by made.
• Demanding an inappropriate design or data
collection technique.
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Misuses of Evaluation continued…
• Interfering with the design or procedures to insure
it produces desired results.
• Continuing a program when evaluation results
show it to be ineffective, or terminating a program
found to be effective.
• Suppressing/deleting positive results in order to
reduce a program or suppressing/deleting negative
results in order to continue a program.
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