Chapter 3 – The Ethical Principles that Guide Researchers (pp. 48-76)
Overall teaching objective: To introduce undergraduate criminal justice research methods
students to the potential ethical problems that researchers confront and how these
problems are mitigated.
Making Research Real 3.1 – Please Help Our Son! (p. 48)
 This is a story about an experiment of a promising psychotropic drug designed to
reduce aggressive behavior among juveniles.
 The preliminary results of the drug trial show promising results.
 The parents of a research subject want their troubled son to be in the
experimental group, i.e. receive the actual drug rather than a placebo.
 The experimental researchers decide not to honor this request because it might
adversely affect the results of the experiment.
Principles of Ethical Research Practice (p. 48)
 Social science researchers should be concerned about ethics because ultimately
their obligation is to improve the human condition through research.
 What constitutes ethical behavior often depends on the particular circumstances of
individual research projects.
Note to Instructors: For your convenience the ethical principles discussed below are
summarized at the end of this section. This table also appears in the textbook.
Principle 1: Do No Harm (p. 49)
 The principle of doing no harm means that researchers should never subject
research participants to physical danger, cause them psychological harm or
expose them to legal liability.
 Researchers should build contingencies into the research plan to prevent or
mitigate potential harm. In extreme cases, they should abandon the research
project altogether.
Table 3.1 - Types of potential harm caused by the research process. (p. 50)
Type of harm
Description
Physical
Occurs when research subjects are exposed to situations and elements in the
research process that could cause them physical injury or death.
Psychological
Occurs when research subjects are exposed to situations and elements in the
research process that could cause them severe psychological pain or
exacerbate a mental illness.
Legal
Occurs when research subjects are exposed to situations and elements in the
research process that could expose them to serious legal harm including
criminal or civil prosecution.
Making Research Real 3.2 – Who Knew? (p. 52)
 Student researchers want to do research on the long term effects of divorce.
 Some of the respondents could have been psychologically harmed during the
research because they were asked to recount bad childhood memories.
 To avoid a potential harm, the researchers included the telephone number to a
campus counseling service on the survey form.
Principle 2: Ensure Privacy (p. 53)
 Privacy means the right to be left alone and free from public scrutiny.
 There are two types of privacy in research.
o Confidentiality means that the researcher knows who the research subjects
are, but does not disclose their identity to others.
o Anonymity means that nobody, not even the researcher, knows the identity
of the research subjects.
Principle 3: Obtain Voluntary and Informed Consent (p. 54)
 Researchers must obtain consent from research subjects prior to collecting
information from them.
 This consent must be given voluntarily, meaning that the research subjects must
be completely free to participate or not participate without threat.
 In addition, the consent must be informed, meaning that the researcher must
inform the research subjects about the research and any risks associated with
participation in the research.
Principle 4: Get Permission (p. 55)
 Researchers must seek and obtain permission to work with individuals who are
considered vulnerable by virtue of their diminished capacity to direct their own
affairs.
 Vulnerable populations include children, the mentally ill, the infirm, the elderly
and prisoners.
Principle 5: Avoid Sponsorship Bias and Suppression (p. 56)
 Sponsorship bias occurs when the sponsor of a research project attempts to
influence the study design or interpretation of data for its own benefit.
 Suppression occurs when a research sponsor fails to disclose findings that shed an
unfavorable light on the sponsor’s products or services.
Making Research Real 3.3 – Daring D.A.R.E. (p. 57)
 The company that produces material for the popular Drug Abuse Resistance
Education program sponsored research and then suppressed it when it learned
that its findings did not support the companies claims about the effectiveness of
the program.
Making Research Real 3.4 – Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire (p. 57)
 A company that provides services (on a contractual basis) to juvenile offenders
agreed to allow a researcher to evaluate its program’s effectiveness.
 However, the company excluded data relating to cases that were not successful in
the program prior to transmitting it to the researcher for analysis.
Principle 6: Prevent Misrepresentation (p. 58)
 Research misrepresentation involves lying about data, results and authorship in
research.
 Misrepresentaion may include;
o research fraud, which is fabricating research data or results;
o plagiarism, which is presenting the intellectual property of another as your
own, or
o deception, which is lending one’s name and/or reputation to a research
project that one does not know much about.
Making Research Real 3.5 – The MMR Vaccine/Autism Connection (p. 59)
 In 1998, Andrew Wakefield, a British surgeon and medical researcher published
an article in a prestigious medical journal.
 In this research Dr. Wakefield alleged a connection between the MMR vaccine
and Autism
 These results cause a controversy in the medical community.
 Many parents refused to allow their children to be vaccinated.
 Unfortunately, the results were misrepresented and thousands of children
contracted the measles, mumps and rubella.
Making Research Real 3.6 – It’s Really Not Safe in That Neighborhood (p. 60)
 The owner of an apartment complex misrepresented data to show that his facility
had a low crime rate, when in fact it experienced a high crime rate.
 The owner duped a university professor into lending his name (and reputation) to
this ‘research’ for a small fee of course.
Principle 7: Ensure the Safety of Researchers (p. 61)
 The principle of doing no harm extends to the safety of researchers.
 Research supervisors should ensure the physical and psychological safety of
researchers, who may find themselves in potentially dangerous situations.
 They should also ensure that researchers are protected from legal harm.
 Consistent with this principle, researchers have an ethical obligation to report
criminal activity that could cause harm to themselves or others.
Making Research Real 3.7 – Harrowing Homelessness (p. 62)
 A researcher conducts observations of homeless individuals while disguised as a
homeless person.


During the process the researcher is threatened physically and adversely affected
psychologically.
He decides to terminate the research in the interest of his own safety.
Making Research Real 3.8 – How About NO! (p. 63)
 A university professor is presented a research plan that would require
researchers to run stop signs in front of police officers.
 The purpose of this research is to see if police officers are more likely to stop
drivers who are racial minorities.
 The researcher rejects the plan because it would place the research assistants in
both legal and physical danger.
Table 3.2 - Principles of ethical research practice. (p. 64)
Principle
Description
Application
Do No Harm
The research process should
never cause physical,
psychological or legal harm to
research subjects.
Researchers should know all
the potential harm that
research subjects may be
exposed to during a research
project. They should prevent,
mitigate and inform
participants of these potential
harms.
Ensure Privacy
Researchers should respect an
individual’s right to be left
alone and ensure that the
personal information of
research subjects will not be
inappropriately divulged.
When personal information
about research subjects is
collected confidentially, the
researcher should be the only
person that can attribute the
information to a particular
research subject. When
personal information is
collected anonymously,
nobody, not even the
researcher, should be able to
attribute it to a particular
research subject.
Obtain Voluntary and
Informed Consent
Researchers should secure
consent from research subjects
before they participate in a
research project.
Consent must be given
voluntarily, without threat or
duress. Researchers must
disclose, up front, what the
research subjects will be asked
to do and whether there are
any risks involved.
Get Permission
Researchers should get special
permission to study members
of vulnerable populations.
Certain populations, like
children, the elderly, the
mentally ill, and prisoners are
particularly vulnerable to
abuse. Researchers must use
special care and receive
special permission to study
these populations.
Avoid Sponsorship Bias
and Suppression
Researchers should avoid
relationships that may lead to
sponsorship bias and/or
suppression.
Some research sponsors may
attempt to control the research
process so that it results in
findings favorable to their
financial, political or personal
interests. Researchers should
never agree to participate in
research if there is a chance
that their objectivity or
intellectual freedom will be
limited.
Prevent
Misrepresentation
Researchers should not lie
about or fabricate their
research findings (research
fraud), represent another
person’s work as their own
(plagiarism) or sanction
another person’s work without
conducting a careful analysis
(deception).
To avoid the potential for
misrepresentation, researchers
must subject their work to
rigorous and well informed
peer review. They must be
honest about their
methodology and their
findings. And, when
necessary, they must permit
another party to independently
evaluate their data and
analysis.
Ensure the Safety of
Researchers
The research process should
never cause physical,
psychological or legal harm to
researchers or their assistants.
Researchers have an
obligation to know the
potential harms that they, their
colleagues, and their assistants
may be exposed to during a
research project. These
potential harms must be
mitigated and researchers
must accept their
responsibility to intervene if
necessary, even if it means
terminating the project.
Minimizing Ethical Dilemmas (p. 65)
 Most of the ethical principles discussed in the previous section have been codified
into statutes, regulations and procedures by governments, research institutions and
universities.
 In this section, we will take a look at some of the rules and procedures that have
been put into place to make sure researchers adhere to minimum standards for
ethical research practice.
 Compliance with these rules, however, is not always enough.
 Just because a researcher complies with the letter of the law does not mean that no
harm will come to the research subjects or the researchers.
 Therefore, the rules discussed in this section should be considered a minimum
ethical standard.
Legislation and Policy Oversight (p. 65)
 Researchers are subject to numerous international treaties, federal and state laws,
and institutional regulations that are designed to protect human research subjects.
 Some of the more prominent of these are;
o The Nuremberg Code (1947) – This code was created following the
Nuremberg Trial of Nazi doctors who conducted cruel experiments on
human beings during World War II. It consists of ten points defining
legitimate research on human subjects and includes such principles as
informed consent and avoidance of potential harm to subjects.
o The Declaration of Helsinki (1964) – This declaration was developed by
the 18th World Medical Assembly to provide ethical guidelines in human
experimentation. It includes twelve principles to guide physicians on
ethical issues relating to biomedical research and puts forth the idea that
the needs of the research subject should come before research.
o The Belmont Report (1979) – This report was created by the National
Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and
Behavioral Research. It establishes three principles for ethical conduct in
research, including respect for persons, beneficence and justice.
 In the United States, there are also numerous federal and state statutes governing
the treatment of human research subjects.
 At the federal level, the Common Rule (45 CFR Part 46) requires that each
research institution with federally sponsored research involving human subjects
have an Assurance with the Office of Human Research Protections on file.
Institutional Review Boards (p. 66)
 Nearly every university and many research organizations maintain Institutional
Review Boards (IRBs) and require researchers to seek approval from these
boards prior to doing research on human subjects.


Research projects that pose minimal risk to human subjects undergo an expedited
review.
Research projects that pose considerable risk to human subjects undergo a full
review. The level of scrutiny depends on the potential for human harm.
Codes of Ethics (p. 67)
 Many professional organizations and most universities publish formally written
codes of ethics. These codes are intended to provide guidance to professionals
and members of organizations on how to behave ethically.
Making Research Real 3.9 – Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences’ Code of Ethics (p.
67)
 This is a lengthy list of the ACJS Code of Ethics governing the research activities
of its members.
Getting to the Point (Chapter Summary) (p. 70)
 Social science researchers should be concerned about ethics because ultimately
their obligation is to improve the human condition through research. What
constitutes ethical behavior often depends on the particular circumstances of
individual research projects.

The principle of doing no harm means that researchers should never subject
research participants to physical danger, cause them psychological harm or
expose them to legal liability. Researchers should build contingencies into the
research plan to prevent or mitigate potential harm. In extreme cases, they should
abandon the research project altogether.

Privacy means the right to be left alone and free from public scrutiny. There are
two types of privacy in research. Confidentiality means that the researcher knows
who the research subjects are, but does not disclose their identity to others.
Anonymity means that nobody, not even the researcher, knows the identity of the
research subjects.

Researchers must obtain consent from research subjects prior to collecting
information from them. This consent must be given voluntarily, meaning that the
research subjects must be completely free to participate or not participate without
threat. In addition, the consent must be informed, meaning that the researcher
must inform the research subjects about the research and any risks associated with
participation in the research.

Researchers must seek and obtain permission to work with individuals who are
considered vulnerable by virtue of their diminished capacity to direct their own
affairs. Vulnerable populations include children, the mentally ill, the infirm, the
elderly and prisoners.

Sponsorship bias occurs when the sponsor of a research project attempts to
influence the study design or interpretation of data for its own benefit.
Suppression occurs when a research sponsor fails to disclose findings that shed an
unfavorable light on the sponsor’s products or services.

Research misrepresentation involves lying about data, results and authorship in
research. It may include research fraud, which is fabricating research data or
results; plagiarism, which is presenting the intellectual property of another as your
own; or deception, which is lending one’s name and/or reputation to a research
project that one does not know much about.

The principle of doing no harm extends to the safety of researchers. Research
supervisors should ensure the physical and psychological safety of researchers,
who may find themselves in potentially dangerous situations. They should also
ensure that researchers are protected from legal harm. Consistent with this
principle, researchers have an ethical obligation to report criminal activity that
could cause harm to themselves or others.

Researchers are subject to numerous international treaties, federal and state laws,
and institutional regulations that are designed to protect human research subjects.

Nearly every university and many research organizations maintain Institutional
Review Boards (IRBs) and require researchers to seek approval from these boards
prior to doing research on human subjects. Research projects that pose minimal
risk to human subjects undergo an expedited review; research projects that pose
considerable risk to human subjects undergo a full review. The level of scrutiny
depends on the potential for human harm.

Many professional organizations and most universities publish formally written
codes of ethics. These codes are intended to provide guidance to professionals
and members of organizations on how to behave ethically.