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The Daily Insight

What are the ethical issues in social research?

Author

Sarah Oconnor

Updated on March 03, 2026

Seven basic ethical issues arise in social science research: informed consent, deception, privacy (including confidentiality and anonymity), physical or mental distress, problems in sponsored research, scientific misconduct or fraud, and scientific advocacy.

What are the ethical rules today regarding research?

In practice, these ethical principles mean that as a researcher, you need to: (a) obtain informed consent from potential research participants; (b) minimise the risk of harm to participants; (c) protect their anonymity and confidentiality; (d) avoid using deceptive practices; and (e) give participants the right to …

What are the ethical issues in quantitative research?

These ethical norms include issues such as requirements for honesty, requirements for informed consent, anonymisation and storage of data, the right of access to data for participants and duty of confidentiality for all those who undertake research.

What are the ethical issues in research with human participants?

The most salient ethical values implicated by the use of human participants in research are beneficence (doing good), non‐maleficence (preventing or mitigating harm), fidelity and trust within the fiduciary investigator/participant relationship, personal dignity, and autonomy pertaining to both informed, voluntary.

Which is an ethical issue to consider relating to the researcher?

Researchers face ethical challenges in all stages of the study, from designing to reporting. These include anonymity, confidentiality, informed consent, researchers’ potential impact on the participants and vice versa.

What are the ethical issues in Social Research?

This is not unusual and researchers should approach this as a learning process rather than a rejection of the legitimacy of the project. Privacy and confidentiality are the most obvious, and very important, ethical concerns in social research.

What makes a research project Ethical?

At the basic level, in order for a research project to be ethical, the dignity, rights, safety and well-being of participants must be the primary consideration. 6 The main aim of an ethics committee is to ensure that this is the case.

Does ethnographic research work when people don’t know they’re being observed?

Ethnographic research has been the subject of much debate, particularly when participants do not know they are being observed.