Ethical Issues of Research

Abstract

Research is basically done to generate new knowledge and contribute to scholarship, policy, practice leading to well being of the people who participate in it. Ethical issues generally cut across the qualitative-quantitative divide. Sound research is based on moral and ethical endeavor and it should ensure that interests of all those participating in research process must not be harmed during research. Generally universities and research institutions in order to conduct research in an ethically appropriate manner not only lay down their own principles and guidelines but also make it mandatory for researcher to take approval from ethics committees or equivalent body. Ethical conduct of research faces numerous challenges from certain qualitative research approaches such as action research, biography, phenomenology and ethnographic methods. This demands closer scrutiny of all these mentioned ethical issues. Nuremberg Military trial was the first attempt to codify principals regarding ethical conduct of research. As a result six principles outlining the conduct of ethical research emerged.