Ethics

• What are ethical guidelines?

  Codes of conduct helping sociologists to plan + design their research.
• Define ethical issues:

  Issues arising from when ethical guidelines aren't followed.
• Who dictates ethical guidelines?

  British Sociological Association
• What could happen if a researcher breaks ethical guidelines?

  • Creates distrust ➡️ lowers research's validity
  • If researcher damages their standing w/ BSA, harder for their research to be published
• BSA's 6 ethical guidelines: (HINT: CDCPIS)

  Consent - Deception - Confidentiality - Protection - Integrity - Safety
• BSA ethical guideline - Consent

  • Respondents should give informed consent
  • Some can't give informed consent e.g. kids, mentally ill
  • Some should be studied w/o consent e.g. criminals
• BSA ethical guideline - Deception


  • Researchers should be honest w/ participants ab. their identity
  • BUT this is unavoidable if the researcher has to be secret e.g. covert participation
• BSA ethical guideline - Confidentiality


  • Inobtrusive research
  • Personal deets should be concealed e.g. respondents get pseudonyms
  • Confidentiality makes respondents trust researcher more ➡️ they'll give more valid data
• BSA ethical guideline - Protection

  • Protect respondents! by not asking distressing questions/putting them in distressing situations/exposing them to punishment (e.g. unemployment)
  • Resolve this w/ respondent validation
• BSA ethical guideline - Integrity

  • Researchers shouldn't do anything illegal/immoral
  • If they receive 'guilty knowledge' they should report it appropriately
  • Can clash w/ confidentiality (if the researcher promises to keep identities secret) + protection (if researcher suffers due to what was revealed).
• BSA ethical guideline - Safety


  • Researchers shouldn't endanger themselves/research assistants
• 4 BSA's ethical guidelines featured in Willis' 'Learning to Labour'

  Consent - Got it from 'the lads' parents + teachers & them after they turned 16

  Deception - Told everyone involved about his intentions

  Confidentiality - Referred to their skl by fictional name

  Integrity - He witnessed them being racist + bullying but didn't intervene/report

  (Could've lost their trust ➡️ lowers validity)
• Which infamous study broke many ethical guidelines?

  Humphreys' 'Tea Room Trade'
• Humphreys' 'Tea Room Trade'

  • Studied men having sex in pub. bathrooms
  • DECEPTION: pretended to be 'watch queen' to gather data, no-one knew he was a researcher
  • Recorded sexual acts of 100+ men
  • Recorded license plates when ppl returned to cars + used police registry to find homes, then posed as market researcher
  • Didn't get consent, their personal deets could've been used for blackmail (breaches protection)