A guide to resources on research ethics

Resources on research ethics by Mark Israel and Iain Hay (Flinders University, Australia).

Guidelines and codes of practice

Professional associations

• British Educational Research Association – Ethical guidelines for educational research (PDF file)
• British Psychological Society – Code of ethics and conduct (PDF file)
• British Society of Criminology – Code of ethics for researchers in the field of criminology
• British Sociological Association – Statement of ethical practice
• Social Research Association – Ethical guidelines
• Socio-Legal Studies Association – Statement of principles of ethical research practice (2009 revision)

Biomedical research

• Directives for human experimentation (Nuremberg Code, 1947)
• Ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects (Declaration of Helsinki, 1964)
• International ethical guidelines for biomedical research involving human subjects (CIOMS guidelines, 2002)

National approaches

• Australia – National statement on ethical conduct in human research
• Canada – Ethical conduct for research involving humans (Tri-Council policy statement, 1998 (with 2000, 2002, and 2005 amendments)
• USA – Ethical principles and giuidelines for the protection of human subjects of research (Belmont Report)
• USA – Federal policy on research misconduct (American Physical Society)

Socio-economic research

• ESRC research ethics framework
• RESPECT code of practice

Previous work

This resource draws on work published elsewhere, reproduced here by permission of Sage Publications, the Journal of Geography in Higher Education, EDGE, and the American Sociological Association, all of whom retain their existing copyright. Where appropriate publications have been modified to create a coherent set of resources for a British audience of research students, researchers and teachers engaged in empirical research in law.

Earlier versions of parts of this resource were first published as:

• Hay I & Foley P (1998) ‘Ethics, geography and responsible citizenship’ Journal of Geography in Higher Education 22:169-183
• Hay I & Israel M (2005) ‘A case for ethics (not conformity)’ in G Goodwin & M Schwartz (eds) ‘Professing’ humanist sociology (5th ed) Washington DC: American Sociological Association
• Hay I & Israel M (2008) ‘Private people, secret places: ethical research in practice’ in M Solem & K Foote (eds) Aspiring academics New York: Prentice-Hall
• Israel M (2005) ‘Research ethics’ in E McLaughlin & J Muncie (eds) Dictionary of criminology (2nd ed) London: Sage
• Israel M (2006) ‘Confidentiality’ in V Jupp (ed) Dictionary of social research London: Sage
• Israel M & Hay I (2006) Research ethics for social scientists: between ethical conduct and regulatory compliance London: Sage
• Israel M & I Hay (2008) ‘Conflict of interest’ in L Given et al (eds) Encyclopedia of qualitative research Thousand Hills, CA: Sage
• Israel M & I Hay (2008) ‘Informed consent’ in L Given et al (eds) Encyclopedia of qualitative research Thousand Hills, CA: Sage

References

• Baier A (1985) ‘What do women want in a moral theory’ in A Baier (ed) Moral prejudices: essays on ethics Cambridge: the University Press
• Bauman Z (1993) Postmodern ethics Oxford: Blackwell
• Beauchamp T & Childress J (1994) Principles of biomedical ethics (4th ed) New York: Oxford University Press
• Beauchamp T & Childress J (2001) Principles of biomedical ethics (5th ed) New York: Oxford University Press
• Boon A (2005) ‘The formalisation of research ethics’ in R Banakar & M Travers (eds) Theory and method in socio-legal research Oxford: Hart
• Bosk C & De Vries R (2004) ‘Bureaucracies of mass deception: institutional review boards and the ethics of ethnographic research’ Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 595:249-263
• British Sociological Association (2002) Statement of ethical practice Durham: BSA
• Broeder D (1958) ‘The University of Chicago jury project’ Nebraska Law Review 38:744-761
• Campbell R (2002) Emotionally involved: the impact of researching rape London: Routledge
• Cownie F (2004) Legal academics: culture and identities Oxford: Hart
• Danet B, Hoffman K & Kermish N (1980) ‘Obstacles to the study of lawyer-client interaction: the biography of a failure’ Law and Society Review 14:905-922
• Flood J, Morgan B & Bradney A (2004) Responses to the consultation document: Inquiry on Empirical Research in Law Socio-Legal Studies Association
• Freedman B, Fuks A & Weijer C (1993) ‘”In loco parentis”: minimal risk as an ethical threshold for research upon children’ Hastings Center Report 23:13-19
• Genn H, Partington M & Wheeler S (2006) Law in the real world: improving our understanding of how law works London: Nuffield Foundation
• Gilligan C. (1977) ‘In a different voice: women’s conceptions of self and of morality’ Harvard Educational Review 47:481-503
• Gilligan C (1982) In a different voice: psychological theory and women’s development Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
• Guillemin M & Gillam L (2004) ‘Ethics, reflexivity and “ethically important moments” in research’ Qualitative Inquiry 10:261-280
• Haggerty K (2004) ‘Ethics creep: governing social science research in the name of ethics’ Qualitative Sociology 27:391-414
• Hastings Center (1979) The teaching of ethics in higher education New York: Hastings Center (Institute of Society, Ethics and the Life Sciences)
• Hay I (1998) ‘Making moral imaginations: research ethics, pedagogy and professional human geography’ Ethics, place and environment 1:55-76
• Holbrook A (1997) ‘Ethics by numbers? An historian’s reflection of ethics in the field’ in M Bibby (ed) Ethics and education research: review of Australian research in education (4:49-66) Coldstream, Victoria: Australian Association for Research in Education
• Israel M (2004a) ‘Strictly confidential? Integrity and the disclosure of criminological and socio-legal research’ British Journal of Criminology 44:1-26
• Israel M (2004b) Ethics and the governance of criminological research in Australia: a report for the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (PDF file) Sydney: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research
• Israel M & Hay I (2006) Research ethics for social scientists: between ethical conduct and regulatory compliance London: Sage
• Israel M & Hersh D (2006) ‘Ethics’ in N Gilbert (ed) From postgraduate to social scientist: a guide to key skills London: Sage
• Lewis G, Brown N, Holland S & Webster A (2003) A review of ethics and social science research for the Strategic Forum for the Social Sciences: summary of the review (PDF file) York: Science and Technology Studies Unit
• Liu S (2006) Client influence and the contingency of professionalism: the work of elite corporate lawyers in China Law and Society Review 40:751-82
• Nicholl J (2000) ‘The ethics of research ethics committees’ British Medical Journal 320:1217
• Noddings N (2003) Caring: a feminine approach to ethics and moral education Berkeley, CA: University of California Press
• Oakes J (2002) ‘Risks and wrongs in social science research: an evaluator’s guide to IRB’ Evaluation Review 26:443-479
• Slaughter S & L Leslie (1997) Academic capitalism: politics, policies, and the entrepreneurial university London: Johns Hopkins
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Ethics Special Working Committee (2004) Giving voice to the spectrum Ottawa: Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics
• THES (2000) ‘The fundraising deal: we get cash, you get kudos’ Times Higher Education Supplement 8 December
• Thomas J (1996) Introduction: a debate about the ethics of fair practices for collecting social science data in cyberspace The Information Society 12:107-117
• Tinker A & Coomber V (2004) University research ethics committees: their role, remit and conduct London: Kings College
• Vaughan T (1967) ‘Governmental intervention in social research: political and ethical dimensions in the Wichita jury recordings’ in G Sjoberg (ed) Ethics, politics and social research Cambridge, MA: Schenkman
• Zimbardo P (1973) ‘On the ethics of intervention in human psychological research: with special reference to the Stanford prison experiment’ Cognition 2: 243-256
• Zimbardo P, Maslach C & Haney C (1999) Reflections on the Stanford prison experiment: genesis, transformations, consequences (PDF file) in T Blass (ed) Obedience to authority: current perspectives on the Milgram paradigm Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum

Last Modified: 4 June 2010