Ethical Research Guidelines For The Research Essay Samples

Business Research Ethics

Business Research Project Summary
The necessity to come up with effective leadership styles is rapidly becoming significant in all organizations. The application of effective and correct leadership style has been a topic of debate and discussion by both practitioners and scholars. The need to develop productive leadership styles is becoming a significant need in the public sector and especially in business firms. Earlier reports have stated that leadership styles have a significant influence on employee behavior. Surveys carried out on job satisfaction from the 1920’s onward have all reported that supervisors and leaders make a difference in their employees’ performance and satisfaction. Employees’ positive attitude towards their managers and supervisors has been reported to be a main contributor to jobs satisfaction and has been linked to general productivity. However, there is no research that has attempted to evaluate the differing influence that varying leadership styles have on employees. It has not been clear on leadership styles that business managers should adopt to maximize employee job performance. The objective of this project is to find out if there is a correlation between employees’ performance and manager’s leadership style especially in the business field.

Research Ethics is a guide to procedures and principals. They assure that a researcher considers all important ethical issues while conducting research. Research ethics is a significant part of a researcher and significantly influences the quality of research. Ethical research guidelines to be followed by the study are
Honesty- To candidly report results, data, procedures, publication status, and methods. To completely avoid misinterpreting, falsifying and fabricating data. Additionally, there should be no deceit to the public, granting agencies or colleagues.
Integrity and confidentiality- Adhering to agreements and promises, and striving for consistency of action and thought. To effectively protect confidential information such as grants and papers submitted for personnel records.
Respect for intellectual property- Honoring copyrights, patents and other forms of intellectual property. Failure to use unpublished methods, results, or data without permission. Openness in sharing results, data, resources, tools, and ideas. Additionally, being open to new ideas and criticism.
Objectivity- Minimize and avoid self-deception or bias. Focusing to avoid bias in data analysis, experimental design, peer review, data interpretation, grant writing, data analysis, expert writing, and other dimensions of research where objectivity is required or expected. Additionally, avoiding disclosing financial or personal interests that may impact research.
Carefulness- Avoid the negligence and careless errors. Critically and carefully examine the research work and the work of others. Maintain proper records of research activities such as research design, data collection and correspondence with journals or agencies.
Social responsibility and Legality- Adhere to relevant government and institutional policies and relevant laws. Strive to establish social good and mitigate or prevent social harms through public education, advocacy, and research.

Unethical Research Practices to Be Avoided

Breach of confidentiality is harmful any research project. The nature of information acquired in this research project is obtained with a promise of confidentiality. The just duty of discretion applies to the information directly obtained from other researchers and participants. This project is based on a sensitive topic that entails participants to disclose how their relationship with the manager impacts their performance. For this reason, it greatly depends on firm promises of confidentiality to formulate trust with participants. Breaching of confidentiality in this project will severely harm the trust relationship between the participant and the researcher and other groups or individuals. Additionally, breaching of confidentiality will impact the general reputation of the entire research community and how the society perceives them.
Carelessness is a grave mistake while conducting research. It could lead to leakage of data that would otherwise be private. Safeguarding of information is crucial while conducting researches especially those of a sensitive nature. Lack of safeguarding information demonstrates lack of respect for the participants’ privacy. Information leakage could harm the reputation of a participant and damage work relationships.

How To Prevent Unethical Issues

Researchers should assess privacy threats and risks to the security of data during all stages of the research life cycle. In addition, they should execute effective measures to ensure data is well protected. Researchers should pursue disciplinary practices and standards for the protection and collection of data obtained for research purposes. Security measures should be taken into account based on the type, nature, state, content, mobility, and form of data. Researchers should ensure measures for safeguarding information applies to both original documents and copies of data.
Trust between researchers and participants are vital while conducting research projects. Confidentiality helps participants feel respected and promotes autonomy; this promotes trust between participants and researchers. For this reason, it is crucial for researchers to update participants and obtain their consent. If their private information is to be shared with the research sponsor, a regulatory agency, community partners, regulatory agency, and government agencies. Researchers should also avoid being placed in a position of being informants for leaders or authorities of the organization as this could make them breach confidentiality.

Reference

Patrick O'Sullivan, M. S. (2012). Business Ethics: A Critical Approach: Integrating Ethics Across the Business World. New York: Routledge Publishers.