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Bryman: Social Research Methods: 3e

Chapter 05

http://www.britsoc.co.uk/equality/Statement+Ethical+Practice.htm
The site maintained by the British Sociological Society is valuable in many respects.  This link brings you directly to its statement on ethical practice.  From this point, you can find material on the ethics of relationships with research participants and covert research, for example.  These are topics dealt with at length in chapter 5 of the textbook.

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fss/resouces/ethics
Here is a fantastic resource for anyone who wants to find out more about the ethical issues involved in social research. Prepared by the ethics committee of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Lancaster University, this web site provides clear advice about a wide range of topics such as informed consent, anonymity and confidentiality, safety and risk, collecting, storing and archiving data, and “whistle blowing”. There is also information about the Data Protection Act, Copyright Act, and links to the formal codes of ethics for various professional organizations in the social sciences. Well worth a visit!

http://sru.soc.surrey.ac.uk/
Article 39 (Previous Issues) is an extremely interesting and thought-provoking article, written by Stephen Gorard at Cardiff University. The author takes issue with the assumption that experiments in social research are ethically dubious, and argues that they may have the greatest long term effects for non-participants insofar as they waste fewer resources and can reach definitive conclusions. Gorard argues that the most important factor to consider is the quality of the research, because “pointless research remains pointless research”, however ethical it may be.

http://www.ogc.fullerton.edu/irb/IRBapplication.pdf
California State University at Fullerton displays its online application form for ethics approval of proposed research by faculty, students and associates.  Your own institution will, almost certainly, have something similar, which you must complete as part of your research proposal process.  This form makes explicit the responsibilities of researchers regarding the “dignity, rights and welfare” of research participants.  A “must see” for anyone planning research in the social sciences.

http://venus.soci.niu.edu/~jthomas/ethics/tis/go.christin
Here are some insightful reflections on the ethics of Internet-based research, written by Christina Allen. The author considers the extent to which it is possible to apply universalist “golden rules” from traditional research methods to online research, and advocates a situationalist approach instead. The article may help you to understand the difference between these two ethical stances, and will be of particular use to anyone who is thinking of doing research in cyberspace.