Bryman & Bell: Research Project Guide

Table of Contents

1. Preparing Yourself to Do Research
2. What Do I Want to Research Exactly?
3. The Research Process
   1. The research stance/philosophy
   2. The research strategy
   3. The research design & using a case study design
   4. Ethical considerations in doing research
   5. Literature, reading skills and key words
   6. Secondary data and online sources
   7. Access and sampling issues
   8. Data collection
   9. Pilot studies
   10. Implementing the research design
   11. Analysis of results: quantitative and qualitative
4. Writing Up Your Research Report

Ethical considerations in doing research

Chapter 25 & Page 558

1. While preparing for your data collection you should consider whether there are any possible ethical problems associated with:
   1. your research methods
   2. your approach to contacting people
2. Considering ethical problems in advance and showing how you intend to deal with them is a good way of demonstrating your understanding of the research process to your audience
3. The most straightforward approach here is to use a checklist of ethical issues such as that in Chapter 25
4. (Also see: p.535-46)

Web link:

www.web-miner.com/busethics.htm - comprehensive list of articles, cases, codes and resources on business ethics from Sharon Stoerger

Exercise: Ethics in Business Research

1

Question As a Research Manager of a university, responsible for looking after Master and Doctor of Philosophy (M. Phil. and PhD.) students, devise a code of ethics as a checklist which students must complete before starting their research and will stand scrutiny by the university's research Ethics Committee. The code must cover elements of harm to participants, lack of informed content, invasion of privacy and deception. Whilst this question can be answered in several ways, one way would be to design a self completion risk assessment matrix of possible ethical circumstances as follows: Research Ethics     Ethical Approval     Does the proposed study entail ethical considerations? Yes No If 'yes', please indicate how you intend to address each of the points, as appropriate. If no, you may proceed. How will you address these points?   Consent Observation research Deception Giving advice Debriefing Research undertaken in public places Withdrawal from the investigation Academic integrity Confidentiality and data protection Animal rights Protection of participants Contractual responsibilities Source: University of Derby RD5 Document 2005