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Reporting the Findings

The relationship between the researcher and the subject of the research, the participants, is inevitably
a ‘power’ relationship. Every effort must be made to ensure that the researcher does not misuse the
authority. Given this, the study population must be the first to receive the findings of the research.
Clearly, this cannot be done through academic papers. At the same time, shorter reports should not
be written before a full report has been compiled and peer reviewed. Every attempt, therefore, must be
made to produce a lay report immediately after the technical report has passed review.
No report of findings should be made public or offered for publication without an ethical and technical
review. This is imperative and cannot be ignored. The reasons for this are simply to ensure that an
independent body must be unbiased about assessing the technical, and even more importantly, the
ethical dimensions of the report. It is a safeguard not only for the researcher but also the participant
community.
Ethical considerations in academic writing do not come under the purview here. But it is emphasized
that it is not enough to integrate an ethical perspective in conducting research. It is equally necessary
that the research report does not just pay lip service to ethics but, in fact, integrates it.

Conclusion

After recounting the development of ethics in social science research over time and in India in
particular, we focused on how ethical consideration are operationalized in every aspect of a research
study, considering the difficulties and dilemmas in the ethical conduct of research.

This is not an exhaustive study because ethics covers a very vast area. Moreover, ethics codification is
in early stages still in India. There is a great need for normalizing ethical reviews for all social science
research. All branches of social sciences need to make every effort to bring together a comprehensive
and appropriate code of ethics for social science as many other countries have done over the last 15
years.

References

American Sociological Association (ASA). 2018. Code of Ethics. Washington, D.C.: American
Sociological Association.
Barnes, John Arundel. 1977. The Ethics of Inquiry in Social Science: Three Lectures. Oxford, UK: Oxford
University Press.

British Sociological Association (BSA). 2017. Statement of Ethical Practice. BSA Publications. https://
www.britsoc.co.uk/media/24310/bsa_statement_of_ethical_practice.pdf
Colnerud, Gunnel. 2013. Brief Report: Ethical problems in research practice. Journal of Empirical
Research on Human Research Ethics (8), 4: 37–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jer.2013.8.4.37

Dattalo, Patrick. 2010. Ethical Dilemmas in Sampling. Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics Volume
7 (1).
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). 2015. ESRC Framework for Research Ethics —
Updated January 2015. 51pp. https://esrc.ukri.org/files/funding/guidance-for-applicants/esrc-
framework-for-research-ethics-2015/. Accessed May 3, 2021.

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