1 RESEARCH ETHICS

Ethics are the moral principles that a person must follow, irrespective of the place or time.
Behaving ethically involves doing the right thing at the right time. The term ethics comes from the
Greek ethos, meaning either a community’s shared customs or an individual’s character, good or
bad. As a social activity, research challenges to define individual ethical principles and the choices
that honor or violate them.
Research ethics focus on the moral principles that researchers must follow in their
respective fields of research. Research ethics provide guidelines for the responsible conduct of
research. They educate and monitor scientists conducting research to ensure a high ethical
standard. Ethical norms also serve the aims or goals of research and apply to people who conduct
scientific research or other scholarly or creative activities.
There are several reasons why it is important to adhere to ethical norms in research. As
norms promote the aims of research, such as knowledge, truth, and avoidance of error. For
example, prohibitions against fabricating, falsifying, or misrepresenting research data promote the
truth and minimize error. Following are the ethics must be followed by a researcher.
Some ethical choices are as:

 Ethical researchers do not plagiarize or claim credit for the results of others.
 They do not misreport sources, invent data, or fake results.
 They do not submit data whose accuracy they don’t trust, unless they say so.
 They do not conceal objections that they cannot rebut.
 They do not caricature or distort opposing views.
 They do not destroy data or conceal sources important for those who follow.
Research offers every reader an ethical invitation that, when not just dutifully accepted but
embraced, can serve the best interests of both researchers and their readers. Because when a
community of shared understanding and interest is created, a higher standard for your work is
established.
Honesty: Strive for honesty in all scientific communications. Honestly report data, results,
methods and procedures, and publication status. Do not fabricate, falsify, or misrepresent data. Do
not deceive colleagues, research sponsors, or the public.
Objectivity:Strive to avoid bias in experimental design, data analysis, data interpretation, peer
review, personnel decisions, grant writing, expert testimony, and other aspects of research where
objectivity is expected or required. Avoid or minimize bias or self-deception. Disclose personal or
financial interests that may affect research.
Integrity:Keep your promises and agreements; act with sincerity; strive for consistency of thought
and action.
Carefulness: Avoid careless errors and negligence; carefully and critically examine your own
work and the work of your peers. Keep good records of research activities, such as data collection,
research design, and correspondence with agencies or journals.
Openness: Share data, results, ideas, tools, resources. Be open to criticism and new ideas.
Respect for Intellectual Property: Honor patents, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual
property. Do not use unpublished data, methods, or results without permission. Give credit where
credit is due. Never plagiarize.
Confidentiality:Protect confidential communications, such as papers or grants submitted for
publication, personnel records, trade or military secrets, and patient records.

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Responsible Publication: Publish in order to advance research and scholarship, not to advance
just your own career. Avoid wasteful and duplicative publication.
Responsible Mentoring: Help to educate, mentor, and advise students. Promote their welfare
and allow them to make their own decisions.
Respect for Colleagues:Respect your colleagues and treat them fairly.
Social Responsibility:Strive to promote social good and prevent or mitigate social harms through
research, public education, and advocacy.
Non-Discrimination:Avoid discrimination against colleagues or students on the basis of sex,
race, ethnicity, or other factors that are not related to their scientific competence and integrity.
Competence:Maintain and improve your own professional competence and expertise through
lifelong education and learning; take steps to promote competence in science as a whole.
Legality:Know and obey relevant laws and institutional and governmental policies.
Animal Care:Show proper respect and care for animals when using them in research. Do not
conduct unnecessary or poorly designed animal experiments.
Human Subjects Protection:When conducting research on human subjects, minimize harms and
risks and maximize benefits; respect human dignity, privacy, and autonomy; take special
precautions with vulnerable populations; and strive to distribute the benefits and burdens of
research fairly.In short, when a research is ethically reported, the researcher joins a community in
a search for some common good. When the sources are respected, data is preserved and
acknowledged and all the other ethical parameters are met, a larger benefit is earned by creating
a bond with reader. In this way, a contribution into the existing body of knowledge is done without
harming any individual or societal norms.

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MEANING OF RESEARCH

Research in common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. Once can also define research as

a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic. In fact, research is
an art of scientific investigation. The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English lays
down the meaning of research as “a careful investigation or inquiry specially through search
for new facts in any branch of knowledge.”1 Redman and Mory define research as a
“systematized effort to gain new knowledge.”

OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH

The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of scientific

procedures. The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and which has not
been discovered as yet. Though each research study has its own specific purpose, we may think
of research objectives as falling into a number of following broad groupings:

1. To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it (studies with this

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object in view are termed as exploratory or formulative research studies);

2. To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a group

(studies with this object in view are known as descriptive research studies);

3. To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated

with something else (studies with this object in view are known as diagnostic research

studies);

4. To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables (such studies are known as

hypothesis-testing research studies).

MOTIVATION IN RESEARCH

What makes people to undertake research? This is a question of fundamental importance. The

possible motives for doing research may be either one or more of the following:

1. Desire to get a research degree along with its consequential benefits;

2. Desire to face the challenge in solving the unsolved problems, i.e., concern over practical

problems initiates research; 3. Desire to get intellectual joy of doing some creative work;

4. Desire to be of service to society; 5. Desire to get respectability.

However, this is not an exhaustive list of factors motivating people to undertake research studies.

Many more factors such as directives of government, employment conditions, curiosity about new

things, desire to understand causal relationships, social thinking and awakening, and the like may
as well motivate (or at times compel) people to perform research operations.

TYPES OF RESEARCH

The basic types of research are as follows:

(i) Descriptive vs. Analytical: Descriptive research includes surveys and fact-finding enquiries

of different kinds. The major purpose of descriptive research is description of the state of

affairs as it exists at present. In social science and business research we quite often use the term
Ex post facto research for descriptive research studies. The main characteristic

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of this method is that the researcher has no control over the variables; he can only report

what has happened or what is happening. Most ex post facto research projects are used

for descriptive studies in which the researcher seeks to measure such items as, for example,

frequency of shopping, preferences of people, or similar data. Ex post facto studies also

include attempts by researchers to discover causes even when they cannot control the

variables. The methods of research utilized in descriptive research are survey methods of

all kinds, including comparative and correlational methods. In analytical research, on the

other hand, the researcher has to use facts or information already available, and analyze

these to make a critical evaluation of the material.

The methods of research utilized in descriptive research are survey methods of all kinds, including
comparative and correlation methods. In analytical research, on the other hand, the researcher
has to use facts or information already available, and analyze these to make a critical evaluation of
the material.

(ii) Applied vs. Fundamental: Research can either be applied (or action) research or

fundamental (to basic or pure) research. Applied research aims at finding a solution for an

immediate problem facing a society or an industrial/business organisation, whereas

fundamentalresearch is mainly concerned with generalisations and with the formulation of
a theory.“Gathering knowledge for knowledge’s sake is termed ‘pure’ or ‘basic’ research.”4
Researchconcerning some natural phenomenon or relating to pure mathematics are examples of

fundamental research. Similarly, research studies, concerning human behaviour carried on

with a view to make generalisations about human behaviour, are also examples of

fundamental research, but research aimed at certain conclusions (say, a solution) facing a

concrete social or business problem is an example of applied research. Research to identify

social, economic or political trends that may affect a particular institution or the copy research

(research to find out whether certain communications will be read and understood) or the

marketing research or evaluation research are examples of applied research. Thus, the

central aim of applied research is to discover a solution for some pressing practical problem,

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whereas basic research is directed towards finding information that has a broad base of

applications and thus, adds to the already existing organized body of scientific knowledge.

(iii) Quantitative vs. Qualitative: Quantitative research is based on the measurement of

quantity or amount. It is applicable to phenomena that can be expressed in terms of quantity.

Qualitative research, on the other hand, is concerned with qualitative phenomenon, i.e.,

phenomena relating to or involving quality or kind. For instance, when we are interested in

investigating the reasons for human behaviour (i.e., why people think or do certain things),

we quite often talk of ‘Motivation Research’, an important type of qualitative research.

This type of research aims at discovering the underlying motives and desires, using in depth

interviews for the purpose. Other techniques of such research are word association tests,

sentence completion tests, story completion tests and similar other projective techniques.

Attitude or opinion research i.e., research designed to find out how people feel or what

they think about a particular subject or institution is also qualitative research. Qualitative

research is specially important in the behavioural sciences where the aim is to discover the

underlying motives of human behaviour. Through such research we can analyse the various

factors which motivate people to behave in a particular manner or which make people like

or dislike a particular thing. It may be stated, however, that to apply qualitative research in

practice is relatively a difficult job and therefore, while doing such research, one should

seek guidance from experimental psychologists.

Qualitative research is often focused on answering the “why” behind a phenomenon, correlation or
behavior. In contrast, quantitative data are analyzed numerically to develop a statistical picture of a
trend or connection. Such statistical results may shed light on cause-and-effect relationships.

(iv) Conceptual vs. Empirical: Conceptual research is that related to some abstract idea(s)
or theory. It is generally used by philosophers and thinkers to develop new concepts or to

reinterpret existing ones. On the other hand, empirical research relies on experience or

observation alone, often without due regard for system and theory. It is data-based research,

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coming up with conclusions which are capable of being verified by observation or experiment.

We can also call it as experimental type of research. In such a research it is necessary to

get at facts firsthand, at their source, and actively to go about doing certain things to

stimulate the production of desired information. In such a research, the researcher must

first provide himself with a working hypothesis or guess as to the probable results. He then

works to get enough facts (data) to prove or disprove his hypothesis. He then sets up

experimental designs which he thinks will manipulate the persons or the materials concerned

so as to bring forth the desired information. Such research is thus characterised by the

experimenter’s control over the variables under study and his deliberate manipulation of

one of them to study its effects. Empirical research is appropriate when proof is sought that

certain variables affect other variables in some way. Evidence gathered through experiments

or empirical studies is today considered to be the most powerful support possible for a

given hypothesis.

Conceptual research includes unique thoughts and ideas; as it may, it doesn't include any
experiments and tests. Empirical research, on the other hand, includes phenomena that are
observable and can be measured.

(v) Some Other Types of Research: All other types of research are variations of one or
moreof the above stated approaches, based on either the purpose of research, or the time

required to accomplish research, on the environment in which research is done, or on the

basis of some other similar factor. Form the point of view of time, we can think of research

either as one-time research or longitudinal research. In the former case the research is

confined to a single time-period, whereas in the latter case the research is carried on over

several time-periods. Research can be field-setting research or laboratory research or

simulation research, depending upon the environment in which it is to be carried out.

Research can as well be understood as clinical or diagnostic research. Such research

follow case-study methods or indepth approaches to reach the basic causal relations. Such

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studies usually go deep into the causes of things or events that interest us, using very small

samples and very deep probing data gathering devices. The research may be exploratory

or it may be formalized. The objective of exploratory research is the development of

hypotheses rather than their testing, whereas formalized research studies are those with

substantial structure and with specific hypotheses to be tested. Historical research is that

which utilizes historical sources like documents, remains, etc. to study events or ideas of

the past, including the philosophy of persons and groups at any remote point of time. Research

can also be classified as conclusion-oriented and decision-oriented. While doing conclusion

oriented research, a researcher is free to pick up a problem, redesign the enquiry as he

proceeds and is prepared to conceptualize as he wishes. Decision-oriented research is

always for the need of a decision maker and the researcher in this case is not free to

embark upon research according to his own inclination. Operations research is an example

of decision oriented research since it is a scientific method of providing executive departments

with a quantitative basis for decisions regarding operations under their control.

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TECHNIQUE INVOLVED IN DEFINING A PROBLEM

Let us start with the question: What does one mean when he/she wants to define a research
problem? The answer may be that one wants to state the problem along with the bounds within
which it is to be

studied. In other words, defining a problem involves the task of laying down boundaries within
which a researcher shall study the problem with a pre-determined objective in view.

How to define a research problem is undoubtedly a herculean task. However, it is a task that

must be tackled intelligently to avoid the perplexity encountered in a research operation. The usual

approach is that the researcher should himself pose a question (or in case someone else wants
the researcher to carry on research, the concerned individual, organisation or an authority should
pose the question to the researcher) and set-up techniques and procedures for throwing light on
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the question concerned for formulating or defining the research problem. But such an approach
generally does not produce definitive results because the question phrased in such a fashion is
usually in broad general terms and as such may not be in a form suitable for testing.

Defining a research problem properly and clearly is a crucial part of a research study and must

in no case be accomplished hurriedly. However, in practice this a frequently overlooked which

causes a lot of problems later on. Hence, the research problem should be defined in a systematic
manner, giving due weightage to all relating points. The technique for the purpose involves the
undertaking of the following steps generally one after the other: (i) statement of the problem in
a general way; (ii) understanding the nature of the problem; (iii) surveying the available literature
(iv) developing the ideas through discussions; and (v) rephrasing the research problem into a
working proposition. A brief description of all these points will be helpful.

(i) Statement of the problem in a general way: First of all the problem should be stated in a

broad general way, keeping in view either some practical concern or some scientific or intellectual

interest. For this purpose, the researcher must immerse himself thoroughly in the subject matter

concerning which he wishes to pose a problem. In case of social research, it is considered

advisable to do some field observation and as such the researcher may undertake some sort of
preliminary survey or what is often called pilot survey. Then the researcher can himself state the
problem or he can seek the guidance of the guide or the subject expert in accomplishing this task.
Often, the guide puts forth the problem in general terms, and it is then up to the researcher to
narrow it down and phrase the problem in operational terms. In case there is some directive from
an organisational authority, the problem then can be stated accordingly. The problem stated in a
broad general way may contain various ambiguities which must be resolved by cool thinking and
rethinking over the problem. At the same time the feasibility of a particular solution has to be
considered and the same should be kept in view while stating the problem.

(ii) Understanding the nature of the problem: The next step in defining the problem is to

understand its origin and nature clearly. The best way of understanding the problem is to discuss it

with those who first raised it in order to find out how the problem originally came about and with
what objectives in view. If the researcher has stated the problem himself, he should consider once
again all those points that induced him to make a general statement concerning the problem. For a
better understanding of the nature of the problem involved, he can enter into discussion with those
who have a good knowledge of the problem concerned or similar other problems. The researcher
should also keep in view the environment within which the problem is to be studied and
understood.
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(iii) Surveying the available literature: All available literature concerning the problem at hand

must necessarily be surveyed and examined before a definition of the research problem is given.

This means that the researcher must be well-conversant with relevant theories in the field, reports

and records as also all other relevant literature. He must devote sufficient time in reviewing of

research already undertaken on related problems. This is done to find out what data and other

materials, if any, are available for operational purposes. “Knowing what data are available often

serves to narrow the problem itself as well as the technique that might be used.”2 . This would
also help a researcher to know if there are certain gaps in the theories, or whether the existing
theories applicable to the problem under study are inconsistent with each other, or whether the
findings of the

different studies do not follow a pattern consistent with the theoretical expectations and so on. All

this will enable a researcher to take new strides in the field for furtherance of knowledge i.e., he
can move up starting from the existing premise. Studies on related problems are useful for
indicating the type of difficulties that may be encountered in the present study as also the possible
analytical shortcomings. At times such studies may also suggest useful and even new lines of
approach to the present problem.

(iv) Developing the ideas through discussions: Discussion concerning a problem often
produces useful information. Various new ideas can be developed through such an exercise.
Hence, a researcher must discuss his problem with his colleagues and others who have enough
experience in the same area or in working on similar problems. This is quite often known as an
experience survey. People with rich experience are in a position to enlighten the researcher on
different aspects of his proposed study and their advice and comments are usually invaluable to
the researcher. They help him sharpen his focus of attention on specific aspects within the field.
Discussions with such persons should not only be confined to the formulation of the specific
problem at hand, but should also be concerned with the general approach to the given problem,
techniques that might be used, possible solutions, etc.

(v) Rephrasing the research problem: Finally, the researcher must sit to rephrase the research

problem into a working proposition. Once the nature of the problem has been clearly understood,
the environment (within which the problem has got to be studied) has been defined, discussions
over the problem have taken place and the available literature has been surveyed and examined,
rephrasing the problem into analytical or operational terms is not a difficult task. Through

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rephrasing, the researcher puts the research problem in as specific terms as possible so that it
may become operationally viable and may help in the development of working hypotheses.*

In addition to what has been stated above, the following points must also be observed
while defining a research problem:

(a) Technical terms and words or phrases, with special meanings used in the statement of the

problem, should be clearly defined.

(b) Basic assumptions or postulates (if any) relating to the research problem should be clearly

stated.

(c) A straight forward statement of the value of the investigation (i.e., the criteria for the

selection of the problem) should be provided.

(d) The suitability of the time-period and the sources of data available must also be
considered by the researcher in defining the problem.

(e) The scope of the investigation or the limits within which the problem is to be studied must

be mentioned explicitly in defining a research problem.

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