Selecting a Topic

1. Get a copy of a local or regional newspaper or go to a newspaper's website. Find three articles that deal with social behavior or characteristics. List the name of the paper, the date of publication, and the headline for each of these articles.

2. Select one of the stories and make a copy to turn in with this exercise.

3. Create one research question on the topic of the article that could be answered by social research and state it.

4. Assuming you could get enough funding and had the time to do research to answer the question you stated, would you do the research? Describe why you would or would not do the research by focusing on your personal interests, today's social and political climate, and the contribution you think the research would make to social science or society.

In the following examples, the researcher has made or will need to make a choice about ethical principles. For each situation, identify the ethical principle(s), speculate about why the researchers made the decisions they did, and then state whether you agree with their decisions.

CHAPTER 3 • Ethics and Social Research 9781305548770, An Invitation to Social Research: How It's Done, Fifth Edition, Adler/Clark - © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization. Distributed by Grand Canyon University.

A. Professor Ludwig's research question is whether there is a connection between experiencing family violence and academic achievement among students. He contacts the principal of a local high school who agrees to the school's participation. At a school assembly, the principal hands out Professor Ludwig's questionnaire, which includes questions about family behavior including violence between family members.

The principal requests that the students fill out the survey and put their names on it. The following day, Professor Ludwig uses school records to obtain information about each student's level of academic achievement so that he can answer his research question. He keeps all information that he obtains confidential and presents only a statistical analysis of the data.

1. What ethical principle(s) do you think was (were) violated in this research?

2. Describe the probable reason(s) Professor Ludwig violated the principle(s) you noted in your answer to Question 1.

3. Describe your reactions to the way this study was done.

B. Professor Hawkins receives funding from both a state agency and a national feminist organization to study the connection among marital power, spouses' financial resources, and marital violence. Deciding to interview both spouses from at least 100 married couples, she contacts potential participants by mail. Because she is a university professor, she writes to each couple on university letterhead stationery and asks each couple to participate in her study. She specifies that she will be interviewing them about their marriage but does not state the specific topics that the interview will cover or the source of her funding. She specifies that everything the couple tells her will be kept confidential.

1. What ethical principle(s) do you think was (were) violated in this research?

2. Describe the probable reason(s) Professor Hawkins violated the principle(s) you noted in your answer to Question 1.

3. Describe your reactions to the way this study was done.

C. To study a radical "right-to-life" group, Professor Jenkins decides to join the group without telling the members that he is secretly studying it. After each meeting, he returns home and takes field notes about the members and their discussion. After several months of attending meetings, he is invited to become a member of the group's board of directors and he accepts. One evening at the group's general membership meeting, one member of the board becomes enraged during the discussion about abortion information and procedures available at a local women's health clinic. He shouts that the clinic staff deserves to die. Later that week, someone fires a gun through several windows of the clinic. Although no one is killed, several clinic staff and one patient are injured. The police find out that Professor Jenkins has been studying the local group and subpoena his field notes. Professor Jenkins complies with the subpoena, and the board member is arrested.

1. What ethical principle(s) do you think was (were) violated in this research?

2. Describe the probable reason(s) Professor Jenkins violated the principles you noted in your answer to Question 1.

3. Describe your reactions to the way this study was done and the researcher's response to the subpoena.