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Ethical
Guidelines
| The
origins of the SRA’s concern to maintain an up-to-date
set of ethical guidelines and be proactive in the discussion
of social research ethics lies in our sense of responsibility
for standard-setting in the profession of social research. Recent legislative changes and concerns about litigation have increased funders’ interest in and concern about good ethical practice in social research. Various initiatives are afoot and 2004 will see much more debate about the right ways to ensure compliance with good ethical practice across all sectors of social research. In such a climate the key responsibility for ethical awareness and for the status of the profession rests with each individual social researcher and funder, as the actions of each affect us all. The Social Research Association has revised its ethical guidelines, first drawn up in the 1980s in the light of current concerns and knowledge. The 2003 Ethical Guidelines can be downloaded here (.pdf 180k). For a report of the joint ARCISS/SRA seminar on current developments in Social Science Research Ethics held at the Policy Studies Institute on the 23rd January 2004 see here (.doc 26k). To see the recent developments in the RESPECT project see http://www.respectproject.org You can download a copy of the new RESPECT code here (.pdf 259k) SRA Ethics Forum The SRA will be launching an "Ethics Forum" on 29th
January 2008 designed to support members confronting ethical
dilemmas in their research work. Ethical scrutiny of research
has grown rapidly in all areas of enquiry – academic, government,
and health. There has been less emphasis on ethical practice
and there is continuing and growing need to maintain awareness
of the ethical implications of social research. The SRA is responding
to a need for ongoing mentoring support. |