SCHOLARLY JOURNAL 5

Scholarly Journal 5

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Scholarly Journal 5

Research in the field of social sciences is quite important as well as tricky, in the way that it has to take care of the ethics and ensure the privacy of the research participants. There is a general conception in the society that the ends justify the means (Hughes, & Sharrock, 2016). However, it is not relatable to the research in the field of social sciences which claims that the end never justifies the means, specifically when it is concerned with the human beings (Orcher, 2016). The wrong means may be utilized in the process of research to provide better outcomes to the society, however, that will never justify the wrong done to the people.

In the field of sociology, the research is done to explore the root cause of the problem, the factors adding trouble to some social matter, explore the impacts of the social issue on the life of the human beings and then devise the solution accordingly (Bryman, 2016). Researchers have to take special care of not hurting the privacy of the research participants. For example, if a research study is conducted about the drug-related issue, the researcher cannot reveal the names of the participants who provided the drugs to others. The researcher may think that revealing the name of such people may help the society to stay away from them or they can be caught by the law enforcement authorities and the society will be saved from their tormenting presence (Schutt, 2018). The researchers may think that if the end is right, it would justify the means, however, it is completely wrong (Van den Hoonaard, & Van den Hoonaard, 2016). The researchers are liable to use the ethical means and never reveal the personal information of the respondents, without their knowledge or permission. So, the end never justifies the means where research with humans is concerned (Lacey, Howden, Cvitanovic, & Dowd, 2015).

Social research is done for the sake of the benefits and ease of human beings. If the wrong means would be utilized to get a right end, that end can never be justified. Researchers have to take care of the privacy of the participants and the ethics of research, in order to ensure it proves beneficial for society.

References

Bryman, A. (2016). Social research methods. Oxford university press.

Hughes, J. A., & Sharrock, W. W. (2016). The philosophy of social research. Routledge.

Lacey, J., Howden, S. M., Cvitanovic, C., & Dowd, A. M. (2015). Informed adaptation: ethical considerations for adaptation researchers and decision-makers. Global Environmental Change, 32, 200-210.

Orcher, L. T. (2016). Conducting research: Social and behavioral science methods. Routledge.

Schutt, R. K. (2018). Investigating the social world: The process and practice of research. Sage Publications.

Van den Hoonaard, W. C., & Van den Hoonaard, D. K. (2016). Essentials of thinking ethically in qualitative research. Routledge.