Full Answer Section

1. Privacy and Confidentiality Breaches: Failing to protect participants’ personal information, sharing identifiable data without permission, or using data in ways not explicitly consented to.
2. Harm to Participants: Physical, psychological, emotional, social, or financial harm resulting from participation in the research. This includes undue stress, embarrassment, or exploitation.
3. Misrepresentation or Fabrication of Data: Altering, omitting, or inventing data to support a desired outcome. This undermines the objective nature of research and leads to flawed conclusions.
4. Plagiarism: Presenting others’ ideas, data, or words as one’s own without proper attribution.
5. Conflicts of Interest: When personal or financial interests influence the research design, conduct, or interpretation, leading to biased outcomes.
6. Lack of Objectivity and Bias: Failing to minimize researcher bias, allowing preconceived notions or desired outcomes to influence data collection or analysis, thereby compromising the neutrality of the findings.
7. Exploitation of Vulnerable Populations: Targeting individuals who may be less able to give informed consent (e.g., children, cognitively impaired individuals, or those in precarious economic situations) and using their vulnerability for research purposes.

Example of Unethical Business Research: The Facebook Emotional Contagion Experiment (2014)

A prominent example of unethical research in a business setting is the Facebook Emotional Contagion Experiment, conducted in 2012 and published in 2014. For one week, Facebook (now Meta) manipulated the news feeds of nearly 700,000 users without their explicit knowledge or consent. One group saw fewer positive posts from their friends, while another saw fewer negative posts. The researchers then analyzed whether these manipulations affected the emotional content of the users’ own posts.

Why this research was considered unethical:

• Lack of Informed Consent: This was the primary ethical violation. Users did not know they were part of an experiment, nor did they consent to having their emotional exposure manipulated for research purposes. While Facebook’s terms of service are broad, they did not explicitly cover this type of psychological experimentation. This undermined user autonomy and trust.
• Potential for Psychological Harm: By manipulating emotional content, the research potentially caused emotional distress to participants, even if the effects were subtle. Reducing positive content could lead to feelings of sadness or negativity, while reducing negative content could lead to a less realistic view of their social world.
• Deception: Users were deceived about the nature of their interaction with the platform during the experiment. They believed they were seeing an organic news feed, not a controlled psychological experiment.
• Data Privacy Concerns (implicitly): While the data was anonymized for publication, the collection and manipulation of such sensitive personal data without explicit consent raised significant privacy alarms about how user data could be used by platforms.

My Research Topic and Ethical Considerations

For the purpose of illustrating ethical considerations, let’s assume my current research topic is:

“The Impact of Gamified Loyalty Programs on Repeat Purchase Behavior in the Online Retail Sector Among Young Adults (Ages 18-30).”

When conducting this research, several ethical considerations would be paramount:

1. Informed Consent:

   • Explanation: Before any young adult participates in surveys, interviews, or A/B testing related to a gamified loyalty program, they must be fully informed. This means clearly explaining the purpose of the research, how their data will be used, the duration of their participation, and that their involvement is completely voluntary. If the research involves A/B testing a gamified feature on a live platform, participants must be informed that their experience might differ from others for research purposes and be given an opt-out option.
   • Specifics: A clear, concise consent form (digital or paper) written in plain language, avoiding jargon. For online surveys, a mandatory consent click-through at the beginning.

2. Privacy and Confidentiality:

   • Explanation: Data collected (purchase history, engagement metrics, demographic information) must be anonymized or de-identified to protect participants’ privacy. If direct identifiers are collected (e.g., for follow-up interviews), strong data encryption and secure storage protocols are essential. The research results should only be presented in aggregate form, never tracing back to individual participants.