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Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 40-50 

40 

 

 

Ethics in Social Research and Its Impact on Policy Implication, Pragmatic 

Planning and Development 
                                                                                                     

Profulla C. Sarker1, Uttam Kumar Das2 
 

1. PhD. Professor of Social Work. Vice Chancellor, Royal University of Dhaka, Banani, Dhaka, 

Bangladesh. Email: pc_sarker@yahoo.com 

2. PhD. Joint Secretary, & Director, Director of Primary Education, Government of Bangladesh, Mirpur, 

Dhaka. Bangladesh. Email: das.druttam@gmail.com  (corresponding author) 
  

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3329/bioethics.v11i1.49325                                                                                                     

 

Abstract: This paper is an attempt to discuss how ethics is related to social research in connection 

with the collection of authentic and reliable data, use of appropriate data process and impartial data 

analysis for preparing an acceptable research report. Ethics is closely related to moral integrity, and 

values associated with appropriate methods and techniques applied for collection of reliable and 

authentic information that ensure the trust worthy research findings. This paper is based on 

secondary data collected through reviewing the relevant literatures. Main focus of this paper is to 

examine to what extent the research findings contribute to the knowledge of planners and policy 

makers in formulating the appropriate policy, pragmatic planning and finally thus may affects on 

development.   

 

Keywords: Ethics, social research, policy, planning, Development 

 
(Some part of this article has been presented at the 20th Asian Bioethics Conference, 22-25 November 2019, Dhaka, 

Bangladesh). 

 

Introduction: Research is common parlance 

refers to search for knowledge. It is an art of 

scientific investigation. Advanced Learners 

Dictionary of current English lays down the 

meaning of research as “a careful 

investigation or enquiry especially through 

search for new facts in any branch of 

knowledge”. The main thrust of research is to 

discover new information and modify the old 

one. More specifically, research is a process 

of searching, discovering and investigating 

information as well as collecting, editing, 

processing, evaluating, analyzing and 

interpretation of information to find answer 

to question1. On the other hand, ethics is 

rooted in the ancient Greek philosophical 

inquiry of moral life. Ethics refers to a system 

of principles which can critically change 

previous consideration about choices and 

actions2. Theoretically, ethics is a branch of 

philosophy which deals with the dynamics of 

decision making concerning what is right and 

what is wrong. What we should to do and 

what we should not. Under the 

circumstances, the scientific research along 

with all human activities is governed by 

ethics across the East and the West. Ethics in 

research involve requirements on daily work, 

the protection of dignity of subjects and the 

publication of the information. However, the 

ethical attitudes of social researchers drawn 

the interest of society only after 1940's 

because of human exploitation in several 

cases. Professional codes and laws were 

introduced since then in order to prevent 

abuses of human lives3 has always been part 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 40-50 

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and parcel of social research in order to get 

authentic and reliable information as well as 

quality of research report4. On the other hand, 

research is a process which involves a lot of 

resources, ideas, human interaction, 

challenges, rules and regulations that govern 

all the activities done. Each and every time 

when human participants are involved in a 

primary research, the researcher must take 

ethical issues into account. All the way 

through history, numerous studies benefited 

from participants as sources of data, but in 

some cases causing death, physical trauma 

and mental trauma. As a result of this, every 

researcher who wants to conduct primary 

research nowadays has an obligation to 

follow certain research ethics to avert such 

damages from recurring.  

 

It is very vital for researchers to familiarize 

themselves with the basic ethical principles 

and up-to-date knowledge on policies around 

ethics and research to ensure that the research 

participants’ safety is guaranteed and to avert 

finding themselves on the wrong side of the 

law and ethical guidelines. The advent of 

technology that is, the shift from digital 

photography and audio-and video-recording 

to the analysis of virtual materials from the 

internet has made life easier for people to 

exchange information including data 

collection by researchers. Therefore, this 

gave rise to need for researchers to stick to 

certain rules and regulations that govern 

aspects such as from who, where, why, how 

and when they get information in their thirst 

for knowledge through research. Hence this 

paper aims to bring to light the issues and 

obligations that researchers have to bear and 

consider when carrying out research, with 

particular focus on social research. Ethics in 

social research is started at the very 

beginning of the selection of the topic of the 

research whether the topic is ethically sound 

and it may not creates problems for the 

normal functioning of the people either at the 

individual or family or community or societal 

level. Appropriate methods and techniques 

applied for collection of data that may not be 

harmful for the informants. The main focus 

of this paper is to examine to what extent 

ethics is closely related to moral integrity, 

and values associated with appropriate 

methods and techniques applied for 

collection of reliable and authentic 

information that ensure the trust worthy 

research findings for policy, planning and 

development. 

 

Research Methodology: This is study based 

on secondary and tertiary data.  The authors 

carefully reviewed the relevant research 

reports of the different scholars who have 

already done research on ethical issue in 

social science research. The researchers have 

had access to a few research works conducted 

by the scholars on ethical consideration in 

social science research across the East and 

the West. The researcher is not able to 

incorporate sufficient data both quantitative 

and qualitative due to paucity of research 

work on this subject. In this research paper 

emphasis has been given on qualitative 

analysis. The new dimension of this research 

paper is to explore the impact on policy, 

planning and development of ethics in social 

research. 

 

Philosophical Approaches to Ethics: The 

catchphrase ‘social research ethics’ means 

the set of ethical doctrines that should be 

justified when doing social research or the set 

of ethical ideologies believed by social 

researchers universally. According to 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 40-50 

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Welman et al. ethical behavior and ethical 

considerations are very rigorous when doing 

research in the field of human under takings5. 

Ethical considerations in research are 

concerned with minimizing harm to all 

participants while in turn boosts benefits in 

research6. In undertaking research, the 

researchers get data from respondents who 

are usually not part of the inquiry process, so 

it is vital to consider their wellness in the 

research process. There are three types of 

ethics according to 7which are: (1) Meta-

ethics- which deals with scrutinizing the 

linguistic and logic of proper intellectual, (2) 

normative ethics- which study what is 

honorably or morally acceptable and why 

they are acceptable and why are they 

intolerable and (3) descriptive ethics- which 

describes or elucidate the ethical practice of 

particular groups7. It is very important when 

a researcher is conducting research, to be 

mindful of ethical and data protection issues. 

It is unethical for a researcher to deliberately 

make use of a technique or practice the 

researcher knows to be unsuitable to prove or 

disprove something that you want for 

instance, using invalid instrument or by 

drawing wrong conclusions8. There are some 

philosophical approaches to ethics which can 

help researchers to have deeper 

understanding of ethics and they are 

elaborated below. The theoretical discipline 

of ethics is the study of how we should 

conduct ourselves, or how to govern the right 

thing to do in our relations with others. Ethics 

can be understood as the study of good 

conduct for constructing judgments around 

what is good behavior9. The philosophies that 

come from ethical studies afford a guide to 

inspecting ethical circumstances and to 

articulating desired customs of living and 

conducting yourself as a researcher. As our 

sympathetic of the world, the nature of 

human behavior and social interactions has 

improved or transformed, ideologies 

advanced it is crucial to keep an eye on how 

these changes shape our lives as researchers. 

One crucial alteration in the numerous 

methods to ethical judgment making has to 

do with the target of the action, aimed at what 

or on behalf of whom are we interested in 

doing the right thing, is it for ourselves, a co-

worker, certain individual, a household, a 

government, a communal, a country, or the 

universal. 

 

Regrettably, what might appear for one 

person to be the right thing to do or group 

possibly will not be the right thing for the 

next person or society. Under the 

circumstances, which are branded by 

contradictory rights or responsibilities are 

known as an ethical dilemma. The 

circumstances turn out to be more 

multifaceted when we endeavor to evaluate 

individual moralities and rights alongside 

assessments of what is paramount for a 

bigger group. Horn proposes those 

considerations that contest in our careful 

ethical propensities and our ethical decision 

processes consist of justice in dissemination, 

the participant’s wellbeing level, or 

contentment, the participant’s aspirations, 

and the societal role of the participant10. One 

approach to increasing competence in 

dealing with ethical matters is to begin with 

clarification of your own values and 

identifying and understanding the values by 

which other people live11. There are three 

broad types of ethical approaches or theories 

which are as follow: consequentiality 

theories, non-consequentiality theories and 

agent-centered theories12.  

 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 40-50 

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Consequentiality Theories: Utilitarian 

Theories: Doing the right thing for the more 

people- philosophers of this approach cited 

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) who viewed 

ethics as the action that makes the majority of 

people to be happy and causes the least harm 

to the fewest people. For them the most vital 

thing is not about your good will towards 

others, but instead they were concerned with 

the consequences which come from your 

deeds. Defining which action to take 

necessitates that all conceivable actions in the 

circumstances and the impending results of 

each be scrutinized for all people or cluster 

that may be included. Subsequently diverse 

results are evaluated and equated the action 

that resulting in the finest conclusion for the 

utmost general public is carefully chosen 

because what is good varies across 

cultures13,14.  

 

The Egoistic Approach: In this approach, an 

individual frequently utilizes practical crafty 

to yield the paramount aggregate of good for 

him or herself. Primordial Greek Sophists for 

instance, Thrasymacus (459-400 BCE), who 

legendarily claimed that might makes right 

and the (1588-1679) philosophers such as 

Thomas Hobbes could be considered as the 

harbingers of the egoistic approach. One of 

the utmost modern powerful advocates of 

ethical egoism was the Russian-American 

philosopher Ayn Rand (1905-1982), who in 

the book “The Virtue of Selfishness” (1964), 

argues that self-interest is a prerequisite to 

self-respect and to respect others. There are 

several counterparts between ethical egoism 

and laissez-faire economic theories, in which 

the tracking down of self-interest is viewed 

as leading to the assistance of the society, 

even though the advantage of the public is 

perceived only as the auspicious by-product 

as a result of individual self-interest, not its 

aim. 

 

 Non-consequentiality theories: The Duty-

Based Approach:  It is concerned with 

balancing rights and obligations- this was 

propounded by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), 

who was of the view that whether an action 

is ethical is influenced by the action itself and 

essentially by the original motive for the 

action. He further suggested that the 

foundation for our main philosophy of 

deontological ethics in his endeavor to 

express a rational for ethical behavior is 

grounded on wholesome motive, instead of 

the tradition or imposing assertion. For Kant, 

individuals start their own moral rules 

grounded on the benchmark that the all-

encompassing purpose of their actions could 

relate to every person that is it could turn out 

to be a law11.  

 

The Right -based Approach or Principle 

Ethics: This approach views ethics as a set of 

beliefs advanced by cautious intellectual and 

it includes ideas about “who has what kinds 

of rights and which rights or responsibilities 

have priority over other rights and 

obligations” 15. This can be traced back to 

works of John Locke (1632-1704) who was a 

British empiricist philosopher who believed 

that the best action is that which protects the 

ethical rights of those who are affected by the 

action. Locke further asserts that all humans 

have a right to dignity. He was also supported 

by Kant’s categorical imperative that says: 

“Act in such a way that you treat humanity, 

whether in your own person or in the person 

of another, always at the same time as an end 

and never simply as a means to an end.” This 

gave birth to some debatable ethical rights in 

research where many are arguing that even 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 40-50 

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non-humans and other animals including 

robots have rights as well. 

 

The Fairness of Justice Approach: The Law 

Code of Hammurabi in Primeval 

Mesopotamia (1750 BCE), was of the view 

that all unrestricted men should be treated the 

same, just as all slaves should be treated 

similarly. Once joint with the generality of 

the rights methodology, the justice method 

can be used to all human subjects. The work 

of American thinker John Rawls (1921-

2002), is seen as the greatest influential 

description of this approach today who 

maintained, along Kantian outlines, that just 

ethical doctrines are those that would be 

selected by free and normal people in a first 

condition of impartiality. This theoretical 

agreement is considered impartial or 

unbiased because it affords a process for 

what sums as a rational action and does not 

distress itself with the aftermath of such 

actions. Justice of initial opinion is the 

standard for what is regarded as fair and 

ethical. In the same manner, all research 

participants should be treated equally without 

any biasness. 

 

The Divine Command Approach: As its 

name proposes views what is right as the 

similar as what God commands and ethical 

principles are the foundation of God’s will. 

Doing God’s will is understood as the very 

delineation of what is ethical. Since God is 

seen as unstoppable and controller of free 

will, God can change what is now deliberated 

as ethical and God is not limited by any 

principle of right or wrong tiny rational 

ambiguity. The most dominant intellectual in 

this tradition was William of Ockham (1285-

1349) who was the Medieval Christian 

philosopher and his writings aided as a guide 

for Protestant Reformers such as Martin 

Luther (1483-1855) and Jean Calvin (1509-

1564). The Danish philosopher Soren 

Kierkegaard (1813-1855), in praising the 

biblical Patriarch Abraham’s preparedness to 

slaughter his son Isaac at God’s command, 

demanded that truthfully right action must 

eventually go further than ordinary morality 

to what he termed the “teleological 

suspension of the ethical,” once more 

signifying to a certain degree questionable 

connection concerning religion and ethics 

stated previously. 

 

Given the above, it is crucial for researchers 

to know the type or religious background of 

the society in which they want to conduct 

their studies so as to avoid acting in an 

unethical way. For example in South Asia the 

population is categorized based on the 

religious affiliation, caste, sect, etc. each of 

these groups have diverse cultural, linguistic 

and religious beliefs16. The reason being that, 

different societies uphold diverse religious 

beliefs and cultures, so some things which are 

considered ethically as right, might be 

considered ethically wrong in some societies. 

 

Agent-centered Theories: Virtue Ethics: 

Aristotle was of the view that, the eventual 

aim of life is to attain satisfaction, which 

emanates from brilliance of thinking. For 

him, the significant characteristic of 

brilliance of thinking is fineness of selecting 

virtuous action-the “golden mean”. A 

righteous deed is ethical only when it is 

executed from an inspiration of doing the 

correct thing15. Good action, for those of 

noble personality is knowledgeable as time 

passes by and it is followed by righteous 

actions. The application of moral principles 

and rules is viewed as less ethical behavior, 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 40-50 

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than as the researcher adopting ethical 

standards13. Virtues are somewhat 

distinguished from seeing cases of 

continuous exemplary behavior by 

prototypes. Furthermore, Beauchamp and 

Childress came up with four types of virtues 

they deliberate as crucial to research ethics 

and these are as follows16:  

 

 Compassion: It is an idea linked to 

kindness, comprises of being 

distressed for others and a 

mindfulness of their discomfort or 

sorrow. It contains robust emotional 

mechanisms attached between the 

researcher and the researched or 

human subjects who are involved in 

the study. 

 

 Discernment: It is the ability to take a 

decisive action grounded on 

perception as a result of a history of 

pure judgment plus sympathetic. This 

is a situation whereby one is able to 

make ethical decision without being 

overly prejudiced by other specific, 

personal biasness or political 

influences. When conducting a 

research this is very vital, the 

researcher’s personal biasness or 

interests should not divert the 

research objectives as this will affect 

the findings. The researcher has to 

avert ethical weakness or mistake 

generally acknowledged as “conflict 

of interest”. Thus, a discerning person 

should be in a position to comprehend 

what should to be executed, in which 

manner, and where, when dealing 

with ethical considerations matters. 

 

 Trustworthiness: It is a personality 

that offers other folks assurance that 

an single person may reliably do the 

correct thing for ethical motives. This 

is the most influential factor in 

research which can motivate 

participants to give you honest 

response. Integrity- researchers 

should not compromise their ethical 

principles; they must maintain core 

values and beliefs of research to avert 

moral distress which may lead to 

people not accepting your 

researching findings. It is for this 

reason that researchers should always 

uphold the beliefs and values of 

research so that other people can trust 

their work. 

 

The Feminist Approach-This approach to 

ethics has been developed and used as 

supplement to the virtue approach in recent 

years. The feminist approach is of the few 

that women and other marginalized group’s 

experience should be included when 

deliberating on ethical issues in research15. 

This approach is more concerned about the 

involvement of vulnerable group in research 

and this was further discussed in one of the 

sections of this work. It can be construed that, 

all these theories together with the medical 

experiments of the German physicians during 

World War 2 the Nuremberg Code, the 

Helsinki Declaration, the Belmont Report of 

1979 and the cumulative advancement in the 

use of technology in research gave birth to 

ethical considerations which all researchers 

are encouraged to be mindful when 

conducting any research that involve human 

subjects as sources of data. 

 

Principle of Ethics in Social Research: The 

important starting point for this treatise is to 

clarify the relations, connections, and 

variances concerning morals, ethics, ethical 

approaches, ethical bases, ethical regulations 

and legal regulations which researchers 

normally come across on their journey of 

conducting social research which involves 

human subjects. However, there is also 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 40-50 

46 

 

secondary research which exclusively 

depends on the use of data gathered for a 

different research usually do not need to 

undergo formal ethics review given that no 

identifiable information is generated in the 

process17. Whether it is primary data or 

secondary, every researcher should know 

what is ethical and not pertaining to their 

research and they believe that they can 

uphold ethical standards, but history 

unfortunately, keeps a reminder that not all 

researchers conduct research responsibly 10. 

The inception of current research ethics is 

instigated by a desire to safeguard human 

subjects intricate in research projects and it 

can be traced back to the 1930s and 1940s. 

The social researchers need to keep in their 

mind set to apply the following principles at 

the time of conducting research. 

 

 In any study participants must 

willingly consent to partake. 

 

 The aims of the research ought to 

work for the good of the society.  

 

 Research must be grounded on 

comprehensive theory and before 

used for human beings it must be 

tested on animals in case of 

experimental research.  

 

 Unnecessary mental and physical 

suffering must be avoided in research. 

 

 Where serious injury and or death are 

potential outcomes those research 

projects must be terminated 

immediately.  

 

 The extent of danger or hazard 

considered with research participants 

should not surpass expected benefits 

of results.  

 

 Research should be conducted in a 

suitable atmosphere which 

safeguards participants. 

 

 Only scientifically qualified 

personnel should conduct 

experiments with human subjects. 

 

 Human subjects must be permitted to 

withdraw their participation any time 

they feels to do so. 

 

 If there is a reason to believe that 

prolongation will be dangerous or end 

in injury or death, scientists must be 

ready to stop the experiment. 

 

 Reduction of harm, researchers 

should not deliberately disenchant or 

hurt the research subjects, 

irrespective of whether they 

volunteered to take part in the study 

or not, 

 

  In research there is voluntary 

participation which denotes that, 

participants are free to exercise their 

will in determining whether to 

participate or not to participate in a 

research action18. 

 

 Non-published are not included in the 

results because they do not support 

the desired outcome. Such data may 

be considered as bad data, but bad 

data ought to be recognized during 

gathering process or during analysis.  

 

 Fabrication of data is when the 

researcher makes up either data or 

results then records or reports them, 

whereas falsification is when the 

researcher manipulates materials, 

process, equipment or changes or 

omits data such that the research is 

not represented accurately. 

 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 40-50 

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 Finding data from a participant whom 

the researcher is aware that this 

participant does not meet the 

requirement of your primary research 

is unethical.  

 

 There is need for the justification of 

benefits to the participants, their 

community and or the broader society 

at large. It is at times problematic to 

foresee the risks or harm when 

crafting a proposition particularly in 

qualitative research.  

 

 Publish in order to advance research 

and scholarship, not to advance just 

your own career. Avoid wasteful and 

duplicative publication19.  

 

 

Theoretical Framework: Ethics is a topic 

that covers questions relating to what kinds 

of lives people should lead, what counts as a 

good society, what actions are right and 

wrong, what qualities of character they 

should develop and what responsibilities of 

humans have for each other and the 

ecosystem. In the context of social research, 

ethics as a subject area traditionally covers 

topics such as the overall harms and benefits 

of research, the rights of participants to 

information, privacy, anonymity, and the 

responsibilities of researchers to act with 

integrity. An ‘ethical principle’ is a general 

standard or norm that promotes what is 

regarded as worthy or valuable for the 

flourishing of humans and the whole 

ecosystem. In social science research, the 

researchers need to be neutral in data 

collection, data processing, data analyzing, 

report writing along with drawing 

conclusions. It should be noted most of the 

ethical issues have to do with the scientist's 

obligations and the limits on permissible 

scientific activity. Perspectives on these 

issues are informed by ideas drawn from a 

variety of intellectual traditions, including 

philosophical, legal, and religious. Political 

views and cultural values also influence the 

interpretation of researcher conduct. Ethical 

questions about scientific activity are 

considered external to the research endeavor. 

 

 

Ethics in Social Research: There are several 

meanings that are attached to the word ethics 

as was elude by 
20. They defined 

ethics as a field of 

study that has to 

do with 

examining what is 

good or right in 

the eyes of the 

community and 

how people 

should govern 

this. On this 

understanding, social research ethics denote 

the study of what the researchers must do or 

not do and how this should be considered. 

Ethics talk about a set of values that 

symbolize or demonstrate what is good or 

right or permit people to classify what is bad 

or wrong. The social science research 

concerns with the social structure in terms of 

individuals, family, kinship, marriage, 

community, and society and its economic and 

political situation that affects the way of life 

of the people. It also deals with the culture of 

the people in terms of customs, beliefs and 

value system in which they born, brought up 

and die. In social science research different 

methods and techniques have applied to 

collect authentic and reliable information. 

These are survey using schedule or 

Fig. -1: Model on Ethics 

in Social Research 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 40-50 

48 

 

questionnaire, observation, case study, FGD, 

use of key informants, etc. At the time of data 

collection, the emphasis should be given on 

following ethical issues so that the 

respondents should not be subjected to harm 

in any way. 

 Respect for the dignity of research 

participants should be prioritized. 

 

 Full consent should be obtained from 

the participants prior to the study. 

 

 The protection of the privacy of 

research respondents has to be 

ensured. 

 

 Adequate level of confidentiality of 

the research data should be ensured. 

 

 Anonymity of individuals and 

organizations participating in the 

research has to be ensured. 

 

 Any deception or exaggeration about 

the aims and objectives of the 

research must be avoided. 

 

 Affiliations in any forms, sources of 

funding, as well as any possible 

conflicts of interests have to be 

declared. 

 

 Any type of communication in 

relation to the research should be 

done with honesty and transparency. 

 

 Any type of misleading information, 

as well as representation of primary 

data findings in a biased way must be 

avoided. 

 

Challenges to Ethical Considerations: 

Research ethics takes a particular interest in 

analyzing the aspect of what is right or wrong 

in carrying out social research. It is vital for 

researchers to be aware of all the ethical 

considerations pertaining to social research 

as they have impact on the integrity of 

whatever research project. De Vos states that 

every researcher must have knowledge of 

what is right and what is wrong when doing 

research, and hence must Endeavour to 

observe all those aspects laid out by the 

research community21. However, in so doing 

researchers often face numerous challenges. 

 

 Firstly factor in the issue of social 

researchers facing problems because 

the issue of ethics is being mostly 

derived from the biomedical sciences. 

Social research has its own different, 

but very important issues and 

obligations for researchers. Ethical 

considerations are designed to play a 

preventative and guiding function in 

research. They provide information 

about what researchers must or must 

not do in order to produce responsible 

research. 

 In as much as there are codes and 

ethical guides for research conduct, it 

still boils down to the researchers’ 

decision making because in some 

instances of social research, 

guidelines and codes become 

contradictory. For instance 

conflicting rules such as giving 

informed consent where the 

researcher cannot disclose the true 

intentions of the research or of the 

researcher needs to do an observation 

without alerting subjects of that fact 

for the untainted results. Howard 

purports that often researchers are 

faced with difficult decisions and 

ethical challenges throughout their 

research process22.  



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 40-50 

49 

 

 Sometimes they are faced with ethical 

dilemmas to decide on what 

constitutes right and wrong in some 

situations. Hessse-Biber states that 

some researchers fail to fully disclose 

all the risks and full extent of 

consequences of participating of 

participating in a study to their 

participants because of fear of losing 

their participants23. Also for trying to 

avoid the hurdle of going back and 

forth to the Institutional Review 

Committees whenever there is a 

change in the collection of data. The 

extent to which a research is deemed 

ethical is dependent on the 

continuous effort to ensure that the 

rights of subjects are protected at all 

times. 

 Ethical issues in social research are 

usually less serious than those faced 

in medical research; however that 

does not mean that social researchers 

can neglect such issues, they still 

need to uphold them. Research with 

vulnerable groups poses some serious 

ethical issues, however the agreement 

within the research community is that 

research with these groups is needed 

in social research24. Extra care just 

has to be given when dealing with 

these groups. Kirk argues that the 

most ethical issues to be looked out 

for in these groups are informed 

consent, confidentiality and power 

relations25. 

Impact of Social Research: The findings of 

the research in 

social science laid 

the groundwork 

implementing 

policy, planning 

and development 

for the wellbeing of 

the people in order 

to improve their 

quality of life.  To 

uphold ethics in social research which 

involves human subjects but its impact is 

universal (Jones, 1994)? Research is an 

activity that relies on the support of the 

society, the public; hence it is very vital for 

researchers to obey ethical principles so as to 

win the heart and minds of the public backup 

and having faith in the research. The public 

needs to be able to trust research, its methods 

and results, hold it in high esteem for the 

potential that it will contribute to take 

appropriate policy on the particular problems 

of the general people. The appropriate policy 

on any problem is contributing factor for 

effective planning and thus affect 

development. 

 

Impact of Research on Policy: In contrast 

to the academic perspective of research 

impact, practitioners hold a very different 

view. For example, Young claims that for 

research to have any impact, the results must 

inform and shape policies and programs and 

be adopted into practice26. Researchers 

wishing to maximize the impact of their 

work have to attract the interest of 

policymakers and practitioners and then 

convince them that a new policy or different 

approach is valuable and then foster the 

behavioral changes that are necessary to put 

them into practice (ibid). According to 

Fig. -2: Model on Impact 

of Research 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 40-50 

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Sumner et al. impact is multilayered and 

refers to use i.e. consideration or actual 

outcome of social change27. It can be visible 

or invisible, progressive or regressive, 

intended or unintended and immediate or 

long term. The Research Council of the UK 

acknowledges academic impact as the 

demonstrable contribution that excellent 

research makes to academic advances but it 

also emphasizes the need for economic and 

societal impacts as the demonstrable 

contribution that excellent research makes to 

society and the economy by, among other 

things, increasing the effectiveness of public 

services and policy. 

 

Impact of Research on Planning: Planning 

is very important for successfulness and the 

effective performance of an organization. It 

is not only for organizations but also for 

individuals. It is the most basic of all the 

managerial functions. It involves selecting 

missions and objectives and the actions to 

achieve them. Therefore, every organization 

or individual gives a greater emphasis on 

planning. Without research, it is not possible 

for pragmatic planning on any issue either at 

the individual or family or community or 

organizational or societal level. On the other 

hand, ethical consideration is important to get 

authentic result of the research for 

formulation of effective planning. Because 

planning as a process involves the 

determination of future course of action, that 

is why an action, what action, how to take 

action, and when to take action. These are 

related with different aspects of planning 

process. 

Impact of Research on Development    

The term research and development is widely 

linked to find out truth or to investigate the 

fact that may contribute to take appropriate 

decision to solve problems. Under the 

circumstances, ethics may contribute to find 

out the required results through proper 

investigation that also helps to development 

to reach goals. Research also helps for 

innovation both in the corporate and 

government world or the public and private 

sectors. Research findings on any issue are 

prerequisite for development. Research result 

allows a company to stay on top of its 

competition. Without research   an 

organization or a company may not survive 

on its own and may have to rely on other 

ways to innovate such as engaging in mergers 

and acquisitions or partnerships. Through 

research, companies can design new  

Concluding Remarks: Ethics ensure that the 

research produces knowledge by ensuring 

that research is not being repetitive. Every 

research must produce some new knowledge, 

promote truth and minimize error. Research 

ethics create some prohibitions to behaviors 

such as falsifying data, incorrect reporting 

and misrepresentation of data. Ethical 

behavior is similarly essential for cooperative 

work since it inspires an atmosphere of trust, 

answerability and reciprocal admiration 

amongst researchers28. This is important 

particularly when bearing in mind matters 

linked to data allotment, joint-authorship, 

exclusive rights, guiding principle, 

confidentiality, privacy, reduction of harm, 

benefits and rewards, vulnerable groups and 

so on. Ethics, research, policy, planning and 

development are inter-locked each other in 

writing this paper.  Without ethics, it is very 

difficult to get authentic and reliable data as 

well as findings or results of the research. If 

the results are not reliable then it creates 

impediment to take an appropriate policy as 

well as it affects to chalk out meaningful 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (1): 40-50 

51 

 

planning and all together create problem for 

development.  

 

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Author Contribution: 1st author Profulla C. Sarker 

guided the conception of the idea, the manuscript 

writing process, and checked the manuscript 

meticulously. 2nd author Uttam Kumar Das conceived 

the idea, did the literature review and wrote the 

manuscript. 

 

Conflict of interests:  The authors declare that there 

is no conflict of interest in this study. 
 

 

 

 


