Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
Lecture Notes
Chapter 3: Ethics: What Are My Responsibilities as a Researcher?
Learning Objectives
3-1 Identify major ethics issues in human communication research.
3-2 Explain some of the classic ethical positions that inform communication research.
Chapter Summary
This chapter begins by identifying the major ethical issues in human communication research.
Next, the chapter explains some of the classic ethical positions that inform communication
Annotated Chapter Outline
I. Introduction: Some Ethical Decisions
A. Sex, violence, and deception
1. Whether to expose research participants to offensive material.
B. Money and relationships
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
1. Whether to accept funding from sources who hope your research results will
promote their product or cause.
II. Ethics Issues in Communication Research
A. Honesty
1. Deception can be part of legitimate and professional research studies.
B. Confidentiality and anonymity
1. Confidentiality means will not release any information that identifies your
participants.
C. Making generalizations
1. The professional codes of practice discussed below require that research
D. Debriefing
1. Explaining to participants after the study any deception involved, plus results of
the study.
E. The literature review
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
1. This is your summary and evaluation of what other researchers working on your
topic have published.
F. Acknowledging others
1. If others contributed to your project, it might be appropriate to list them as
G. Appropriate language
1. Written in a professional scholarly style.
H. Plagiarism
1. The unethical representation of others’ work as your own.
III. Some Classic Ethical Positions
A. Judeo-Christian ethic
1. Doing unto others as you would have others do to you.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
C. Principle of utilitarianism
1. Principle of utilitarianism is the greatest good for the greatest number.
D. Rawls’s “veil of ignorance”
1. “Veil of ignorance” approach asks us to take a dispassionate approach,
IV. Two Brief Histories—Or Why We Care about Research Ethics
A. Nazi medical experiments
1. Medical experiments during World War II were the 20th-century impetus for
B. Tuskegee study
1. The study intentionally did not treat men with syphilis and did not inform them
V. Contemporary Codes of Ethics
A. The Nuremberg Code
1. Nuremberg Code, the first international code.
B. The Declaration of Helsinki
1. Research protocols must be reviewed by an independent committee prior to the
research.
C. The Belmont Report
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
1. Autonomy
a. Individuals should be treated with respect.
2. Beneficence
a. Human subjects must not be harmed, and efforts should be made to secure
3. Justice: benefits and risks of research must be distributed fairly.
VI. Regulations
A. Common Rule
1. Shared standards are known as the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human
B. Institutional review boards (IRBs)
1. Ensure compliance by research institutions and requirements for obtaining and
VII. Peer Review and IRBs
A. Peer review
1. Peer review, at its simplest consists of qualified researchers with similar interests
B. IRB
1. The IRB is a panel established to review research proposals specifically for their
VIII. What Should I Call You? The Ethics of Involvement
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
A. Subjects
1. Traditionally, researchers used the term subjects.
B. Acceptable terms
1. Informant.
IX. The Internet and Research Ethics
A. What is the Internet?
1. The ambiguity in the very term Internet research captures the basic definitional
problem.
a. Internet research may include research on Internet content with no direct
2. Simplistically, the Internet can be regarded as a process and as content.
B. Anonymity and identification on the Internet
1. Internet residents post content on the assumption that their identity is protected by
C. Privacy on the Internet
1. The DHHS notes that all information that is legally available to any Internet user
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
3. A further privacy issue is cross-national data storage.
D. Informed consent and debriefing on the Internet
1. Informed consent becomes a much more complex issue since consent cannot
necessarily be easily identified.
E. Guidelines and questions for Internet research
1. The three-step process for ethical research with social media.
a. First—review the terms and conditions of the social media platforms you will
2. The Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) proposes guidelines for Internet
research.
a. An AoIR summary chart that presents commonly asked ethical questions for