Similarities and Differences in Ethical Codes across Social Science Associations

 

The code of ethics of various social science organizations are similar in that:

 

  1. Confidentiality should be discussed with study participants before the research begins.

 

  1. Integrity of scientific research should be a priority – strive to eliminate bias.

 

  1. Scientists should not exploit research participants, colleagues, students, or employees.

 

  1. Scientists should respect the rights, dignity and worth of all people.  They should not discriminate under any circumstances.

 

  1. Scientists need to be sensitive to cultural differences of others.

 

  1. Scientists should be honest about their expertise and qualifications.

 

  1. Scientists should accept responsibility for their actions and research.

 

8.     Scientists should do their best to further the public good.

 

9.     Scientists should try to share their research findings with the public.

 

  1. Social scientists should obtain informed consent from research participants whenever possible. 

 

The code of ethics of various social science organizations differ in that:

 

  1. Regarding confidentiality: Sociological ethical standards allow scientists to forgo maintaining confidentiality for information learned in public settings.  Reasoning:  People act in public settings with the knowledge that they are being or could be being watched.

 

Also, compared to some other social science organizations, in particular psychology, sociologists are able to consult more openly with other sociologists about their research participants. Psychologists are not able to consult with other psychologists about their research participants if the participants are patients.

 

  1. Sociologists specifically require that people who make complaints about a sociologists’ ethics should not be discriminated against or treated differently because they made the complaint. (This is to protect “whistleblowers.” Without it, given that most complaints about ethical violations come from other scientists in the same field (they are the ones who are most likely to detect violations), scientists would be leery of lodging complaints for fear of retaliation.)

 

  1. Sociologists focus more on contributing to the public good as a whole, while other social science organizations are more focused on protecting and improving individuals’ lives and freedoms. 

 

  1. Sociology, as a discipline, is less concerned with the benefits of research to “academic departments” that are some other social science organizations.

 

  1. Sociologists do not discourage each other from conducting research that cannot be disclosed to the public. Other social science organizations, particularly anthropology, prefer that all research be freely disclosed to the public. This difference could be due to differences in substantive topics. Sociologists some times study people or topics that are highly controversial.  In such research, sociologists need to protect the identity of their study participants.  Disclosing the research could jeopardize the anonymity or confidentiality of the study participants, or it could contaminate the validity of the research by bringing public attention to the issue.

 

  1. The Sociology code of ethics does not specifically address sexual harassment. Other social science organizations do.  For sociologists, sexual harassment falls under “respect others” and “do not exploit others.” 

 

  1. Other social science organizations specifically address ethical considerations when a scientist stays with a host in their community/tribe.  For example, in anthropological studies the researcher often interacts closely with study participants, even living with them.  Sociologists do not often live this closely with the people they are studying.

 

  1. Sociologists must "disclose underlying assumptions, theories, methods, measures, and research designs that might bear upon findings and interpretations of their work." Other social science organizations do not require that scientists disclose this much detail about the methodologies used in their research.

 

  1. Other social science associations include more ethical issues concerning teaching in their code of ethics than do sociologists.

 

  1. Some other social science organizations encourage their members to offer their services for free (pro bono), while sociologists do not.