8
Research 2 Activity Sheet
Quarter 3 – MELC 6
Week 6
Ethical Issues
REGION VI – WESTERN VISAYAS
Research 2
Activity Sheet No. 5- Ethical Issues
First Edition, 2020
Published in the Philippines
By the Department of Education
Region 6 – Western Visayas
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Antonio G. Uy
Jessie P. Batosin
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Pedro T. Escobarte, Jr.
Elena P. Gonzaga
Donald T. Genine
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Moonyeen C. Rivera
Anita S. Gubalane
Minda L. Soldevilla
Daisy L. Lopez
Joseph M. Pagalaran
Introductory Message
Welcome to Research 2!
The Learning Activity Sheet is a product of the collaborative efforts of the
Schools Division of San Carlos City and DepEd Regional Office VI - Western
Visayas through the Curriculum and Learning Management Division (CLMD).
This is developed to guide the learning facilitators (teachers, parents, and
responsible adults) in helping the learners meet the standards set by the K to
12 Basic Education Curriculum.
The Learning Activity Sheet is self-directed instructional materials aimed to
guide the learners in accomplishing activities at their own pace and time using
the contextualized resources in the community. This will also assist the
learners in acquiring lifelong learning skills, knowledge, and attitudes for
productivity and employment.
For learning facilitator:
The Research 2 Activity Sheet will help you facilitate the leaching-learning
activities specified in each Most Essential Learning Competency (MELC) with
minimal or no face-to-face encounter between you and the learner. This will be
made available to the learners with the references/links to ease independent
learning.
For the learner:
The Research 2 Activity Sheet is developed to help you continue learning even if
you are not in school. This learning material provides you with meaningful and
engaging activities for independent learning. Being an active learner, carefully read
and understand the instructions then perform the activities and answer the
assessments. This will be returned to your facilitator on the agreed schedule.
Name of Learner: ________________________________________________________
Grade and Section: ___________________________ Date:_____________________
RESEARCH 2 ACTIVITY SHEET NO. 5
Ethical issues and Concerns
I. Learning Competency with Code
o Identify and explain the ethical issues and concerns when writing a
research study (SSP_RS8-RMLIII-o-q-18).
II. Background Information for Learners may respeto sa gina kaangay
In your previous learning activity, you have learned about ‘research ethics’ and
how significant is this in the conduct of a research study. Research ethics are
established standards that regulate the manner of conducting and disseminating
scientific and other researches at research institutions, i.e., schools, colleges,
universities, etc. Though society is governed by laws, ethics and laws are two
different things. An action may be lawful but may not be ethical, or it could be ethical
but is unlawful. Thus, a researcher like you should bear in mind that research is
more than just a manner of data gathering considering the participation of your
research subjects/respondents.
This learning activity will guide you on the ethical principles that you need to
learn in compliance with the conduct of your study.
Why Research Ethics is Important?
When you think of research ethics, you might also think the issues involved in
it especially if you are conducting research that involves animals or human subjects.
Before tackling these issues, here are some of the salient importance why researchers
like you should be conscious of the existence of ethics in the conduct of your study.
⮚ It fosters the goals of research, i.e., knowledge expansion.
⮚ It reinforces the values needed for a collaborative effort, i.e., mutual respect
and fairness. Collaboration between teachers and groups is very vital especially in
the conduct of scientific research.
⮚ It fosters researchers’ accountability for their actions. Several researches are
funded by public money and to ensure that this money is spent properly, regulations
on disputes of interest, misconduct, and the involvement of animal and human
subjects are crucial.
⮚ It guarantees that the research gains public trust so that people would
support and fund the said research.
⮚ It promotes the essentiality of social and moral values, i.e., the principle of not
harming others.
taking accountability- taking responsibility
SOP-standard operating procedure e.g. abortion - lawful but un ethical
Need to follow before, during and after of conducting the research
Ethical Standards in Doing Research
Many of the scientific researches usually involve humans and animals as
research subjects. The purpose of research should be clearly defined to the
participants and should not give false promises to entice the participants to join. The
purpose of the study should be clear to the potential participants so they could freely
decide whether to join or not. Transparency is important to be able to conduct the
study ethically.
Furthermore, there are six broad ethical areas related to participants that need
to be considered in your research. These include voluntary participation, informed
consent, confidentiality and anonymity, the potential for harm, communicating results,
and other ethical issues. These areas are interdependent to one another and they
occur at various stages in the research. You need to check whether your school has
specific guidelines to follow which might be different from what has discussed here
highlighting possible ethical issues or concerns.
Take a look at Table 1 discussing in detail the common ethical issues that are
usually violated by researchers.
Table 1. Possible Ethical Issues Relating to Researchers
Ethical Issues Right Violated Compensation Available
a) Preserving participants’ Right to privacy
anonymity
b) Exposing participants; Right to safety Right to be heard
stress Right to redress
c) Use of special Right to privacy
equipment and techniques Right to choose Right to redress
d) Involving participants
in research without their Right to be informed Right to redress
knowledge Right to privacy
Right to be heard
e) Use of deception Right to be informed Right to redress
f) Use of coercion Right to choose
g) Selling under the guise
of research Right to be informed
h) Causing
embarrassment, hindrance, or Right to respect Right to redress
offense
Source: Smith and Quelch (1992, p. 162)
1. Voluntary Participation
• research subjects voluntarily participate in the conduct of your study and not by
coercion or deception
• subjects do not have any obligation towards you, it is an invitation that you sent
them, either they would accept or reject it
• no consequences should be done if they would reject it
• signing a confidentiality agreement protects you and your respondents of any
conflicts that might arise in the future.
2. Confidentiality and Anonymity
• Confidentiality is an active effort to eliminate from the research records any
elements that might reveal the subject’s identities
• Anonymity means that the subjects remain nameless
• responses given by the respondents should be kept confidential
• researchers should employ a systematic way of changing the subject’s real name
to a pseudonym or case number as they report data
• signing of a statement of confidentiality indicating the sensitivity of the nature of
the research and the information obtained from the study must not be disclosed
to anybody is necessary
3. Informed Consent
• researcher should devise a consent form to inform participants of the advantages,
intent, threats, and other aspects of the study
• participants should not be exposed to potential hazards in whatever form,
whether it be a physical, emotional, economic, legal, or professional injury
• additional protection must be given to pregnant women, human fetuses, newborn
babies, children, and prisoners
4. Potential Harm
There are various means by which participants can be harmed:
⮚ Financial harm – this is possible for researches done at a firm especially when
you are researching unethical behavior. This might give the management information
of the individual that may result in getting fired. Anything that involves financial
issues in a certain field that might unintentionally harm the employees or the firm
itself.
⮚ Psychological harm – this is usually observed for research topics that are too
sensitive, i.e., AIDS, STDs, third sexes, etc. that might offend the participants
involved.
⮚ Social harm – looking at how someone’s lifestyle affects consumption might
unintentionally disclose a person’s sexual orientation especially when that person
prefers it to be confidential.
The aforementioned ethical harms that you might encounter along the way
must be first identified before you conduct your research study. You must ensure
that your research has minimal or no harm at all that may arise. For a research
student like you, this is one of the most ethical issues that are difficult to address
speculating that no harm might arise as you conduct your study. Failing to conduct
research ethically might end your research career. Thus, you must assure that a
consent form and ethical considerations must be identified before taking up action
in conducting your research.
5. Communicating Results
There are three major terms that you need to remember when communicating
your results – plagiarism, academic fraud, and misinterpreting results.
In your previous learning activity, you have learned that plagiarism is copying
someone else’s work as you own. On the other hand, academic fraud involves the
misinterpretation of what has been done already. This involves manipulating data or
making up conclusions that are not accurate. This usually happens when the
researchers have difficulty in accessing the research participants needed to provide
them with the necessary data. The last issue is misinterpreting results. This is a
normal scenario especially for students' research for they may have less experience
or knowledge concerning the conduct of their study. Even renowned academics may
have misinterpreted their results as well. But, this must not become a habit to ensure
the trustworthiness and credibility of your study.
6. Others/More Specific Ethical Issues
The above-mentioned ethical issues are usually applied to a wide range of
research projects. But there are ethical issues that may arise in a specific situation
or the use of a specific research technique. These include:
o Conflict of Interest
This arises when your interest as a researcher is opposite to that of your chosen
participants. For example, discovering a certain medication of an unknown disease
and you wanted to test its efficacy on a group of patients. To market the said
medicine, you must also include the possible side-effects of using them. But when a
member of your research team does not inform the possible users about this
especially when the competition is a meddling factor, possible conflict may arise. So
to avoid this scenario, do not put yourself in such a dilemma. Try to avoid
competition with one another for your study to succeed.
o Deception
This usually happens especially when researchers do not want their respondents
to change their responses once they know the real intent of their study. Take for
example, topics that are too sensitive like alcoholism, AIDS, STDs, etc. Letting the
participants think that way would minimize bias but deceit should be avoided at all
times. Respondents must know the possible harm or threat accompanied in
participating in the study. This will ensure that you gather the necessary information
you need without harming anybody.
o Permission from the Organization/Location
This one of the ethical issues that students failed to comply with before research
is being undertaken. It’s a crucial process to ask permission from the person with
authority before using the location or asking respondents in a certain organization
to participate in your undertaking. This will ensure the safety and liability of
conducting your study at a certain location or organization as well as the individuals
involved in it.
III. Activity Proper
Activity 1. Ethics in Research
Objective: Identify and explain the ethical issues and concerns when writing a
research study.
Directions. Using your chosen research topic, identify all the possible ethical issues
that you might encounter and explain how these issues might affect the conduct of
your research study. Use the template below to guide you in answering. Write your
answer on a piece of paper.
Ethical Issue(s) Effect on the Conduct of your Research
Study
Note: You may list as many possible issues that you may think may affect the
conduct of your research study.
The scoring rubric below will be used to rate student’s answers.
Criteria 3 2 1
Includes all possible ethical Includes some of the Includes a few of the
issues relevant to the possible ethical possible ethical
Content chosen research study. issues relevant to the issues relevant to the
chosen research chosen research
study. study.
Provides appropriate and Provides some Provides insufficient
sufficient explanation to appropriate and explanation to
Reasoning support the possible ethical sufficient support the possible
issues. explanation to ethical issues.
support the possible
ethical issues.
Provides answers that are Provides answers Provides answers
Grammatical free from any grammatical that contain minimal that contain a few
Structure error. grammatical errors. grammatical errors.
Activity 2. Am I Ethical?
Objective: Identify and explain the ethical issues and concerns when writing a
research study.
Directions: Read the situations below and answer the questions that follow.
The ongoing developments of the different vaccines against COVID-19 create a
disturbance among the people especially the Filipinos. The stance on whether to be
vaccinated or not make people undecided on this issue, considering that there are
various brands of vaccines that have been developed or are still being developed.
Two brands of COVID-19 were approved and recommended by WHO like BioNTech-
Pfizer TM and Moderna TM while Oxford-AstraZenecaTM, JanssenTM, NovavaxTM are in
the 3rd phase of their clinical trial. Other COVID-19 vaccines like CovavaxTM (India),
Sinovac BiotechTM, and Sinopharm TM (China) are also on the list. These vaccines
are yet to be tested for efficacy.
As a Research student and a Filipino citizen, is it ethical or unethical for a
country to implement a vaccination program without waiting for the other COVID-
19 vaccines to be tested for their efficacy? What possible ethical issue/s might
affect the implementation of this program? Why do you think so? Write two-
paragraphs to answer this activity.
Paragraph A
Paragraph B
Questions
1. Why do you need to follow the ethical standards in conducting your research
study?
2. Browse the internet and search for any law/s or ethical codes that would
serve as your guide in conducting your research study.
IV. Reflection
Complete the statements below.
I understand_____________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
I don’t understand _____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
I need more information about ___________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
V. Links and Other References
Retrieved on February 10, 2021, from
https://www.sagepub.com › sites › default › files › upm-binarie
Retrieved on February 10, 2021, from https://www.nast.ph › 113-luzon-regional-
scientific-meeting
Retrieved on February 10, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-
ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines.html
Uy et. al. (2016). Samples and Sample Size. Vibal Group Inc. pp. 35-36
VI. Answer Key
Activity 1
Students’ answers may vary
The scoring rubric below will be used to rate student’s answers.
Criteria 3 2 1
Includes all possible ethical Includes some of the Includes a few of the
issues relevant to the possible ethical possible ethical
Content chosen research study. issues relevant to the issues relevant to the
chosen research chosen research
study. study.
Provides appropriate and Provides some Provides insufficient
sufficient explanation to appropriate and explanation to
Reasoning support the possible ethical sufficient support the possible
issues. explanation to ethical issues.
support the possible
ethical issues.
Provides answers that are Provides answers Provides answers
Grammatical free from any grammatical that contain minimal that contain a few
Structure error. grammatical errors. grammatical errors.
Activity 2
Students’ answers may vary
The scoring rubric below will be used to rate student’s answers.
Criteria 3 2 1
Provides appropriate and Provides some Provides insufficient
sufficient explanation to appropriate and explanation to
Reasoning support the possible ethical sufficient support the possible
issues. explanation to ethical issues.
support the possible
ethical issues.
Provides answers that are Provides answers Provides answers
Grammatical free from any grammatical that contain minimal that contain a few
Structure error. grammatical errors. grammatical errors.
Analysis
Students’ answers may vary.
