Research ethics

Manos Savvakis

Chapter 39 in Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Research Methods in the Social Sciences, 2026, pp 279-285 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The contribution examines the different concepts and meanings of the word ethics, emphasizing research ethics, especially in qualitative social research. It perpetuates that besides its technical and procedural dimensions, the term ethics holds significant research value per se and plays a constructional part in research design, implementation and findings. For this reason, modern social research should pay increased attention to these ethical and deontological issues – especially in the era of AI – not only accounting for bureaucratic and procedural accuracy and accountability but also for scientific rigor, validity and reliability. In fact, research ethics insofar as they relate to dimensions of social accountability, openness and knowledge sharing in the wider community, raise issues of democracy, equality, participation, power distribution and inclusion. In this way, they pave the way for relativising inequalities and defending the “scientific ideal” (or that of art, aesthetics, culture or athletics) from attempts of conscious decay, professional “abuse” or distorted over-exploitation. Research ethics also create a compass that offers the researcher a more widely accepted and relatively safe way of managing dilemmas, resolving tensions or managing disputes between research participants and the research team, the scientific community and members of a professional team. Finally, research ethics far from composing just technical or formal details, they constitute active, living and relational aspects of any reliable and adequate sociological inquiry.

Keywords: Research Ethics; Social Research; Qualitative Research Design; Interpretative Sociology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781803921297
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