Assignment:
When conducting research one of the most important things to consider is remaining ethical and providing valid research methods. While wanting to gather enough information and data to support or refute a hypothesis is important, it should not override the remaining ethical and maintaining the safety of the participants and integrity of the research. Federal regulations have been implemented to ensure the safety of research participants, along with the privacy and confidentiality of research participants (Check & Schutt, 2012). These regulations not only allow for the protection of research participants but assist in ensuring the ethical standards of research studies.
Research guidelines are outlined through ethical codes of associations, state laws, and federal regulations to ensure maintaining ethical standards. Research practitioners are taught to follow through with research guidelines and ethical standards set from the afore mentioned agencies. There are many ways to maintain ethical integrity of research methods, including, but not limited to remaining open and honest with research participants (Check & Schutt, 2012).
Maintaining open and honest communication during all phases of the research is important, as it allows for the research participants to feel comfortable to ask questions, as well as understand each step of the research methods taking place. Completing ethical research also entails ensuring the safety of the research participants. This ensures that no harm is done to the research participants, as well as allowing for participants to voluntarily leave the research at any time. While this may be an inconvenience to the researcher, it ensures that ethical standards are being met.
Lastly, the validity of research is met by measuring the validity, generalizability, and credibility of the research being taken (Check & Schutt, 2012). Precautions are typically taken throughout each stage and section of the research study to ensure validity and credibility. In doing, so internal and external factors should be taken into consideration for each participant, and address how those factors could influence results. The validity of the research is important, as it could aid in the generalizability of the research results amongst the general population. The validity of the research can be altered by the influence of the researcher(s) or the external factors outside of the controls of the researchers (Check & Schutt, 2012). If taken into consideration prior to the start, these factors could be addressed and taken into consideration when gathering the results.
References
Check, J., & Schutt, R. (2012). Research methods in education. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing.