Ethical issues in social research

Abstract

This article discusses some of the ethical issues in social research. It presents the key concerns of the ongoing debate on the complexity of interactions between the researcher and the researched. It also examines the relationship between the researcher and his/her peers, the sponsors and the public at large. While reiterating the need for a judicious balance between methodological rigour and ethical propriety, it questions the once-dominant belief that facts about social phenomena exist independently of our ethical subjectivity and that they can be discovered by using appropriate and objective techniques.