What Ethical Implications Must Be Considered When Developing Survey Questions
There are many ethics codes that apply to research. In particular any type of research that uses human participation must be passed by an ethics committee. There are many codes that must be followed to ensure that there are no conflicts, confidentiality issues and personal emotional issues. The different ethics codes will depend on the type of survey and the topic of the survey. Research cannot proceed until ethics have been approved.
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Confidentiality
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Each participant has the right to privacy as no one can be able to connect the individual's answers with the person. Each survey must promise confidentiality and describe how the data will be kept confidential. How confidentiality is maintained does not have any set guidelines and each ethics committee may have different specifications. Statements in the research participation will detail the type of confidentiality and if there are difficulties where absolute confidentiality cannot be achieved. Using codes or participant numbers are some ways to protect an individual's privacy.
Conflicts of Interest
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Conflicts of interest can be a problem when survey data is collected. You need to think about the topics for each question and the circumstances that would produce a conflict of interest. Once all the questions are written up then all apparent conflicts must be made known to everyone interested in participating, as the participants are responsible for removing themselves from the study. In social situations a conflict of interest tends to occur due to professional relationships and not financial conflicts.
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Psychological Stress
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The topics of the survey questions may be sensitive and answering the questions can produce a lot of psychological stress. Speaking about traumatic experiences can sometimes be a positive experience but it can also be a negative one. When writing the questions think about the type of stress that can occur with each question. You may allow participants to not answer any questions with which they are uncomfortable. Participants do have the right to stop the survey at any time.
Misrepresentation
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Misrepresentation cannot be used in surveys and you need to think about this when designing the questions. In no way can the research be used for solicitation or sales and therefore you need to be clear about the topic of the questions. The purpose of the survey must be made clear and all participants must understand the purpose of the questions.
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