What is and Who governs ethical issues concerning human research?

Ethical issues when using human subjects are monitored by The British Sociological Association (BSA) and there are 4 main issues that they would look for to make sure the research is ethically or moraly good quality research.

Deceit - this is regarded a hard ethical issue to review as many different people and organisation have many different views.

Most studies or research would need informed consent from the subjects involved which is central to good ethical practise and so that no uneccesary harm comes to them follwing results or actions from the particular research.

However, some researchers may use covert operations where the subject who is being viewed is unaware of such activities. This is to reduce any unatural behaviour as opposed to someone who knows they are being monitored and simply behaves in a way he thinks is expected. An example of this could be research into racism or descrimination in the work place, a researcher could apply for a job in a suspected organisation without informing anyone around him thus achieving the most natural results. It has been debated by different researchers how Deceit can be determined or justified and ultimately it is upto the researcher to explain his reasons depending on his or her moral values.

Rights - Subjects involved with such research have particular rights such as they're right to privacy which should be taken into account by the researcher.

Damage - This can be split into 2 types, individual and group damage

Individual - Researchers must ensure that indivual subjects can not be harmed from any resulting research publications, this can be done by keeping the subjects name anonymous to the public or even the researchers themselves.

Group - Individuals maybe protected however this may not apply to the wider group of people. When harmful research is carried out on a large group of people, such as violence or drinking habits, a publication maybe produced showing results that ages 16 - 24 are most likely to be violent and drink the most. This does not affect people on an individual basis however maybe viewed by the public in the wrong way and reinforce sterotypical views.

Legality and researchers own moral views - Some research maybe carried out where the researcher is involved with criminal activity, a researcher may want to research may want to research the affects of drugs on individuals and society but in order to do so he or she may have to be witness to criminal activities. Another example could be research into a particular cult or religion, the researcher may not wish to change his beleifs or be forced to partake in any rituals he or she may have to undertake to obtain research results they are looking for.