Ethical Dilemmas

Ethical Issues

• Philosophical questions

• Societal norms

• Codes of behavior

Rights and Obligations of the Respondent

• The obligation to be truthful

• Privacy

• Deception

• The right to be informed

Rights and Obligations of the Researcher

• The purpose of research is research

• Objectivity

• Misrepresenting research

• Protect the right to confidentiality of both subjects and clients

• Dissemination of faulty conclusions

• Advocacy research

Rights and Obligations of the Client Sponsor (User)

• Ethics between buyer and seller

• An open relationship with research suppliers

• An open relationship with interested parties

• Privacy

• Commitment to research

• Pseudo-pilot studies

Advocacy Research

• Research to support a specific legal claim

Pseudo-Pilot Studies

• The researcher is told that the study is the first of many in a more comprehensive study

Ethics:

Moral principles or values generally governing the conduct of an individual or group.

Not a one-way relationship.

Research Supplier Ethics

• Low-ball Pricing

• Underpaying Field Services

• Lack of Objectivity

To review some unethical practices found among marketing research suppliers.

Managing Research Ethics

Abuse of Respondents

•Most common problem: lengthy interviews

•Refusal rate now averages 60 percent.

• Selling Unnecessary Research

• Violating Client Confidentiality

Research Client Ethics

• Issuing Bid Requests When a Supplier Has Been Predetermined

• Obtaining Free Advice and Methodology Via Bid Requests

To examine unethical practices among research suppliers, clients, and field services.

Managing Research Ethics

• Making False Promises

• Unauthorized Requests for Proposals

Field Service Ethics

• Overreporting Hours Worked

• Falsifying Data

• Use of Professional Respondents

Managing Research Ethics To examine unethical practices among marketing research field services.

Data Collection Code of Ethics

• Accuracy of statements given to respondents to secure cooperation.

• Protection of respondent anonymity

• Respect for the respondent’s right to refuse cooperation.

• The need for parental consent before interviewing children.

• Treating respondents with respect and not attempting to influence responses.

Managing Research Ethics To examine unethical practices among marketing research field services.

Respondent Rights

• The Right to Choose to Participate

• The Right to Safety

• The Right to be Informed

• The Right to Privacy

To become familiar with respondent’s rights.

Managing Research Ethics

A marketing researcher accepts personal responsibility for:

1. Employees’ needs and desires and the long-range best interests of the organization.

2 People directly affected by company activities and their long-range goodwill and best interests.

3. Social values and conditions for society at large that provide values, sanctions, and a social structure that enables the company to exist..

Ethics and Professionalism To discover methods by which the level of professionalism in marketing research can be raised.

Indications of a Lack of Professionalism in the Research Industry

• Push Polls

• Sales Pitches Disguised as Research

Fostering Professionalism

Marketers that most need to think, believe, and behave as professionals are those in marketing research.

Ethics and Professionalism To discover methods by which the level of professionalism in marketing research can be raised.

The Efforts of CASRO

• Sponsored several symposia that deal with ethical issues in survey research.

• Worked with other groups to provide input to legislatures considering antimarketing research legislation.

Is There a Need for Researcher Certification?

Certification:

Not a license.

Ethics and Professionalism To discover methods by which the level of professionalism in marketing research can be raised.

License:

A mandatory procedure administered by government.

Certification:

A voluntary program administered by a nongovernmental body that provides a credential for differentiation in the marketplace.

Ethics and Professionalism To discover methods by which the level of professionalism in marketing research can be raised.

• What Do Clients Want From a Research Department or Research Supplier?

• Managing The Research Process

• Managing Research Ethics

• Ethics and Professionalism

Summary