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| Author: | Homan, R. |
| Title: | The ethics of open methods. |
| Journal: | British Journal of Sociology
1992 : SEP, VOL. 43:3, p. 321-332 |
| Index terms: | ETHICS METHOD STUDY RESPONSIBILITY PROFESSIONAL ETHICS SOCIAL RESEARCH |
| Language: | eng |
| Abstract: | The subject of the paper is unethical aspects of open methods. The article describes such an issues as the political reality of informing consent, consent as licence, shifting moral responsibilities and professional morality. The problem with ethics, as with many legalistic statements, is that they invite observance in the letter rather than the spirit by setting out procedures by which implicit moral obligations can be discharged or satisfied. The author suggests that statement of ethics invite the individual to surrender the moral conscience to a professional consensus. Behaviour that many would regard as immoral is nevertheless "ethical" because participants had in theory the right to refuse to respond. |
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