Ethical Concerns in Marketing Research Scenarios

The following situations and questions have occurred many times in the real world of
marketing research. Each raises ethical concerns about the practice of marketing research.
For each situation and question, identify what you believe to be the ethical issue and
indicate what you would do.
1. A research buyer asks for competitive proposals from a number of research
suppliers. The buyer takes the ideas from a number of these proposals without
offering payment for the ideas and then awards the contract to one of the research
suppliers to conduct the study using all the ideas.
2. A research organization uses a few questions developed for one client in designing a
questionnaire for another client.
3. Without obtaining the approval of the client, a simple set of questions for that client
is added to another client’s questionnaire.
4. A major error is discovered by a research supplier in a study that has been
completed and submitted to the client.
5. A research firm is asked to conduct a study by a firm that is in direct competition
with one of the research firm’s clients.
6. A research firm accepts an assignment with the knowledge that it cannot complete
the project in the designated time.
7. A research firm wonders what the ethical issues are, if any, in using entertainment
and gifts to help in soliciting business.
8. The director of marketing research presented to senior management the results of a
study conducted by a member of the marketing research staff. No mention of this
staff member was made during the presentation. In a footnote in the written report,
the staff member was given credit for his contribution.
9. A consultant was asked by a highly conservative publication to conduct a readership
survey. Although the consultant was well qualified to do the research, the
magazine’s philosophy was quite inconsistent with her own. She was having
difficulty resolving this professional/moral dilemma.
10. A project director has proposed to use ultraviolet ink on a questionnaire in a mail
survey. The letter with the survey promises that the respondent will not be
identified. The director thinks that the ink identification is needed to save money in
the mailing of a follow-up questionnaire to those who do not respond to the first
mailing. Without the ink marking, the questionnaire will have to be mailed to all
subjects in the sample, including those who responded to the first mailing.
11. An interviewer tells a respondent that an interview will last only 15 minutes, fully
knowing that it takes a half hour. Experience has shown that many respondents
granting a 15-minute interview would refuse a 30-minute interview. However, once
subjects agree to participate, they usually complete the interview process—even if it
runs longer than the originally cited time. Thus, nonresponse error can be reduced,
and data accuracy increased.
12. As part of a study on family business processes, a family is videotaped as it examines
automobiles in a dealer showroom. Also, conversations within the family are
recorded by a “shopper”/researcher. The family is not aware that it is being
monitored.
13. A family places its trash in a public alley for pickup. Without asking permission, a
researcher sorts through the garbage as part of a brand-preference survey.