Case Study: Ethical Challenges in Research and Data Management

This case study examines two ethical dilemmas in research. The first involves a research buyer who uses ideas from multiple research proposals without compensation, raising questions of intellectual property and fair practice. The second scenario presents a situation where a research firm omits crucial demographic data in a survey and considers imputing the missing information, which raises concerns about data integrity and potential falsification. The case study analyzes the ethical implications of each scenario, offering potential solutions and emphasizing the importance of ethical conduct in research. The author discusses the importance of transparency, adherence to ethical guidelines, and the potential consequences of unethical behavior. The case highlights the need for researchers to be mindful of intellectual property rights, data accuracy, and the integrity of the research process. It also offers insights into how managers should handle these ethical issues.

Social Research 1
SOCIAL RESEARCH
Name
Course:
Professor’s Name
Institution
City
Date

Social Research 2
SOCIAL RESEARCH
Question 1.
A research buyer asks for competitive proposals from a number of research suppliers. The buyer
takes ideas from several 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.
Answer
Discussion
Ethical issue in this case is that, the research buyer overlooked the patenting policies of
the research suppliers as he or she did not pay them for their proposals or apply for their permit
to use their data in his study. If I was the manager I would have canceled the contract
immediately to first ensure that the data to be used was effectively and legally acquired from the
main researchers who were not notified before if it’s relevant to the study. The situation would
have been avoided if the buyer researcher studied the supplier’s research data, identified the one
he wished to work with and carry on the contract awarding process. To other research data, the
buyer researcher would have called the rest appreciate their efforts and request for their patent
right to using their data. The organization would be positive about my action as I have followed
protocol in giving awarding the contract and also in acquiring data, the future clients also will
have trust in my activities (Guillemin and Gillam, 2004).
Question 2.
While conducting an online survey for a client, a research firm inadvertently omits several
questions regarding respondents’ demographic data. A researcher discovers this error after the
survey is completed and the budget exhausted. She reports this to her superior, who is

Social Research 3
immediately concerned about possible harm to the firm’s reputation. The research firm’s upper
management decides to impute (i.e., use some method to guess or determine the values of) the
missing demographic data through Internet research tracking and linking data. This practice is
only partially successful at reconstructing the data, and the client will not want to know why
some data values are missing.
Answer
Discussion
Ethical issue in this case is fabricating or falsifying research data that is against research
ethics. As the manager I would talk to the client to allow some more but adequate time to work
on the missing data instead of falsifying data. The situation would have been avoided if the
researcher in charge would have developed a plan with all the activities to ensure everything was
done at the right time and place to give the right results. The Firm management would be
overwhelmed by my decision to provide the client with the right information as it will enhance
trust and faith to serve their clients effectively. Future client would be happy to relate with my
services (OLIVER, 2010).

Social Research 4
References
Guillemin, M. and Gillam, L., 2004. Ethics, reflexivity, and “ethically important moments” in
research. Qualitative inquiry, 10(2), pp.261-280.
OLIVER, P. (2010). The Student's Guide to Research Ethics. Maidenhead, McGraw-Hill
International (UK) Ltd.