Business Ethics Research

Business Research Ethics

Beau McKinley

RES/351

March 7, 2016

Roxanna Allison

Business Research Ethics

For the purpose of this paper, we were asked to select an article in the University Library that contains a research study and then report what should be avoided, as well as what would happen if the researchers engaged in unethical behavior.  Drawing upon my previous assignment reflecting current events in business research, I have selected to write based on an article from the ProQuest Psychology Journals entitled, “Social Workers Employed in Substance Abuse Treatment Agencies: A Training Needs Assessment,” (Hall, Amodeo, Shaffer, Vander Bilt, 2000).  The industry of substance abuse treatment is my passion.  Improving upon this growing profession and identifying areas of weakness are key.  More specifically, identifying unethical behavior in the research as pertains to research within the field.  In the pages to follow, I will re-iterate the research problem identified in the above study.  I will then discuss what unethical research practices to avoid, what particular parties involved in this research could face injury and what injuries could occur, and how unethical behavior could be monitored and resolved as a result of its affects to the organization, the individuals, and society.

Unethical Research Practices to Avoid

        Ethics are norms or standards of behavior that guide moral choices about our behavior and our relationships with others.  The goal of ethics in research is to ensure that no one is harmed or suffers adverse consequences from research activities. This objective is usually achieved. However, unethical activities are pervasive and include violating nondisclosure agreements, breaking participant confidentiality, misrepresenting results, deceiving people, using invoicing irregularities, avoiding legal liability, and more (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). substance abuse counselors.  It is extended to social workers who often are held responsible for drug and alcohol related assessments.

As previously mentioned, $240 billion dollars of the nations health care costs are associated with substance abuse and dependence problems (Hall et al., 2000).  In this study, researchers were aware of this fact.  They made an attempt to research the problem and had to define it.  The problem here was need to assess training needs for social workers employed in substance abuse treatment agencies.  This problem came from a need to determine the effectiveness of social workers in substance abuse treatment.  

        Subjects were randomly selected from six New England states.  Samples were random and selected from different areas in order to assess the potential for greater effectiveness within the field.  Subjects demographics included, but were not limited to gender, age, ethnicity, education level, professional identification, certifications, specializations, responsibilities, work settings, treatment modality, funding, and experience.  Surveys and interviews were conducted to determine how the above related variables either effectively or ineffectively correlated to the treatment of those clients requiring substance abuse treatment and how the subjects viewed their ability to effectively provide treatment.  The data indicated that social workers providing substance abuse treatment service were finding considerable barriers to participating in training activities related to substance abuse treatment (Hall et al., 2000).  The social workers in the study (by majority) did not have sufficient training to handle all cases effectively, diagnose multiple substance abuse problems, or the ability to refer to appropriate agencies for further diagnosis.  The majority of subjects all agreed that there was indeed a need for more training.  Therefore, one of many conclusions in this study was that there was indeed a need for not only the availability of training, but a need for more training in the researched area.