Busines Research Ethics
Business Research Ethics
The importance to have ethics for business research is because it helps get more accurate results from the research and will show non-biased conclusions when publishing the research results. For example, if a research firm was being paid by a chocolate manufacturer, the results of the research could appear to be biased due to Sponsor Coercion. Sponsor Coercion is when the sponsor may ask research specialists to participate in unethical behavior, like interpreting data from a biased perspective because the sponsor offers a larger payment for biased interpretation of the data. Some examples of sponsor coercion is when the researcher is asked to violate participant confidentiality, change data or create false data to meet a desired objective, changing data presentations or interpretations, interpreting data from a biased perspective, omitting sections of data analysis and conclusions, and making recommendations beyond the scope of the data collected (Cooper, D. & Schindler, P. (2011). Business research methods (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin).
In 1998, Andrew Wakefield, a doctor in London published a study in the prestigious medical journal, Lancet, that linked the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism and bowel disorders in children (
The unethical ruling in this case was due to the fact that Wakefield neglected to disclose that he was being paid by lawyers that represented families that thought their children were harmed by the MMR vaccination, which was sponsor coercion. Wakefield’s research was also construed as unethical because the medical authorities believe that the research results were skewed to interpret data from a biased perspective because he was being paid by a sponsor that was using the participant information to sell their own services and self gain. There was also the question if the research was not fully compliant with the