Article 1: Code of Ethics: American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association has developed a collection of principles, policies and ethical standards that guide the conduct and responsibility of professionals in the field of sociology. The principle as referred to as the ASA code of ethics whose main aim is to guide everyday professional activities of sociologists. The main purpose of this paper is to discuss the main principles that guide the whole code of ethics. Furthermore, the paper seeks to discuss the importance of these principle to the sociological profession.
The whole document that is the ASA code of ethics is made up of three main parts which includes the preamble, the main principle and finally the specific ethical standards. The article’s main focus is on the general principles which include integrity, professional competence, professional and scientific responsibility, Respect for peoples right, dignity and diversity as well as social responsibility (Margolis, 2000). However, these principles do not exhaust the ethical practice guidelines to be followed by sociology professional. These professional are expected to exercise what they would consider due conduct in accordance to the set guideline during their practice.
The code of ethics is a guide for sociologist towards the highest possible ideals in the sociology. The article clearly stipulates that guidelines that may not be in the code of ethics are not necessarily ethical or unethical. Members of the ASA are required to commit themselves to adhere to the principles and policies set out in the professional ethics guideline (Margolis, 2000). The members of the association can be brought under review in cases where their conduct affects their professional function in a sociological capacity.
Article 2: Taking names: the ethics of indirect recruitment in research on sexual networks.
The purpose of this article, is to find out the function of the Institutional review board (IRB). The article explains that the board is involved with the evaluation of risks and benefits of various medical, social and behavioral researches. The board’s main focus is on research procedures that involve human participation. The work of IRB is to protect the public from potential risks that may arise from these projects. The review board carries out its activities by scrutinizing researches and calculating the anticipated risks and benefits. The article aims to identify the best way of recruiting participant of researches that observe human behavior. This paper aims to analyze how different recruiting mechanism affect the research process as well as the participant themselves.
IRB also put great emphasis on the initial stages of recruitment because the process can be harmful from the beginning. The board ensures that the research methods in use will ensure that participants are well aware of the risks involved in participating before giving out personal information. IRB recognizes that when participants can be harmed from the nature of information they reveal about themselves during participation. The article further differentiates between direct and indirect recruitment. In direct recruitment, researchers need consent to access personal information of participants while indirect uses this information in the recruitment process. The article concludes that indirect recruitment methodology is a breach of ethical standards of research. However, the article argues that this method of recruitment may be advantageous in certain studies to ensure the validity of the data collected. Studies concern with HIV/AIDs that gather data on a person’s sexual behavior is a good example (Margolis, 2000).
Reference:
American Sociological Association. (June, 1997) “Code of Ethics” of the American Sociological Association. New York Avenue NW, Suite.
Margolis, L. H. (June 01, 2000). Taking Names: The Ethics of Indirect Recruitment in Research on Sexual Networks. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 28, 2, 159-164.
