Ethical research in social sciences comprises of self-regulatory guidelines for making decisions professionally, which in turn help to solve a problem. These solutions may have historical, psychological, ethical, and social ramifications. Research on alcohol as a cause of suicide for teenagers indicated a rise in number of cases. This serious problem is already a historical problem. At one time, prohibition was used as a solution to the problem. However, it failed to work since sections of drinking joints allow people to access alcohol regardless of their age. In addition, these solutions have psychological effects such as depression, considering that, whenever addicts fail to access alcohol, it causes depression resulting to suicide. Further, the ethical consequences of alcohol prohibition and age limitation include the reduced sale of intoxicated and bootleg alcohol. Finally, the social ramifications of the solution range from reduction in deaths, family disruptions, and poverty, thus solving alcohol related problems (Loseke, 2017). The course of history of alcoholism could change significantly if this problem was changed since alcohol abuse is considered a major disorder. Thus, its control could lead to limited and responsible use of alcoholic substances. In addition, problems related to alcoholism could reduce at a high rate leading to a society governed by ethics. The group psychology of teenagers needs to change in the way that they do not use alcohol as a stress reliever and instead seek help from psychologists or share their problems to friends and professionals. This would help to reduce the problem on alcoholism. Solving the problem of alcohol abuse has numerous positive effects. For instance, prohibiting alcohol and limiting its usage could lead to reduced rates of suicide and deaths, and would solve the social and family problems related to alcohol abuse. Finally, it would lead to improved economy (Spector& Kitsuse,2017).
In order to determine a violation of good ethical conduct in research in the social sciences, the code of scholarly conduct has to be defined. An example of an ethical research violation is in the case of Laud Humphreys, a PHD student, who in 1960 conducted an experiment. He was collecting data for his dissertation research on the tearoom trade, which is a practice of men participating in anonymous sex encounters in public restrooms. Thus, in his research, he wanted to determine why men engaged in that type of trade. Hence, in order to conduct his research, Humphreys offered to act as the person on the lookout for police and in exchange, watched the sexual activities. However, Humphrey never identified himself as a researcher and watched his subjects for several months. In the process, he managed to know many and took note of their license number plates, as they pulled in or out of the restroom’s parking lot. He used the registration numbers to obtain personal information, especially their names and location addresses. Humphreys disguised himself as a researcher of public health while visiting the subjects in their homes. He interviewed them on their personal lives and health issues. The results of the research displayed numerous myths and typecasts of the tearoom trade and the individuals involved in the trade. The results showed that a good number of the participants were married to women and that their partners were not gay nor bisexual (Humphreys, 2011). Once his research was known to the public, it created a major controversy as to how social science research should be conducted. Many questions arose and the research appeared to be conducted unethically since Humphrey disguised himself to conduct the research and his subjects did not have the slightest idea that he was a researcher. Thus, it is evident that Humphreys used deceptive methods to conduct his research (Iphofen, 2017).
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References
Loseke, D. (2017). Thinking about social problems: An introduction to constructionist perspectives. New York : Taylor & Francis.
Spector, M. &Kitsuse, J. I. (2017). Constructing Social Problems. New York: Taylor & Francis.
Iphofen, R. (2017). Finding Common Ground: Consensus in Research Ethics Across the Social Sciences. Bradford: Emerald Group Publishing.
Humphreys, L. (2011). Tearoom Trade: Impersonal sex in public places. Piscataway: Transaction Publishers.
