RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

SUBMITTED TO: SIR ASIF AGHA

SUBMITTED BY: NOUSHABA SHAFIQ

ASSIGNMENT: 1

CASE STUDY ANALYSIS:

This case study is about the “Research Ethics” in which a researcher was a teacher in the
college. The college sent him to the Avionic Company during summer vacations for five
weeks where he had to conduct the organizational assessment survey. Now He was
working as a researcher in Avionic Company. After joining the company as a researcher,
he found that the management did not consider the employee complaints which had
worsened the working conditions in the company. The company had never conducted the
employee survey. So a serious organizing effort was planned before the Vice President of
the Company could approve the Survey. Avionic Company gave researcher his first
assignment to conduct a survey in order to find out find the perceptions of their
employees regarding company and its senior management. . Since the company never
conducted any survey so the headquarters give a special consideration and involved
themselves with every aspect of the survey. Researcher was a bit worried because his
duty was not only to conduct a survey but prior to that he must ensure that employees are
willing to be a part of that survey. In the fifth week the he was going to present the
results of his survey at the headquarters but before presenting the actual results of survey
the management found that the some findings of the survey are against the company. So
the management asked the researcher to change some of the findings of the survey
according to the will of management because it can damage the reputation of the
company, if the researcher revealed the actual results of the survey. The management
also threatened the researcher to be expelled from the company if he is not going to
manipulate the results of the survey but the researcher is of the view that it would be
unethical and it would break the faith of the employees.

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 What are the most prudent decisions the Avionics Inc. can make about its
responsibilities to itself and others?

The VP has asked the researcher to change the findings of the research which breaks a
code of ethics among researcher, respondents and sponsor. It is also worth mentioning
here that the researcher broke a code of ethics on his own where he did not use a proper
sample of employees. It is important for the young researcher to educate the VP on: the
intended purpose of the research, the difference between fact-finding and decision
making, explain how distorting the truth may lead to breaking the faith of employees. If
moral suasion fails, it is imperative that the young researcher terminate the relationship.
The management can accept the results and can take the actions accordingly in order to
improve the faults which had been identified by the survey results. For example if the
findings of the survey shows the poor working conditions then the company can improve
the working conditions according to the requirements. This will improve the efficiency of
the employees and they will feel that the company is giving respect to their opinions and
taking care of them. So this will ultimately help the company to achieve its objectives.
But this will cost the company in short run but it will help the company to become more
profitable in the long run.

 What are the implications of its decisions even if there is no violation of law
or regulation?

Employee morale reduction and a break in trust between company and employees.
Additionally, the researcher can lose his credibility in the research arena. If the company
accept the results and act accordingly to improve the faults as identified by the survey,
the first implication can be that the company may have to face the high cost of
organizational change but this will help the company in the long run in order to achieve
their objectives and to improve their performance.

If the company decides to verify the results then the first implication can be that they will
get the accurate results and if they use those results honestly and effectively for the

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betterment of the company then they can improve the efficiency of employees which in
turn will increase the efficiency of the company in long run. The second implication of
this decision can be that the company will have to bear the extra cost of verifying the
results which could be the wastage of time and other resources. But overall it is
concluded that the company should accept the results.

ASSIGNMENT: 2
 As a researcher, how would you balance the contradictory rights of
respondent and sponsor organization?

In my view the researcher should maintain a balance between the contradictory rights of
the respondents and the organization in which the researcher is going to conduct the
research because the respondents and the organization are the most important factors for
conducting a study. To create a balance the researcher must know about the research
ethics so that he can keep a balance between the rights of respondents and the
organization.

In order to maintain a balance between contradictory rights of both the parties, a

researcher must:

 Take the informed consent from the organization in order to clarify the nature of
the research and the responsibilities of parties involved in the research.
 While obtaining the consent researcher use the language that is reasonably
understandable to the participant. He must explain the significant factors that
may be expected to influence the person's willingness to participate. In the
situation where the respondents are not adults, consent must be obtained from
their legal guardians such as in case of children as the respondents the permission
must be obtained from their parents.

 The researcher must inform potential participant as fully as possible about the
nature and purpose of the research, the procedures to be used, and the expected

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benefits to the participant and/or society, the potential of reasonably foreseeable

risks, stresses, and discomforts, and alternatives to participating in the research.
 Another responsibility of the researcher is to recognize the right to privacy. So the
researcher must take into account the aspect of confidentiality. The researcher
must not disclose the confidential or personally identifiable information in his
reports or presentations of the research unless the respondents or the sponsors
have given the written permission. He must specify how privacy and
confidentiality concerns will be approached. He must be sensitive to not only how
information is protected from unauthorized observation, but also if and how
participants are to be notified of any unforeseen findings from the research that
they may or may not want to know.
 The researcher must not force the respondents to participate in the study for this
he requires the informed consent. He must not put the respondents in a situation
where they might be at risk of harm as a result of their participation. Harm can be
defined as both physical and psychological.

CONCLUSION:

So by considering the right of informed consent and the right of privacy of the
organization and the respondents, the researcher would be able to maintain a balance
between the contradictory rights of both the parties.

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