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Ethical Beliefs of Social Work Researchers: Results of a National Study

Dawn Hall Apgar
New Jersey Institute of Technology
323 Martin Luther King Blvd.
Newark NJ 07102
973 642-7616
hall@adm.njit.edu

Elaine Congress
Graduate School of Social Service
Fordham University
113 West 60th Street Room 716
New York NY 10023
212 636-6627
FAX: 212 636-7876
congress@fordham.edu

Purpose: Despite a growing interest in social work ethics, there has not been much empirical study of ethical practices in social work research. This study begins to fill the gap by exploring the ethical beliefs of social work researchers.
Methods: This paper reports the results of an exploratory study using a random sample of 234 social work researchers drawn from the membership roster of the Society for Social Work Research. Self-administered questionnaires were returned by 67% (160 individuals).

Results: Researchers were more likely to believe that sexual relationships with current versus former survey respondents were unethical (61%, n=98 versus 29%, n=46, respectively). Even more considered intimate relationships with current and past interviewees unethical (87%, n=139 versus 54%, n=87, respectively).

The use of current students (24%, n=38) was more likely to be considered unethical than former students (10%, n=16). The majority of social work researchers (59%, n=94) believed that it was unethical to use a student's idea as a basis for their own professional publications. Yet a number of researchers were undecided or believed it was ethical (38%, n=60).

There was much variability in researchers' attitudes about ethical practice in other areas. Less than half of respondents believed the following were clearly unethical: 1. Reviewing an article in which the authorship is known (42%, n=67); 2. Providing therapy to former subjects (33%, n=52); and/or 3. Interviewing an intoxicated subject (30%, n=48). Sixty-five percent of respondents reported that they had encountered ethical dilemmas in their research and most indicated that additional supports related to ethics would be helpful.

Implications: This study found that there was a lack of consensus among social work researchers about ethical practices in conducting research and reporting findings. There is need for additional research and education on ethical practice in research.