Qualitative Research and Ethics

For the past couple of weeks our class focused on qualitative research. Unlike quantitative research, qualitative research is not searching for numbers or statistics. This type of research is, instead, used to gain insight into people's attitudes and behaviors.

In relation to the focus of my blog, ethics, there are some aspects of qualitative research that some might argue pushes the boundaries of honoring those ethics. In previous blogs I had talked about how some focus groups can violate research ethics due to lack of information given to the participants. In another blog I addressed some ethical dilemmas that unobtrustive research holds. This blog will focus on if or if not giving incentives for participating in a focus group is ethical.

As stated, the purpose of qualitative research is to understand people's attitudes and behaviors. With that said, if a company conducts a focus group about a new product they are launching wouldn't giving an incentive alter the participants attitudes and behaviors towards that product? It could almost be looked at as a bribe- and as we know bribes are unethical.

Lets take a look at the example we had in class last week, the King of the Hill youtube clip. The moderator almost used the $50 as a way to not only get participants to come but also to make them favor the product when it was clear that the majority of the volunteers did not care to be there or about the product, just the money.

Now, I am not saying that giving incentives is completely unethical. In fact, in some cases I think it is necessary. For instance, if a company is trying to research the minds of college kids, more likely than not they will get more respondents if they offer an incentive. However, if the incentive is used as a way to get people to favor a product or an idea then there are ethics that have been violated.