Once you’ve completed the reading outline, review it to ensure it accurately reflects the content. Make any necessary adjustments or additions to improve its clarity and coherence.
Code of Ethics Lecture
The Code of Ethics (the Code) of the American Sociological Association (ASA or the Association)
sets forth the principles and ethical standards that underlie sociologists’ scientific and professional responsibilities and conduct. These principles and standards should be used as guidelines when examining everyday scientific and professional activities. They constitute normative statements for sociologists and provide guidance on issues that sociologists may encounter in their work.
Now, I don’t expect you to memorize the code. This is just an introduction course informing you that they exist.
The ASA Code of Ethics consists of the following six principles:
Professional competence
Integrity
Professional and scientific responsibility
Respect for people’s rights, dignity, and diversity
Social responsibility
Human rights
In addition to the six principles, there are nineteen ethical standards, covering the following topics: competence, representation and misuse of expertise, delegation and su
pervision, discrimination, exploitation, harassment, employment decisions, conflicts of interest and commitment, public communications, confidentiality, informed consent, research planning, implementation, and dissemination, plagiarism, authorship, publication process, responsibilities of reviewers, education, teaching, and training, contractual and consulting services, and adherence to the code of ethics.
The ethical standards that relate most to the research process itself are: confidentiality, informed consent, research planning, implementation, and dissemination. These principles require that researchers maintain objectivity and integrity in research, respect subjects’ rights to privacy and dignity, and protect subjects from personal harm. Researchers must also seek informed consent, preserve confidentially, and then when reporting on the research, acknowledge collaboration and assistance as well as any sources of financial support.
Each of these principles and ethical standards have detailed descriptions and parameters in the 2018 ASA Code of Ethics.
Unfortunately, when these codes of ethics are ignored, it creates an unethical environment for humans being involved in a sociological study.