Ethics in Survey Research Ethics in Survey Research Research Notes are published by various research groups within NCS Pearson. If you have any questions about any of the information in this document, use our on-line form to ask your question. Conducting any survey is a difficult undertaking, requiring a number of decisions, a great deal of planning, and careful attention to detail. Survey researchers, like all individuals engaged in scientific inquiry, frequently encounter situations that may be interpreted differently by different individuals.
Situations requiring an ethical interpretation are no different.
Two individuals faced with an identical situation will likely perceive that situation differently and consider two different courses of action to be equally acceptable. While these guidelines are much too lengthy and involved to review in detail here. Perhaps one of the most stringent requirements when conducting survey research is to maintain the confidentiality of survey respondents. Frequently, the respondents to your survey expect the information they provide will be confidential and they will remain anonymous. If you have promised anonymity, as a survey researcher, you have an ethical responsibility to make sure responses do remain anonymous.