Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

The Literature Review

Ethics in Social Research

Conclusion

How to Review the Literature and

Conduct Ethical Studies

But since we do not as yet live in a period free from mundane troubles and beyond

history, our problem is not how to deal with a kind of knowledge which shall be

“truth in itself,” but rather how man deals with his problems of knowing,

bound as he is in his knowledge by his position in time and society.

—Karl Mannheim,Ideology and Utopia,p. 188

You are ready to design a study on the topic of
gangs. As you narrow the broad topic into a specific
research question (e.g., Do drug-dealing gangs in a
housing project provide services or protection to
other residents or do they only exploit them?), you
encounter two issues. First, are any past studies rel-
evant to this question (i.e., review the scholarly lit-
erature on gangs)? In practice, the process of
focusing a topic into a research question overlaps
nicely with reviewing the literature. Second, as
you gather data on gangs, what must you do to be
ethical? Specific ethical concerns depend on the
research question and the data collection technique.
Human subject issues are most salient in survey
research, experiments, and field research and least

salient in existing documents, secondary data

analysis, content analysis, or historical-comparative

research. Ethical issues are more significant for con-

troversial topics or areas that might violate a per-

son’s privacy or involve illegal behavior than for

“safe topics.” To study illegal gangs, you need

not only to protect yourself from physical attack

but also to be aware of the legal implications. Ide-

ally, unlike Venkatesh’s study mentioned in the

opening box, you do not want to be doing research

for four years before you learn about the legal-

ethical issues of your research study and need to

change direction.

In this chapter, we move to practical matters

that you will encounter as you begin to do your own

In his field research study of a drug-dealing gang in Chicago housing projects, Venkatesh

(2008:185–186) realized “Four years deep into my research, it came to my attention that

I might get into a lot of trouble if I kept doing what I’ve been doing.... I did see a lawyer,

and I learned a few important things. First, if I became aware of a plan to physically harm

anyone, I was obligated to tell the police... there was no such thing as ‘research-client

confidentiality,’ akin to the privilege conferred upon lawyers, doctors, or priests. This

meant that if I were ever subpoenaed to testify against the gang, I would be legally

obligated to participate.... This legal advice was ultimately helpful in that it led me

to seriously take stock of my research... .”

From Chapter 5 ofSocial Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches,7/e. W. Lawrence Neuman.
Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education. Published by Allyn & Bacon. All rights reserved.