Posted: January 24th, 2022

Ethical Issues Concerning Research Participants

Application in Fire Research Unit 6 Journal

Question:

Instructions

You are a battalion chief in a fire department conducting a study that explores differences in morale between the three shifts of your organization. You decide to use a focus group to probe the issue. During the focus group, you learn some very personal information from your participants. One firefighter relates that he has had suicidal thoughts because he does not get along with the captain and feels like the captain is out to get him. The captain is not present in the focus group, and the other participants acknowledge that the captain is harsh on the firefighter.

What ethical issues exist in this scenario? How would you minimize harm to the participants? What, if any, of the information you have learned can be used in your role as a battalion chief and not as a researcher?

Your journal entry must be at least 200 words in length. No references or citations are necessary.

Answer:

Ethical issues concerning Research participants

In this scenario, there are two outstanding ethical issues. Firstly is the maintaining of confidentiality. The firefighters must remain unanimous, and his identity kept from spilling out to the organization members outside the group of focus. This is a step that I have to uphold as a researcher and the chief captain of the battalion.

The other apparent ethical issue here is to avoid biasness. The captain is absent, and the information comes from one party involved in the case; thus, before any action is taken, there must be a thorough consideration to make absolute care not to be biased on the report received from the fighter.

In handling this issue the way, I will minimize harm to both parties by ensuring that there is no biasness or favor concerning the position. The other thing will be the critical investigation of the allegations’ credibility to make sure there is no exaggerated information or harried execution of motive judgment.

There is information that I have gathered that I can employ in my daily operation as a battalion chief. Maintaining confidentiality between individuals can help me in my daily routine with the fighters under my supervision just in case any have a confidential problem to share with me.