The popularity of empirical methods in software engineering research is on the rise. Surveys, experiments, metrics, case studies, and field studies are examples of empirical methods used to investigate both software engineering processes and products. The increased application of such methods has also brought about an increase in discussions about adapting these methods to the particularities of software engineering. In contrast, the ethical issues raised by empirical methods have received little attention in the software engineering literature. In this chapter, we introduce four ethics principles of primary importance for conducting ethical research. We additionally discuss and provide examples of applying these principles in the context of ethics review.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
ACM Executive Council. (1993). ACM code of ethics and professional conduct. Communications of the ACM, 36(2), 99–105. http://www.acm.org/constitution/code.html.
American Anthropological Association. (2004). Statement on Ethnography and Institutional Review Boards.http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/index.htm.
American Psychological Association. (2002). Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. http://www.apa.org/ethics/code2002.html.
Anderson, R. E., Johnson, D. G., Gotterbarn, D., & Perrolle, J. (1993). Using the new ACM code of ethics in decision making. Communications of the ACM, 36(2), 98–107.
Australian Research Council (ARC). (2007). Research Ethics. www.arc.gov.au/about_arc/research_ethics.htm.
Becker-Kornstaedt, U. (2001). Descriptive software process modeling–how to deal with sensitive process information. Empirical Software Engineering, 6(4), 353–367.
Beecher, H. K. (1966a). Ethics and clinical research. New England Journal of Medicine, 274(24), 1354–1360.
Beecher, H. K. (1966b). Consent in clinical experimentation: myth and reality. Journal of the American Medical Association, 195(1), 124–125.
Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT). (1997, October). CAUT responds to tri-council code. CAUT Bulletin. www.caut.ca/en/bulletin/issues/1997_oct/tricouncil.htm.
Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, & Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. (2005). Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans. Public Works and Government Services Canada. www.pre.ethics.gc.ca.
Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. (1992). Responsible Science: Ensuring the Integrity of the Research Process (1). Washington DC: National Academy Press.
Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. (1993). Responsible Science: Ensuring the Integrity of the Research Process (2). Washington DC: National Academy Press.
Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. (1995). On Being a Scientist: Responsible Conduct in Research (2nd edn). Washington DC: National Academy Press.
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). (undated). Research Ethics Framework. Swindon, UK: ESRC. http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/Images/ESRC_Re_Ethics_Frame_tcm6–11291.pdf.
El-Emam, K. (2001). Ethics and open source. Empirical Software Engineering, 6(4), 291–292.
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). (2007). Funding Guide. Swindon, UK: EPSRC.
Faden, R. R. & Beauchamp, T. L. (1986). A History and Theory of Informed Consent. New York: Oxford University Press.
Fleuhr-Lobban, C. (1994). Informed consent in anthropological research: we are not exempt. Human Organization, 53(1), 1–10.
Fowler, F. J. Jr. (1993). Survey Research Methods (1) (2nd edn). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Frankel, M. S. (1989). Professional codes: why, how, and with what impact? Journal of Business Ethics, 8(2), 109–115.
Freedman, B. (1987). Scientific value and validity as scientific requirements for research: a proposed explication. IRB: Ethics and Human Research, 9(6), 7–10.
Gotterbarn, D., Miller, K., & Rogerson, S. (1999). Software engineering code of ethics is approved. Communications of the ACM, 42(10), 102–108.
Harrison, W. (1998). An issue of ethics: responsibilities and obligations of empirical software engineering researchers. Empirical Software Engineering, 3, 7–9.
Heath, E. (1998). The noninstitutional review board: what distinguishes us from them? IRB, 20(5), 8–11.
Jeffrey, D. R. & Votta, L. G. (1999). Guest editor’s special section introduction. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 25(4), 435–437.
Kelman, H. C. (1972). The rights of the subjects in social research: an analysis in terms of relative power and legitimacy. American Psychologist, 27, 989–1016.
Lane, B. (2006, August 16). Ethics draft provokes anger. The Australian.http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/.
Lethbridge, T. C. (2001). Mixing software engineering research and development–what needs ethical review and what does not? Empirical Software Engineering, 6(4), 319–321.
McNeill, P. (1993). The Ethics and Politics of Human Experimentation. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mirvis, P. H. & Seashore, S. E. (1982). Creating ethical relationships in organizational research. In J. Sieber (Ed.), The Ethics of Social Research, New York: Springer-Verlag, (pp. 79–104).
National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council, & Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee. (2007). National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. Australian Government.
Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation (OECD). (1980). OECD Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data. OECD.
Patrick, A. S. (2006). Privacy practices for HCI research. HOT Topics!, 5(2). http://www.carleton.ca/hotlab/hottopics/Articles/February2006-PrivacyPract.html.
Penslar, R. L. (1993). Protecting Human Research Subjects: Institutional Review Board Guidebook. Washington DC: National Institutes of Health, U.S. Government Printing Office. www.hhs.gov/ohrp/irb/irb_guidebook.htm.
Public Welfare, Protection of Human Subjects, Code of Federal Regulations, Title 45, Pt. 46 (45CFR§46), (2005), http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/humansubjects/guidance/45cfr46.htm.
Schrier, J. (1992). Reducing stress associated with participating in a usability study. In Proceedings of Human Factors’ Society 36th Annual Meeting, Santa Monica, CA.
Sieber, J. E. (1992). Planning Ethically Responsible Research: A Guide for Students and Internal Review Boards (31). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Sieber, J. E. (2001a). Not your ordinary research. Empirical Software Engineering, 6(4), 323–327.
Sieber, J. E. (2001b). Protecting research subjects, employees and researchers: implications for software engineering. Empirical Software Engineering, 6(4), 329–341.
Singer, J., Sim, S. E., & Lethbridge, T. C. (2008). Software engineering data collection for field studies. In F. Shull et al. (Eds.) Guide to Advanced Empirical Software Engineering, Springer.
Singer, J. & Vinson, N. G. (2002). Ethical issues in empirical studies of software engineering. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 28(12), 1171–1180.
Singer, J. & Vinson, N. (2001). Why and how research ethics matters to you. Yes, you!. Empirical Software Engineering, 6(4), 287–290.
Smith, S. & Richardson, D. (1983). Amelioration of deception and harm in psychological research: the important role of debriefing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44(5), 1075–1082.
University of Toronto Social Sciences and Humanities Research Ethics Board (SSH REB). (2005). Guidelines for Ethical Conduct in Participant Observation. http://www.research.utoronto.ca/ethics/eh_policy.html.
Vinson, N. & Singer, J. (2001). Getting to the source of ethical issues. Empirical Software Engineering, 6(4), 293–297.
Vinson, N. G. & Singer, J. (2004). Consent issues raised by observational research in organisations. NCEHR Communiqué, 12(2), 35–36.
Worchel, S. & Cooper, J. (1979). Understanding Social Psychology, Revised Edition. Homewood, IL: The Dorsey Press.
Wright, D. R. (2006). Research ethics and computer science: an unconsummated marriage. In Proceedings of SIGDOC ‘06, Myrtle Beach, SC, USA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer-Verlag London Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Vinson, N.G., Singer, J. (2008). A Practical Guide to Ethical Research Involving Humans. In: Shull, F., Singer, J., Sjøberg, D.I.K. (eds) Guide to Advanced Empirical Software Engineering. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84800-044-5_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84800-044-5_9
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-84800-043-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-84800-044-5
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)