Chapter 4: The Professional Integrity of Social Science Researchers – Can Virtue Ethics Help?

This chapter is concerned with the professional integrity of researchers in social science. Social science researchers who undertake data collection and fieldwork, which involves spending time with those who have volunteered to be part of the research, have ethical responsibilities towards those who participate in their research. Particularly when research is publicly funded, they also have duties towards the social groups they study, and to wider society in which the findings of the research are of relevance. The position taken here is that social science researchers should be regarded as professionals who share common concerns and practices similar to the professionals working in health care.