Research Design Methods and Applications Academic Accountants

Question: Discuss about the Research Design Methods and Applications for Academic Accountants? Answer: Introduction Conducting a research on an academic topic or on any human being is difficult as it involves great efforts to gather appropriate data and present the research in an appropriate as well as in an ethical manner. There are some common ethical matters to be considered by the researchers such as data protection, misrepresentation and forceful participation of the respondents, by creating any agreement or contract. This particular research highlights the real case of conducting an unethical research that will be summarized along with identifying the unethical factors of the research and changes in the result witnessed. The second part of the research is to set a research topic and set a hypothesis on the topic. Choosing an example of Unethical Research After going through a number of cases and studies, an example of psychological research has been chosen to proceed with this assignment. It has been observed that in this particular research the respondents were made to sign a contract stating that current will be passed through them in the form of electric shocks and an electric wire was connected with 30 switch consoles (www.sagepub.com, 2016). Research Summarization The research example taken for this assignment is the psychological test conducted on people by providing shock in order to test their brain - power. The person chosen for the experiment experienced electrical shock sessions that increased with every click of the electric switches. However, the researchers said that due to pre- installed calibrations in the machines the chances of harm are comparatively less, but might result in temporary injuries (Hodge, 2012). The people appearing for the research had to read a couple of words and then had to repeat these words while experiencing the shock sessions. The shock levels were marked in the parameters like slight shock to severe shock and the experimenter kept on increasing the shock levels and even denied to take the person out of the session (Bailey, 2012). The experimenter forcibly kept these persons by stating, It was mandatory to continue the experiment to the end level. The experiment was termed as Obedience Experiments and majorit y of the respondents had to agree to a certain point of shock level. However, the researchers attached with these experiments claimed that the purpose of this research was to derive a couple of outcomes: To find out whether people obeys authority to the optimum level. To find out or rather to introduce ethical factors in conducting research and evaluate the thinking about relating ethics with obedience and authority (Rosner Markowitz, 2012). Explaining the unethical factors This particular obedience test was conducted long ago during the time of World War by applying syphilis to test their physical capability to withstand radiations caused by atom bombs or any other radiations. The after result of this test was quite horrifying, as participants had to undergo medical tests to recover from the effects (Bell, 2014). The unethical issues of this experiment is that the respondents had to face life risks in case of any electrical accidents as no immediate medical facilities were mentioned to be present at the test spot. Though the respondents mentioned the level of shock that they want to face, they were not spared if they wanted to move out from the test in between. Hence, the unethical issues were lack of protection and respect for the respondents, beneficence and justified because the risks were not fairly distributed among the respondents (Bailey, 2014). Explaining the changes in results The entire case highlights that majority of the adult respondents could not bear the shock level despite of having a fair idea about it. The general purpose was to test the obedience and strength of memory, which transformed to health risks (Nardi, 2015). Hence, at the end, the Department of Health and Human Services termed this test as prohibited and introduced separate testing principles. Selecting the Research Topic The topic chosen regarding organizational issue is Do you thing that involvement of international fashion brands like Zara and Primark with Rana Plaza (Bangladesh) is an unethical business practice? Hypothesis Setting H0: The business relationship between Rana Plaza and international brands like Zara and Primark is unethical H1: The business relationship between Rana Plaza and international brands like Zara and Primark is not unethical Conclusion The entire study reveals that it is the responsibility of the researchers to ensure safety and security of the respondents and eventually must not include them into any experiments that might risk lives of people even with exchange of any valuables. Even in case of conducting any academic research, the researcher must carry out the research responsibly and should not violate any result or present the response received from the respondents. References Bailey, C. D. (2014). Psychopathy, Academic Accountants' Attitudes toward Unethical Research Practices, and Publication Success.The Accounting Review,90(4), 1307-1332. Bailey, N., (2012). Policy based on unethical research.Poverty and Social Exclusion. Bell, J. (2014).Doing Your Research Project: A guide for first-time researchers. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). Ethics in Research. (2016). Retrieved 21 February 2016, from https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/46055_Pages_from_Chambliss_(4e)_Chapter_3.pdf Hodge, F.S., (2012). No meaningful apology for American Indian unethical research abuses.Ethics Behavior,22(6), pp.431-444. Nardi, P. M. (2015).Doing survey research. Routledge. Rosner, D., Markowitz, G. (2012). With the best intentions: lead research and the challenge to public health.American journal of public health,102(11), e19-e33.