What exactly are research ethics?
Research ethics are a fundamental set of guidelines that ensure your research is conducted safely, ethically, and with integrity at all times. These ethics are necessary to protect the rights and well-being of your research subjects and to confirm the validity of your research findings. The importance of research ethics cannot be emphasized enough. As a core requirement, ethical clearance is required for almost all university research proposals. Further, research ethics are necessary to promote the welfare of your participants, either human or animal. This protection creates necessary trust between the researchers and those who participate in the research. Additionally, ethical procedures are at the core of maintaining the validity and reliability of your findings, ensuring that your measurements accurately represent your area of research. Objectivity is one of the fundamental ethical principles in research that emphasizes the critical need to minimize research bias. It demands a focued effort to minimize subjectivity and maximize objectivity at every level. In practice, this principle affects your study's methodology most profoundly, especially how you collect and analyze data.