Social Research Workshop – Research Ethics

It is well established in the realm of academia that a researcher will not be able to produce reliable and valid findings without following some ethical rules, otherwise known as the codes of ethics. Today almost all universities and prominent research institutions require that the research be reviewed according to ethical regulations and be scrutinised by an established ethical committee. Fabian Zhilla, a PhD Candidate at King’s College London,  delivered a presentation on the aims and objectives of ethics in research.  His approach was based on the Kings College requirements and on that of British Society of Criminology. Fabian  elucidated some of his procedural experience he went through for his ethical application to get approved. He also illustrated how difficult in practice is to follow ethical rules while at the field work.  Fabian has just arrived from his field work in Albania were he conducted around fifty interviews with elite (i.e. judges, procurators, advocates, politicians, academics etc), did archival research for three weeks and observed courts for two weeks in four main areas of the country.