Research Ethics: An Important Attribute for Researchers

Ethics are defined as differentiating among right and wrong. The basis of ethics is moral principles which define a code of conduct designed for different professions and societies. Research ethics are basically the principals that define the separation of right and wrong act done during conduction of research. Conduction of research is a process involving numerous stages and research ethics are vital in research process because researches have to focus on ethical issues at different levels of research process. A large number of research works have been done across the world to elaborate research ethics and associated principles. It is also very important for researchers to understand that what the basic ingredients are of ethical research and the researchers must understand the core ethical principals in this regard. The purpose of this paper is to provide a simple yet comprehensive organizing scheme for the responsible conduct of research and to critically examine ethical issues in qualitative research. The research ethics can be classified into two major categories including participant’s specific and general ethics. This paper also narrated some general un-ethical practices adopted by researches and also highlighted such issues in context of Pakistan. The conclusion of the study is that researchers must follow research ethics in true letter and spirit for not only to uplift standard of their research work but also to avoid future legal adverse actions against them.