You have been asked to participate in a business research study. ...

[appyboo]

You have been asked to participate in a business research study. Discuss the rights and obligations of your role as a research participant.

Question 2

What elements are in an experimental design?

[whitcassie]

Answer to Question 1

Most business research is conducted with the research participant's informed consent. In other cases, they may not be aware that they are being monitored in some way. The ethical responsibilities vary depending on whether participation is active or passive.

One obligation of a research participant is honesty. When someone willingly consents to participate actively, it is generally expected that he or she will provide truthful answers. In return for being truthful, the subject has the right to expect confidentiality, meaning that information involved in the research will not be shared with others. A participant's right to privacy involves his or her freedom to choose whether to comply with the investigator's request. Research companies should adhere to the principles of the do-not-call policy and should respect consumers' Internet privacy as well. Since some experimental research involves some degree of deception, participant's have the right to be protected from harm and the right to be informed.

Answer to Question 2

An experimental design involves the specification of treatments to be manipulated, test units to be used, dependent variables to be measured, and procedures for dealing with extraneous variables.