The Section, "What Is the Truth-Statistics and Applied Social Research-Useful

question 113

Essay

The section, "What Is The Truth-Statistics and Applied Social Research-Useful or Abuseful'?" p. 512, raises some important issues. After reading that section, please answer the following questions.
a. Do you think it ethical if social scientists with strong political views go out deliberately and do research biasing their questionnaires so that data will confirm their political views? How do you justify your answer?
b. If an organization conducts socially relevant research and the findings turn out to be against the interest of the organization, does the company have the moral obligation to inform the public? How do you justify for your answer?
c. Do drug companies have an ethical responsibility to report the outcomes of experiments they fund involving their drugs when the outcomes show their product to be inferior or no better than competing drugs? How do you justify your answer?

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Definitions:

USA Patriot Act

A significant legislative act passed in 2001 in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks, aiming to strengthen national security but also raising concerns about civil liberties.

Oslo Accords

A set of agreements between the government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the 1990s aimed at achieving a peace process and self-government for Palestinians.

Rwandan Genocide

A mass slaughter that took place in 1994, where over 800,000 people, mostly Tutsi minorities, were killed in Rwanda by ethnic Hutu extremists.

Glass-Steagall Act

A piece of legislation passed in 1933 during the Great Depression that introduced regulations to control speculation by banks, including separating commercial banking from investment banking.