{"id":1211452,"date":"2021-07-09T08:32:24","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T15:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=1211452"},"modified":"2021-07-09T08:33:34","modified_gmt":"2021-07-09T15:33:34","slug":"ethics","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/survey123\/constituent-engagement\/ethics","title":{"rendered":"Ethical considerations for surveys"},"author":7121,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[37131],"tags":[760102,760442,760112],"industry":[],"product":[36691],"class_list":["post-1211452","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-constituent-engagement","tag-ethics","tag-qualitative-data","tag-survey-design","product-survey123"],"acf":{"short_description":"Designing a survey and recruiting respondents can be challenging. Ethical considerations are a crucial part of this process. ","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Have you ever taken a survey that made you feel confused, or even frustrated? Or have you given a survey that respondents ghosted halfway?<\/p>\n

Survey participation is a crucial part of success<\/span>\u00a0with surveys<\/span>. Yet s<\/span>urvey design experts cite sensitivity to the information provided as a common reason for non-response.\u00a0<\/span>S<\/span>urvey ethics<\/span>\u00a0is a way to increase trust by being sensitive to information which respondents share<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>For example, ensuring respondent privacy and confidentiality can help build trust with your respondents.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>By i<\/span>ncorporating ethics in both recruitment and design<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0completion rates<\/span>\u00a0can improve while helping everyone do the right thing<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

First, do no harm<\/h1>\n

A good place to start are the\u00a0<\/span>Human Subjects Research<\/span>\u202frequirements<\/span><\/a> outlined for federally-funded research, which are followed by many other research organizations. At their core, these guidelines can be paraphrased as two golden rules:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The benefits\/knowledge to be gained\u00a0must\u00a0outweigh risks (and adequacy of protection against risks).<\/span>\u00a0For example, ensuring respondent privacy and confidentiality can help build trust with your respondents.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Survey respondents should be\u00a0informed of risks and\u00a0must\u00a0voluntarily consent to\u00a0participating.\u00a0For example, ensuring respondent privacy and confidentiality can help build trust with your respondents.<\/span> Informed consent can also entail what data is being collected, stored, and used.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In other words, survey participation should be voluntary and there should be a stated benefit for the respondents. Other professional organizations have their own ethics guidelines, such as the National Association of the Practice of Anthropology<\/a>, and the American Association of Geographers<\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

    Recruiting respondents<\/h1>\n

    Recruiting voluntary participants can be challenging, but not impossible.\u00a0The first step in ethical surveying is making sure that you are reaching out to the people who can truly\u00a0benefit.\u00a0Some\u00a0issues to\u00a0carefully\u00a0consider are:<\/span><\/p>\n