SEMINAR: Anthropology and Sociology Seminar Series 2015: Is there any such thing as research ethics? Towards a professional ethics of social scientific researchers - Nathan Emmerich, Visiting Research Fellow, Politics, International Studies, and Philosophy, Queen�s University Belfast

As the work of Schrag and Stark has demonstrated, the need for a specific ethics of research arose in response to the perception that the professional ethics of medical practice and practitioners might conflict or even be incompatible with the forms of biomedical research - including research conducted on 'normal patients' (healthily volunteers) and placebo controlled trials - that were being developed at the US National Institutes of Health circa 1950-1960. Whilst a system of 'expert review' of research proposals was implemented in response to these concerns it was not until the advent of bioethics and the Belmont Report that 'research ethics' came to be seen as an autonomous domain of 'the ethical.' Having come to be understood in this way its purview has been subsequently expanded to cover all 'human subjects research,' with social scientific research being the most prominent example. However, we might question whether the original motivation for the development of a specific research ethics is applicable to all domains and disciplines. In most cases it seems there is no potential conflict between a researchers responsibilities and their professional ethics as these are one and the same. This paper presents the case for rethinking research ethics as being the professional ethics of researchers. Paying particular attention to social scientific research and the idea(l) of confidentiality, I will argue that we are mistaken in thinking that the ethics of research as external to the practice of research. Instead they should be understood as part of the professional commitments of researchers and research communities. I will consider what it might mean to rethink 'social science research ethics' in terms of professional ethics and examine some consequences this view has for the ethical governance of research.