How should Ethical standards be set?

With the utmost respect to all those directly participating in any developmental research, the concern for perfect ethical treatment must be balanced to provide the most good for the most people (Steiner 237), including those people in the future who stand to benefit from some particular research findings. Opportunity costs, or the trade-offs, in ethical cases can be a delicate matter, requiring thorough discussions with a diverse representation of any groups involved with the research before decisions are ever considered.  

When conducting a study, researchers are obligated to follow certain codes of conduct: risk should be minimized, participants should be informed of the research, deception should be avoided and the results should be anonymous or confidential. (Kail 32)Without compromising these essential guidelines highlighted in the text, and considering the study is approved by a panel of experts and community representative, the research must consider all possible utility in hypothetical findings. Members of the panel must carefully weigh any ethical questionability with the possible benefit future generations may receive from results of the research. In the end, ethical standards should provide the optimum overall utility, presently and in later generations.

Kail, R. V., & Cavanaugh, J. C. ( 2010). Human Development: A Life-Span View. Belmont: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Steiner, John F. (2009). Business, Government, and Society: A Managerial Perspective. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.