W stronę socjologicznego ujęcia etyki badań naukowych
Towards a Sociological Understanding of Research Ethics

Summary/Abstract: According to the thesis that ethical competence is an important part of professional competence of social researchers and that ethical dilemmas are often experienced by them as methodological and theoretical dilemmas, the authors of the article highlight the problem of lack of link between ethical reflection and the paradigm of qualitative sociology. They argue that the separation of this topic within mainly normative-philosophical domain, which dominates in ethical codes, carries a risk of treating it differently than other issues of sociological investigation and can lead to a significant loss of its cognitive value. Instead, the authors emphasize the possibility and the need to develop research ethics within the paradigm of qualitative sociology, looking for an inspiration in the works of Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, the Chicago School, Norman Denzin and Martyn Hammersley among others. They are critical to the hope that creation of ethical codes is an effective way of scientific communities’ self-regulation, stressing the importance of specific historical, social and linguistic contexts of their creation. Consequently, the authors emphasize subjective, situation, processual, and discursive character of ethics-oriented activities, undertaken both by researchers in the field, and by academic institutions in this regard.

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