Today in my Strategic Communications Research class, we discussed ethics in the field of Public Relations.
To be honest, this all seems like a bit of a no brain-er to me. You are supposed to be working to help not only your company and your client, but, above all, the public.
We also discussed conducting ethical research. The main focus became the point of making sure you protect the participants of studies at any and all cost. It is the duty of those who are conducting that research to make sure participants remain safe during the study and anonymous after the study.
I know that if I were a participant in a study, I would want to remain "in the shadows" so to speak. It becomes especially important when you are dealing with a study regarding a place someone works, or frequents because of the ramifications it could have on that individual if anyone were to find out the results of the study.
Oddly enough, with everything that is listed in the PRSA Code of Ethics as well as the IABC Code of Ethics, research is not one of the topics covered.
Perhaps the code of ethics for both organizations should be redone to include research provisions. It seems like common sense, but then again, doesn't everything in the codes of ethics?
I find it interesting that in the PRSA Code of Ethics as well as the IABC Code of Ethics that there is nothing about research ethics. Research plays a big part in PR and helps us understand the public better. The code of ethics seems like common sense, but without it where would we be?
ReplyDeleteI also find it a bit weird those code of ethics don't mention research. It is so important to be ethical. People want to give their opinions but they don't necessarily want to be named. It is a violation of trust from whatever company is doing the research.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that neither include the research aspect in their code of ethics also alerts me. It seems that since we now have access to any type of information on the internet and the ability to change that information that there would be a code of ethics on research. People need to be aware of all of the different research outlets that they have and not always depend on the internet.
ReplyDeleteThat's very interesting that research isn't discussed in either the PRSA or IABC code of ethics. It seems like a very common topic as well as a main subject in public relations work. It seems odd research isn't even mentioned. I think they should revise each of the codes to include the topic of research.
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