In my marketing capstone class today we talked about ethical dilemmas people and companies may face everyday. The debate came down to are ethics relative or situational? Or is their a standard of ethics that should be used in any situation?
The market research industry has ethical dilemmas they face all the time. From how to conduct a research study to issues with clients and respondents. A major problem that market researchers face is when a client wants to get the name of the respondents and their answers to the survey or interview questions. Market researchers have an obligation to keep confidentiality with the respondents, however they also have been hired by the client. In the client's eyes they own the results as well as the individual answers to the survey questions. The researcher must make tough decisions knowing they could potentially "harm" someone.
Personally, I would not give the names of the respondents to the client explaining to them that you have promised those respondents confidentiality. Additionally I would explain how if this confidentiality wasn't promised to the respondents the client would not get the true information/ data they were able to receive
What would you do if you were the market researcher? What if there was no promise of confidentiality given to the respondents? Would that change your answer to this question?
I'd never give a name to a client like that. Though I think a good compromise would be to let respondents voluntarily agree to allow their more personal information to be given to such clients (perhaps in exchange for additional benefits?).
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