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Is Quantitative Research Ethical? Tools for Ethically Practicing, Evaluating, and Using Quantitative Research

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  • Michael J. Zyphur

    (University of Melbourne)

  • Dean C. Pierides

    (University of Manchester)

Abstract

This editorial offers new ways to ethically practice, evaluate, and use quantitative research (QR). Our central claim is that ready-made formulas for QR, including ‘best practices’ and common notions of ‘validity’ or ‘objectivity,’ are often divorced from the ethical and practical implications of doing, evaluating, and using QR for specific purposes. To focus on these implications, we critique common theoretical foundations for QR and then recommend approaches to QR that are ‘built for purpose,’ by which we mean designed to ethically address specific problems or situations on terms that are contextually relevant. For this, we propose a new tool for evaluating the quality of QR, which we call ‘relational validity.’ Studies, including their methods and results, are relationally valid when they ethically connect researchers’ purposes with the way that QR is oriented and the ways that it is done—including the concepts and units of analysis invoked, as well as what its ‘methods’ imply more generally. This new way of doing QR can provide the liberty required to address serious worldly problems on terms that are both practical and ethically informed in relation to the problems themselves rather than the confines of existing QR logics and practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael J. Zyphur & Dean C. Pierides, 2017. "Is Quantitative Research Ethical? Tools for Ethically Practicing, Evaluating, and Using Quantitative Research," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 1-16, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:143:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-017-3549-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-017-3549-8
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    4. Mayowa T. Babalola & Matthijs Bal & Charles H. Cho & Lucia Garcia-Lorenzo & Omrane Guedhami & Hao Liang & Greg Shailer & Suzanne Gils, 2022. "Bringing Excitement to Empirical Business Ethics Research: Thoughts on the Future of Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(3), pages 903-916, October.
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    7. Gazi Islam & Michelle Greenwood, 2022. "The Metrics of Ethics and the Ethics of Metrics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 1-5, January.
    8. R. Edward Freeman & Michelle Greenwood, 2020. "Deepening Methods in Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(1), pages 1-3, January.
    9. Emma Bell & Nik Winchester & Edward Wray-Bliss, 2021. "Enchantment in Business Ethics Research," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(2), pages 251-262, November.
    10. Jose M. Cortina, 2020. "On the Whys and Hows of Quantitative Research," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 19-29, November.
    11. Michael J. Zyphur & Dean C. Pierides, 2020. "Making Quantitative Research Work: From Positivist Dogma to Actual Social Scientific Inquiry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 49-62, November.
    12. Thomas C. Powell, 2020. "Can Quantitative Research Solve Social Problems? Pragmatism and the Ethics of Social Research," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 41-48, November.
    13. Hengky Latan & Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour & Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, 2021. "To Blow or Not to Blow the Whistle: The Role of Rationalization in the Perceived Seriousness of Threats and Wrongdoing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 517-535, March.
    14. Michael J. Zyphur & Dean C. Pierides, 2020. "Statistics and Probability Have Always Been Value-Laden: An Historical Ontology of Quantitative Research Methods," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 1-18, November.
    15. Andrea Saltelli & Monica Fiore, 2020. "From sociology of quantification to ethics of quantification," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-8, December.
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    17. Mark R. Ryan, 2021. "Business Ethics as a Form of Practical Reasoning: What Philosophers Can Learn from Patagonia," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 103-116, April.

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