Ethics and research methods

In information systems (IS), the ethical conduct of research may be something which we take for granted, or perhaps simply ignore. Given the seriousness of ethical dilemmas that can arise, however; it is important to pay attention to ethical issues. A personal perspective is given on the nature of ethics in information systems research. The philosophical theories of teleology and deontology are reviewed and then applied in the IS context. Three fictitious scenarios are employed to illustrate the existence of ethical issues in IS research and suggestions are made for improving the quality of IS research from an ethical perspective.