Seeking a Research-Ethics Covenant in the Social Sciences

In Seeking a Research-Ethics Covenant in the Social Sciences, Will C. van den Hoonaard chronicles the negative influence that medical research-ethics frameworks have had on social science research-ethics policies. He argues that the root causes of the current ethics disorder in the social sciences are the aggressive audit culture in universities and the privilege accorded to medical research ethics. Van den Hoonaard charts the unique history of research ethics in sociology and anthropology and provides a detailed plan for how to unshackle research ethics in the social sciences from medical frameworks. Central to this plan is an insistence that covenantal ethics be embedded in the professional training of researchers in the social sciences. Based on decades of study, advocacy, and engagement with research-ethics policy at all levels, with a chapter by Marco Marzano (University of Bergamo), the book will be of interest to scholars, policy makers, and administrators who seek to support the full potential of social science research.
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- Van den Hoonaard argues that the root causes of the current ethics disorder in the social sciences are the aggressive audit culture in universities and the privilege given to the medical research ethics framework.
- In this book, van den Hoonaard demonstrates that university ethical review processes are not serving the aim of rigorous knowledge production in humanities and social sciences. The tone is impassioned but the scholarship is objective.
- This subject is of utmost importance at a time when the value of humanities and social science research is under attack in many parts of the world and the norms of ethical review from biomedical sciences are working to transform the research questions and methods that social scientists can tackle.
- The author details the implications of evaluating social science research within medical research ethics frameworks, the historical shape of research ethics in sociology and anthropology, and provides an overview of proposals that have been offered to remedy the situation.
- He provides a detailed plan on how to unshackle research ethics in the social sciences from the medical research ethics framework and advocates for embedding covenantal ethics in the professional training of researchers in the social sciences. This "covenantal" approach reaffirms relationships as a key factor in nurturing ethical sensibility.
- A social scientist, van den Hoonaard has been involved with research ethics committees, where he critiqued using medical research-ethics frameworks as the tool to assess social science research practice. A leader in the field, van den Hoonaard has invested decades of research, advocacy, and engagement with research-ethics policy at all levels.
- There is also a chapter by Marco Marzano (University of Bergamo).

Audience:
- The book will be a critical resource for policy makers and administrators who seek to support the full potential of social science research.
- It will also be of interest to researchers across several disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.