Ensuring Ethical Practices in Evaluating Family Support Programs

Abstract

My first ethical concern would be the protection of data. Just as with my line of work, protection of sources and methods is vital. If the personal information was not handled properly by the researcher, the names and situations may be identified by those who do not need to know, which could be damaging to the families involved, as that information could be held against them by others. So, this is where confidentiality and anonymity need to be applied from the beginning. Yuen et al. (2011) highlighted the use of numeric or other designators for participants so that their identity is protected. Along with this is explaining the process and obtaining informed consent from the families as to how the data will be stored, shared, and destroyed. When children are involved, consent must also come from the parents or an appropriate guardian. The documentation should capture this and hold up to a legal and professional standard that should be able to be duplicated.      Another ethical concern revolves around any potential bias or conflict of interest with the researcher or foundation. The researcher should be objective and accurate with the evaluation, just as the foundation should be vetted for possible ulterior motives. Whether it is personal bias or pressure to complete and give one judgement or another, the evaluator should assess this prior to conducting the evaluation. Funding can be a touchy subject, and sometimes those seeking funding and those providing may have their own agenda or questionable values in their efforts to obtain or grant funding, respectively. If the process was handled properly by the program director, as for the collection of data, carrying out the actions of the program, and accurately presenting it, while using evidence-based methods, it is still incumbent upon the program director to ensure others are...