ABSTRACT
Over the past two or three decades, disquiet about the standard of ethics in social research has been chiefly occasioned by a few projects which achieved notoriety. Some of these involved allegations of straight fraud: Sir Cyril Burt, for example, doyen of the psychological profession, stood accused of inventing not only experimental material but also research collaborators in his anxiety to bolster his preconceived notions about the nature of human intelligence. In discussing social research, one must look at practical and pragmatic considerations whenever these bear on ethical issues as they arise in practice. Honesty may sometimes pay but there are other times when a price has to be paid for being honest. Those who write about the recently dead—who cannot be libelled—will often cite other, less self-regarding, reasons for their discretion.
