Michael Scott wants to conduct a study on the day-to-day behaviors of office workers.He wants to film their behaviors for six years and then analyze the contents of the tapes.Describe three ethical issues that Mr.Scott must consider when conducting research with human subjects.

Three of the following should be discussed:
 Privacy-Mr.Scott must protect his workers' privacy.It would be unethical to observe their private behaviors without their knowledge.
 Confidentiality-Mr.Scott must keep his findings confidential;he should only make his tapes available to a few essential people (i.e.,researchers in charge of analyzing the data);he should try to prevent other people from linking the study's findings to particular individuals (his participants' identities should remain anonymous).
 Informed consent-the office workers must be told about the study and be allowed to choose whether they would like to participate.
 Deception-sometimes deception may be used if knowledge of the study would alter participant behavior.If Mr.Scott uses any deception at all,he must inform his workers of the study's goals once the study is completed.He must also explain to them why deception was necessary.
 Risks-Mr.Scott may not ask his workers to endure unreasonable pain or discomfort.He must assess the risk/benefit ratio of his study and determine whether the benefits outweigh potential benefits.