You are the leader of a 5 member team that has been assigned to carry out social impact assessment of a project proposed in a Naxal area. Members have been allotted a remote village each to conduct surveys and ascertain views of local people. You are under strict instructions not to disclose the identity of respondents outside the project. While compiling data, you are puzzled by the responses from one of the villages. You accompany the point-person for that village the next day for verification. You randomly pick a person from the list of respondents and ask her for clarification of the response she had given earlier. She seems confused and denies any knowledge of the survey being conducted, let alone she is questioned. You try to verify this from other respondents and get similar replies. This raises serious doubts about the integrity and credibility of the survey process. (a) What are the ethical issues involved in the situation? (b) As a team leader accountable for the credibility of the survey and working on a hard timeline, what are the possible options before you? List their merits and demerits. (c) Giving reasons, state the course of action you would follow. (15 Marks)

Mentors Comments: Apart from covering the integrity of the team member, ethical issues should also include giving him/her benefit of … Continue reading You are the leader of a 5 member team that has been assigned to carry out social impact assessment of a project proposed in a Naxal area. Members have been allotted a remote village each to conduct surveys and ascertain views of local people. You are under strict instructions not to disclose the identity of respondents outside the project. While compiling data, you are puzzled by the responses from one of the villages. You accompany the point-person for that village the next day for verification. You randomly pick a person from the list of respondents and ask her for clarification of the response she had given earlier. She seems confused and denies any knowledge of the survey being conducted, let alone she is questioned. You try to verify this from other respondents and get similar replies. This raises serious doubts about the integrity and credibility of the survey process. (a) What are the ethical issues involved in the situation? (b) As a team leader accountable for the credibility of the survey and working on a hard timeline, what are the possible options before you? List their merits and demerits. (c) Giving reasons, state the course of action you would follow. (15 Marks)