ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE STUDY OF SILENCE BEHAVIOR AMONG MALAY WORKERS IN SELECTED GERMAN ORGANIZATIONS

Abstract

This concept paper discusses the current process of data collection to obtain information on silence behavior among Malay workers in German organizations. This discussion explains about the concepts of ethics and ethical considerations in conducting research on a group of people. Ethical issues are vital to be discussed as researchers should be responsible for ensuring that issues related to ethics and research procedures are addressed and reported transparently. Several considerations need to be adhered to by researchers to reduce the risk to respondents. For this study, the researchers had applied for ethical approval in advance from the Center for Research and Innovation (RMIC) and gone through several processes that need to be considered. To facilitate the understanding of the ethical review panel, the researchers have outlined several important aspects that need to be taken into account. Among the main consideration highlightedwas the need for the Malay employees in these German organizations should remain anonymous or the real identity of the respondents should not be disclosed during the study reporting. The data collected must be managed securely and confidentially. Study respondents were given a clear description of the study conducted and why they were involved in the study. Several consent forms were given to ensure that the involvement of respondents are willing and ethical. Apart from that, the appointment of an enumerator and the need for one was justified as the process of collecting data for this study was restricted due to the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic.