Toward the Establishment of Ethical Standardization in Public Relations Research, Measurement and Evaluation

Abstract

Research is an enormous part of the public relations function. A review of the literature on ethics in public relations research concludes that it is severely lacking study. To move the public relations field as a whole toward professionalization, ethical standards for the conduct of research, the treatment of both data and humans, and the values underlying the meaning of data should be agreed upon. To answer the Research Question, “How do professional associations that deal with public relations research, both academic and professional, express codes of ethics, statements, or conduct regarding the ethical practice of research? If they have an ethics guideline, what principles or values are espoused?” we collected data on ethics from 14 associations – both professional and academic. We compared 5 principles of ethics and 18 core values across the statements, examined the philosophical basis for a complete statement and a close example from one organization. Based on the literature and on our data, we then offer a normative ethics statement to guide research standards in public relations. We hope that this research spurs discussion and a move to foster and standardize ethics in public relations research, measurement, and evaluation.