Which of the following are unethical in the context of research? (A) Seeking…

Concept

Research ethics protects participants’ autonomy, voluntary choice, welfare, privacy, and dignity.

Informed consent and confidentiality are safeguards; coercion violates voluntariness, while incentives and deception require ethical scrutiny because their acceptability depends on safeguards, approval, and the risk of undue influence.

Application

• Seeking informed consent respects autonomy and is an ethical safeguard.

• Offering incentives is not automatically unethical, but it becomes ethically problematic when it creates undue influence. The official key classifies this practice with the unethical practices in this exam item.

• Coercing respondents to disclose sensitive personal information violates voluntariness and privacy.

• Hiding the research purpose can be permissible only when justified and approved, proportionate to risk, and followed by appropriate debriefing. Without those safeguards, it undermines informed participation; the official key treats it as unethical here.

• Maintaining confidentiality protects participants’ information and is an ethical safeguard.

Contrast

• The combination of informed consent, incentives, and coercion includes the consent safeguard and omits concealed research purpose.

• The combination of incentives, coercion, and concealed research purpose groups the undue-influence risk, loss of voluntariness, and unqualified deception treated as unethical in this item.

• The combination of coercion, concealed research purpose, and confidentiality includes the confidentiality safeguard and omits the incentive concern.

• The combination of informed consent, incentives, and concealed research purpose includes the consent safeguard and omits coercion.

Result

For this UGC NET previous-year question, the official answer key selects the combination of offering incentives, coercing respondents for sensitive personal information, and hiding the research purpose. This exam classification treats incentives as an undue-influence risk and concealment as unqualified deception; in research practice, both require contextual ethical review.