Putting Research Ethics Into Practice at DonorsChoose

Hi! This post is an introduction to a series about how the DonorsChoose UX Research team weaves research ethics throughout our practice. These posts will primarily consist of concise how-tos geared toward the novice researcher, but may also be of interest to seasoned vets looking to implement ethical procedures on their teams.

Why are we writing this? Because issues of consent, privacy, and power impact the quality of the data you collect, the emotional well-being of the people who participate in your research, and the reputation of your organization. And while ethics are ingrained in academic research training (not to ignore the sometimes shady roots of many research disciplines), they aren’t frequently acknowledged in the UX world. Granted, we’re probably not subjecting research participants to emotional or physical distress in most run-of-the-mill usability tests, but we owe it to the participants who guide our work and the success of our organizations to keep their interests front and center and approach our work, and their interests, with care.

Look out for our first post in this series, where we’ll share our overall philosophy on data privacy.

Thanks for reading!