Ethical issues refers to the moral concerns about what is beneficial and potentially harmful to the subject being studied, to the researcher him or herself and also to society as a whole. Research can have a powerful impact on people's lives. The researcher has to think carefully about the research being conducted as it can be both harmful and beneficial to the researcher and also the researcher think carefully about the impact of the research and how he or she ought to behave, so that no harm comes to the subjects of the research or to society in general. These sorts of concerns are generally discussed under the term ethical issues.
             My essay will explore and assess the areas of ethical issues, the advantages and disadvantages of using ethics in research, sociologists' opinions on ethical issues and if ethical issues are actually important in sociological research.
             A main area of ethical concern in sociological research is the choice of topic being studied. Simply by choosing an area, the researcher might be confirming some people's unfairness and discrimination about certain issues. For example the unfair side of the research being carried out about are Afro-Caribbean youths associated with things like crime, failures or race issues. Critics argue that simply studying this continued association is made between 'race' and criminality or race and failure.
             Also the choice of group being studied is another ethical concern which comes up in sociological research. The more powerful the group the less likely they are to be studied. This results in sociologists studying less powerful groups such as students, petty criminals and less skilled workers. The really powerful tend to avoid being studied too closely.
             Research can often have an affect on people being studied, and so, before setting out to do the research, the sociologist must think carefully about what these affects will be. Sociologists tend to
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