CSP Ethics & Professional Standards 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A sociological practitioner discovers mid-study that a participant is experiencing domestic violence. What is the ethical priority?
- Continue the study without interruption to maintain data integrity
- Refer the participant to appropriate support services and document the referral (Correct answer)
- Exclude the participant from the study to avoid complications
- Report findings only in the final research publication
Correct answer: Refer the participant to appropriate support services and document the referral
Practitioners have a duty of care that supersedes data collection; connecting participants to support services is ethically required.
Question 2: Which of the following best describes 'procedural ethics' in sociological research?
- Ethics determined solely by the researcher in the field
- Ethics governed by formal institutional review and approval processes (Correct answer)
- Ethics based exclusively on community norms
- Ethics applied only after data collection is complete
Correct answer: Ethics governed by formal institutional review and approval processes
Procedural ethics refers to the formal oversight provided by institutional review boards and ethics committees before and during research.
Question 3: When a CSP practitioner's personal values conflict with a client's practices, the appropriate response is to:
- Impose professional values to correct the client's behavior
- Withdraw from the engagement without explanation
- Acknowledge the conflict and seek supervision or consultation (Correct answer)
- Document disagreement in the final report only
Correct answer: Acknowledge the conflict and seek supervision or consultation
Seeking supervision when values conflict protects both the practitioner and client while maintaining professional standards.
Question 4: A researcher promises participants that their interview recordings will be destroyed after transcription but later learns the funder wants to archive them. What should the practitioner do?
- Archive the recordings as the funder requests, since funders have authority
- Uphold the original promise and refuse to archive without participant re-consent (Correct answer)
- Anonymize recordings and archive without informing participants
- Destroy the transcripts as well to resolve the conflict
Correct answer: Uphold the original promise and refuse to archive without participant re-consent
Promises made during informed consent are binding; changing data handling requires seeking new consent from participants.
Question 5: Which ethical principle requires sociological practitioners to avoid using their professional position for personal gain at a client's expense?
- Beneficence
- Non-maleficence
- Fidelity
- Non-exploitation (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Non-exploitation
Non-exploitation prohibits practitioners from leveraging power imbalances or professional roles for personal advantage.
Question 6: In community-based participatory research, who should have meaningful input into how findings are disseminated?
- Only the lead researcher and IRB
- Only the funding organization
- The community partners and participants, alongside the research team (Correct answer)
- Only peer reviewers prior to publication
Correct answer: The community partners and participants, alongside the research team
Community-based participatory research is founded on shared authority, including decisions about how and where findings are shared.
Question 7: A CSP practitioner is offered a gift worth $150 by a grateful client. The most ethical course of action is to:
- Accept it to avoid offending the client
- Accept it but disclose it to a supervisor
- Decline it and explain the professional boundaries around gifts (Correct answer)
- Accept it privately without documentation
Correct answer: Decline it and explain the professional boundaries around gifts
Professional standards typically set low or zero thresholds for gift acceptance to prevent conflicts of interest and boundary erosion.
CSP Ethics & Professional Standards 2
A sociological practitioner discovers mid-study that a participant is experiencing domestic violence.
What is the ethical priority?