An EU Code of Ethics for Socio-economic Research

The Respect project involved the development of guidelines, or codes, in a number of separate areas: data protection, intellectual property rights, research ethics, professional issues and professional competencies. Following consultation on these, an overall of code of practice was developed covering all these areas. This was accompanied by a user's guide to socio-economic research, designed for those who commission research, evaluate research proposals and review the results. This report addresses one aspect of the Respect project: the development of a set of ethical guidelines or a 'code' of standards to inform the conduct of socio-economic research in the European Union. These guidelines are aimed at all those involved in socio-economic research, whether commissioning, bidding for or managing projects, or working as part of a research team on a project.