Deception in marketing research: Ethical, methodological, and disciplinaryimplications

Although marketing researchers often find it necessary to deceive their res earch participants, little attention has been given within marketing to the ethical issues underlying the use of deception or to the potential consequ ences of deceptive research practices. This article provides a conceptual s tarting point for developing a more complete understanding of deception in marketing research, including an ethical analysis from the viewpoint of con sequentialist and deontological theories of moral reasoning. A research age nda is outlined that draws on the extensive behavioral science literature o n this topic and includes empirical questions relevant to the ethical, meth odological, and disciplinary implications of using deceptive practices in m arketing research. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.