To know the social world and analyze it always means to get involved in it, as opposed to what happens in natural or hard sciences. Therefore, to think about the assumptions, rules and consequences of knowledge production is the primary duty of the scientific community. This paper sets out to explore the different dimensions of the issue and proceeds to demonstrate that in an increasingly complex world in social and technological terms, it becomes crucial to define the relations connecting the researcher and social world and to justify research practices by resorting to guiding principles and norms. Beyond exploring the metatheoretical assumptions and different paradigms that frame this problématique, the paper describes and analyzes the efforts to govern social research in the international arena since 1945.
social sciences; research ethics; conduct governance; best practices; consequentialism and deontology