Ethics refers to the appropriateness of your behaviour in relation to the rights of those who become the subject of your work, or are affected by it.

There are three subsections of ethical issues:
1. Firstly, thetical issues which arise during the design stage and when seeking initial access.
2. Second, ethical issues during the data collection stage, when we will examine particular issues related to different methods.
3. Third, ethical issues related to the analysis and reporting stages.

The above information can be found in the following book:
research methods for business students
Dr Mark NK Saunders, Philip Lewis, Dr Adrian Thornhill.
Pages 109-110.