Outline of process of ethics in academic research....

1. Ethics in Research
PROFESSIONAL:
Reporting
Credits
Plagiarism
DATA Gathering :
Voluntary participation
Informed Consent
No Harm
PAC- Privacy, Anonymity,
Confidentiality
Values

2. Ethics
–moral principles of right and wrong
–not absolute; may vary by person, by time, by
place
–and may be in competition with each other
Research ethics
–incorporating ethical principles into research
practice
–may involve a balance between and within
principles and practices
–all stages, all those involved, from inception of
research through to completion and
publication of results and beyond

3. History
• 1947- Noremberg Code
• 1968- Helsinki Declaration
• 1979- Belmont Report
• 1993- CIOMS
• 2005- UNESCO

4. Economic and Social Research
Council, UK - Guidelines
1. Research should be designed, reviewed and
undertaken to ensure integrity and quality
2. Research staff and subjects must be informed
fully about the purpose, methods and
intended possible uses of the research, what
their participation in the research entails and
what risks if any, are involved.
Exceptionally, some variation may be acceptable
3. The confidentiality of information supplied by
research subjects and the anonymity of
respondents must be respected.

5. ESRC Guidelines-2
4. Research participants must participate in a
voluntary way, free from any coercion.
Exceptionally, covert research and deception may be
acceptable.
5. Harm to participants must be avoided.
avoidance of harm extends to family, kin, community
groups should not be unreasonably excluded from
research
exceptionally, some limited short term and minimal harm
may be acceptable
6 The independence of the research must be
clear; any conflicts of interest or partiality
must be explicit.

6. Risks in Research (ESRC UK)
• In social science research risks are diverse
Not only - potential physical or psychological harm;
discomfort or stress But also disruption or damage
to e.g.
 a subject’s rights and dignity
 a subject’s personal social standing
 individual privacy
 personal values and beliefs
 a subject’s links to family and wider community
 a subject’s occupational status or position
 implications of revealing illegal, sexual or deviant
behaviour
 …. as individuals, as whole communities, or
categories of people

7. Ethical Principles in Social Sciences
• Voluntary Participation (Informed consent-
Components, deception – procedures)
• No harm to the subjects - Non-maleficence - Do no
harm (commission or omission) minimize harm
• PAC: PRIVACY, ANONYMITY AND CONFIDENTIALITY
• Beneficence - promotion of well being (maximize
benefit)
• Autonomy - make own decisions
• Integrity

8. Voluntary Participation
• Subjects must agree to reveal information
about themselves.
• Subjects must be able to provide informed
consent.
• Behavior observed in public settings is assumed
to imply agreement to being observed.
• Subjects contacted after being observed in a
public setting must be informed they were
observed in a public setting.

9. No Harm…
• Subjects must be free from reasonably
anticipated physical or emotional harm.
• Subjects must be informed of the manifest
content of the information they will be asked
to reveal about themselves.
• It is permissible to deceive subjects, as long as
the deception cannot be anticipated to create
physical or emotional harm.

10. Informed Consent means…..
• Purpose of study.
• How respondent was selected.
• Results will be used for research and [other].
• Voluntary participation in the study or any
part of it.
• Respondent can keep any incentives if they
withdraw from the study.
• Confidentiality of responses.
• Contact information of the researcher.

11. Legitimizing the risks when…..
Research which is deliberately opposed to the
interests of the research subjects
– E.g.- studies of power or inequality
– aim to reveal and critique economic, political, or
cultural disadvantage
– may have negative impact on some subjects
Research which balances short-term risks to
subjects against longer terms gains to
beneficiaries

12. Covert Research
must not be undertaken lightly or routinely – only as
a last resort but may be justified
 where it provides unique forms of evidence
 where overt observation might alter the
phenomenon being studied
 if important or significant issues are being
addressed, and matters of social significance are
being discovered which cannot be uncovered in
other ways
 where there might be risks for participant or
researcher.
 Would always require full review by R.E.C.

13. Areas of Academic misconduct
1. Plagiarism
2. Fabrication and falsification
3. Non-publication of data
4. Faulty data-gathering procedures
5. Poor data storage and retention
6. Misleading authorship
7. Sneaky publication practices

14. Non-Publication of data
• Sometimes called “cooking data”
• Data not included in results because they don’t
support the desired outcome
• Some data are “bad” data
• Bad data should be recognized while it is being
collected or analyzed
• Outlier – unrepresentative score; a score that
lies outside of the normal scores
• How should outliers be handled?

15. Data Gathering
• Collecting data from participants who are not
complying with requirements of the study
• Using faulty equipment
• Treating participants inappropriately
• Recording data incorrectly
• Most important and most aggravating.
• Always drop non-compliers.
• Fix broken equipment.
• Treat subjects with respect and dignity.
• Record data accurately.
• Store data in a safe and private place for 3 years.

16. Authorship…
Misleading authorship—who should be an author?
– Technicians do not necessarily become joint authors.
– Authorship should involve only those who contribute
directly.
– Discuss authorship before the project!
• Publication of the thesis or dissertation
– Should be regarded as the student’s work
– Committee chair and members may be listed as secondary
authors
• Dual publication – a manuscript should only be
published in a single journal
– What about studies which include a huge amount of data?

17. Research Implications
• protocol
• undertaking study
• interpretation
• making recommendations
• presenting your findings