Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Tuskegee Study
Beginning in the 1930s, 399 men signed up with the U.S. Public Health Service for free medical care. The service was conducting a study on the effects of syphilis on the human body. The men were never told they had syphilis. They were told they had "bad blood" and were denied access to treatment, even for years after penicillin came into use in 1947. By the time the study was exposed in 1972, 28 men had died of syphilis, 100 others were dead of related complications, at least 40 wives had been infected and 19 children had contracted the disease at birth."
http://www.tuskegee.edu/global/Story.asp?s=1211670
Codes
Nazis The need for regulation and codes of behavior emerged from revelations of the research atrocities committed by the Nazis. Nuremberg Code This 1947 code for biomedical research was the first to focus on the importance of informed consent. Helsinki Declaration This 1964 declaration provided guidance in such areas as the use of animals for research purposes.
The American Sociological Association (ASA) adopted a formal code of ethics in 1969. American Psychological Association (1982) The Ethical Principles in the Conduct of Human Research with Human Participants The National Research Act (1974) Passed by Congress for the purpose of protecting human subjects participating in experiments. Of course, while its essential to have codes, the responsibility for ethical research ultimately lies with the individual researcher.
Ethical Factors
No Pressure Never any pressuring of participants. Safety Safety of participants essential. Credit Every researcher must receive precise, appropriate credit. Communicate One should try to make results known to participants.
Ill Usage of Research One should be conscious of possible bad uses of research.
Informed Consent
Tell participants who is conducting study Why was subject singled out for participation? e.g. random sample e.g. recently given birth to 1st child etc. What is the time commitment? e.g. 45 minutes to complete the survey
Any benefits for the participant to be expected? Realistically, there are often few direct benefits.
Any potential risks, and how have these been managed? Information like the following should be participated to participants: Some people may experience negative emotions when discussing parental alcoholism. If you would like to discuss these with someone, please feel free to call the study director at the number below.
Informed Consent
Debriefing is mandatory.
Informed Consent
Special Populations and Coercion
Difficult for some to give true voluntary informed consent They might lack necessary competency --children --mentally retarded
Informed Consent
Others May be Indirectly CoercedThis is WRONG
Students Prison Inmates Employees Military Personnel The Homeless Welfare Recipients
Procedure:
What will the subjects be asked to do, or what behaviors will be observed by the researchers? Will deception be used? If yes, why is it necessary? What is nature of the deception, and when will the debriefing take place?
Material:
E.g., if electrical or mechanical equipment will be used, how has it been checked for safety?
Risks
Any immediate risks to the subjects, including possibly causing them embarrassment, inconvenience, or discomfort? Are there any long-range risks to the subjects? If there are risks, what is the necessity for them, and how will subjects be compensated for facing such risks?
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is taking anothers work and passing it off as your own. In a broad sense we are all guilty of plagiarism many times each day. We often take ideas from others and dont attribute them to their original source. More often than not we dont even know the original source! When we talk about the decline and fall of the Roman Empire or say, To be or not to be, that is the question in normal conversation, we rarely attribute the words to Gibbon and Shakespeare respectively.
that one wishes to use in one's own paper. Thus, it isnt just the words of another persons ideas that one should reference.
Also essential that you enclose the quoted text in quotation marks.
Failing to put someone elses direct text in quotation marks and crediting the author, may lead to accusations of plagiarism.
Its often preferable to take down the substance of an authors idea in your own words, i.e. to paraphrase.
The greater part of your paper should be in your own words with appropriate documentation of the ideas of others.
Of course, some direct quotation is fine but always with citation.
It is not necessary to document every single statement. One need not give a reference for stating that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. This fact is common knowledge and belongs in the public domain. However, if you are referring to Historian Xs thesis that Kennedy was killed by a crime syndicate and not by Lee Harvey Oswald, proper citation to such a theory is requisite.