BUS5301 Research Methods in Education

Week 2
Academic Ethics & Overview of Educational Research

Dr. Nihal Yurtseven

nihal.yurtseven@es.bau.edu.tr
Academic Ethics

Ethics of Science

Research Ethics

Publication Ethics
The Concept of Ethics
• Ethics is a discipline of philosophy that discusses the principles
represented by the ideal human character. Focuses on the reasons
why a behavior is considered right or wrong.

• It is a set of values, principles and rules that are followed for the
evaluation of human attitudes and behaviors as good-bad, right-
wrong.

• Ethical problems are the value problems that people face when
making decisions and taking actions in their relationships with
themselves and others or in situations where they live.
The Concept of Ethics

Evaluating the actions of individuals

Determining what is the best and the right from different options

Justifying why individuals choose a particular action

Doing ethical reasoning of the whole process

What are the most common ethical problems in daily life?
Academic Ethics and Academic
Ethical Values
Academic Ethics
• It is about how students and academics should behave in common
corporate life.

• The violation of academic ethics leads to the weakening of the

research basics in academia and the loss of academic integrity.

• Ethics is the guarantee of science, and the violation of ethical

principles casts a shadow on the reliability of science.
Academic Ethics

Honesty Objectivity Accuracy Openness

Respect for Respect for

Privacy Freedom
Colleagues Students

Protection of Avoiding
Competence Legality Human Conflict of
Subjects Interest
Science and Ethics
The Concept of Science
• Generating valid and reliable information through scientific methods
and scientific research.
Repeated observation of the outside world,
Hypotheses about the relationships between these observations,
Testing these relationships with further observations,
Converting the hypothesis into information if no additional
observations are needed to change the hypothesis,
Development of theories,
Multiple testing of theories over a wide range of time and formation
of laws.
Science Ethics

Cloning studies

Artificial insemination

Organ transfers

Tissue culture

Genetic studies

Embryo transfer

Nuclear studies

GMO studies

Research on humans

Robots
Research Ethics
Research Ethics
• Experience is a way of obtaining systematic and controlled
information while dealing with events that occur in a random
situation.

• The research is experimental. Experience is used to determine the

limits of the research.

• The scientific method has mechanisms that protect the researcher

from mistakes.
 Falsification
Scientific
Lying
Scientific Deflection
Misleading
Undisciplined
Theft
Research
Scientific Lying
1. Falsification: Creating and reporting non-existing data, records or
results.
2. Deflection: Manipulating equipment, materials or research
processes in research; alteration or disregard of research data or
results.
3. Plagiarism: Use of ideas, processes and results of others without
proper reference or permission.
4. Piracy: Reproduction of copies of the work by unauthorized
persons.
Other Ethical Violations
1. Not to obtain research permission from the ethics committee.
2. Not to give «informed consent» of the subjects.
3. Not to give information to subjects about possible damages of the research.
4. Giving false information to the subjects about the research period and
tasks.
5. To damage the privacy of subjects and not to obey the principles of
confidentiality.
6. Not granting all subjects the right to fair access to distributed resources.
Other Ethical Violations
7. Not to mention the sponsor supporting the research in the
publications.
8. Failure to take measures to ensure the reliability of the subjects.
9. To give exaggerated and misleading information about the research
field and expertise.
10. To change the research data according to their own theoretical
assumptions.
11.. To change the research data according to the expectations of the
sponsor.
12. Misinterpret the research to obtain a positive referee rating.
Research with Risky and Vulnerable Groups

Those who are open to

Those who cannot give manipulation and those
informed consent (children whose participation may be
and the mentally disabled) affected by fear and coercion
(prisoners, soldiers, etc.)

The elderly Severe patients

Ethics Committees
• These are the independent working groups established by the
universities within the body of the university in order to ensure the
proper functioning of ethical principles and standards in the
university environment.
• They examine applications made within the framework of ethical
standards, academic honesty, subjects' rights and security.
• They work on issues such as identifying potential risks and benefits of
research, examining whether informed consent has been obtained
from participants, and protecting the privacy and confidentiality of
participants.
Publication Ethics
 Publication Ethics
Repeated publication

Splitting publishing (slicing / salamization)

Failure to state corporate support

Change authorship rights

Biased selection of resources

Ignoring the literature

Inappropriate Types of Authoring
Honorary Writing

Ghostwriting

Thesis Supervisor to be the first author in the publication produced from the thesis

Removing Name from Authors’ List

Asking sb to write the thesis by requesting money

Publishing in Predatory Journals

Self-Plagiarising
Plagiarism and Sloppy Citation

• Plagiarism is the use of a work of someone else without

permission and to show it as his own.

• The citation should be done by blending the ideas of other

authors with the author's own way of thinking and forming a
meaningful integrity.
Rules to be followed in Citation
1. The cited work must be publicized.
2. The cited work should not constitute an important part of the main work
(maximum 300 words from a book and 50 words from an article at a
time).
3. The citation format should be used correctly.
• Direct citation: The transfer of the author's opinion in quotation
marks without any changes.
• Indirect citation: It is the transfer of the views of the author with
different words and reinterpretation without changing the essence.
4. The citation should remain a side element.
5. The source of the citation should be shown in an adequate and honest
manner.
6. The main idea in the cited content should be conveyed wihout changing
and distorting it.
An Overview of Educational Research
Bilgi ve Bilim

Information
Science
Ways to Access Information
Feelings
“It’s very hot today!”

Other people “Ahmet and Selin said the ferry service was canceled.”

Expert view «To protect your heart health

You must stop smoking.»

Science «A systematic approach to find answers to questions.»

Scientific Method
1. Factual Process (Description): Determining, classifying and
recording the cases and the relationships between the cases
• Observation: Observation in the natural flow
• Measurement: Valuing observations according to rules
• Experiment: Intervention to natural flow of cases; dependent /
independent variable
2. Theoretical Process (Explanation): Making the facts determined in
the factual process understandable
• Theory
• Law
Science
 Makes research on the universe, society and people.

 It is a collection of information about facts based on systematic

observations and rational processes.
 What is research?

1. To put up a research question,

2. Collect data to find the answer to this question,
3. Create an answer to the research question.

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What do we research?

• In general, social policies, programs, management processes

• In particular, we try to understand and explain human and

community behavior.
A good research;

Contributes to the accumulation of knowledge.

Improves the application.

It provides information to decision makers.

Educational Research

• It involves finding answers to a research question, collecting data,

analyzing collected data, and finding answers to research questions.
Research helps educators understand the problems or problems they
face through the accumulation of knowledge and experience.
• Educational research contributes to the development of the practice
of educators and aims to find solutions to the issues being discussed
by decision makers.
Possible Research Areas in Educational Research
• Pre-school teaching
• Primary education
• Secondary education
• Higher education
• Foreign Language Teaching
• Educational Technology
• Educational Design
• Gifted Learners
• Educational Administration and Supervision
Possible Research Topics
Evaluation of a school's foreign language curriculum

Determination of technologyy addiction level in

students

Investigation of the factors affecting teachers'

professional burnout level

Examination of the relationship between self-

regulation skill and self-efficacy perception

Examining the determinants of socio-economic level

on student academic achievement
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Research Proposal
• Conducting research requires the preparation of a research
proposal.

• The research proposal includes the identification of the

research problem, identification of research questions, the
development of a method of how to answer the questions,
and the establishment of a work schedule.

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Research Process in 6 Steps
 1. Research Problem

2. Literature Review

3. Research Questions

Quantitative Qualitative
Research Research

4. Research design

Quantitative Mixed Qualitative

Designs Method Designs
Designs

5. Sampling Data Collection Tools Data Analysis Interpretation

6. Discussion, Conclusion, Limitations, Future Research

Research Methodology
The research methodology depends on;

• The answers to the questions sought in the research

Descriptive (what is)
Relational (difference / correlation)
Intervention (difference, cause / effect test)

• From where we look at things

Perspective, philosophy (positivist-quantitative,
interpretivism-qualitative, pragmatist-karma)
 The Classification of Research
Philosophical Basis • Quantitative (positivist)
• Qualitative (interpretivist)
• Mixed (Pragmatic)
Data Collection Technique • Empirical
• Documentary
The Feature of Data Used • Based on primary data
• Based on secondary data
Purpose • Basic
• Applied
Data Collection Period • Instant
• Sectional
• Longitudinal
Number of Participants • Single subject
• Multi-subject
Experimental Conditions • Intergroup design
• In-group design
• Mixed design
Intervention Type • Experimental
• Non-experimental
Philosophical Basis
• Quantitative (positivist): The facts are independent of the researcher
and must be objectively observed, measured and analyzed.
• Qualitative (interpretivist): Reality is found with the knowledge and
experience of the researcher. Situations and events are tried to be
understood from the participants' perspectives.
• Mixed (pragmatic): It is used in cases where quantitative and
qualitative research alone are insufficient to evaluate events. Both
research designs are used if the research problem requires and the
resources are sufficient / available.
Data Collection Technique
Empirical
Survey, observation, interview

Documentary
Documents, schedules,
regulations, books, newspapers
reports
The Feature of Data Used

Primary
Collecting required Secondary
data for research Using previously compiled
and recorded data in
research
Purpose

Applied
Basic Research aimed at
Research based on solving, improving and
producing knowledge, developing a problem
hypothesis, and theory. (experiments, action
researches)
Data Collection Period

Instant
Collecting needed data at a specified time

Longitudunal
Data collection from the same group at various time

Sectional
In case a longitudinal study cannot be performed due to
difficulties such as cost and control, the sub-groups
representing the sample are selected and data collection is
done in one go.
Number of Participants

Single subject
The subject's change over time

Multi-subject
Examining the interaction between
multiple participants and specific variables
Experimental Conditions

Intergroup
In-group
The division of participants
Measurement of a research
according to a factor tested
group with the same tool at
and the measurement of
least at two different times
individuals

Mixed
Obtaining required data with
both independent and
repeated measurements
Intervention Type

Experimental
Intervention to Research without
participants in the any intervention
experimental or trial.
group with a

Non-experimental
program,
approach or
method.