Lesson 3

RESEARCH NORMS AND MISCONDUCT

OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the lesson, I can:
 Use sources according to ethical standards;
 Exercise ethical behavior in the conduct of inquiry;
 Adhere to the ethics of conducting research; and
 Prevent committing research misconducts.

MOTIVATE
How far can you go to attain your personal goals and
aspirations? Would you sacrifice personal integrity over fame? How
about money over prestige?

Write your answers on the space provided:

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 ORGANIZE
Ethics in Research

As any endeavor, ethical standards have to be in place when

conducting an inquiry or a research project. Ethics pertains to the
moral principles that govern one’s behavior in relation to any
activity. Why it is important to understand and observe ethical
standards when conducting an inquiry? The reason is that
gathering truthful and correct data lends integrity to every step of
the inquiry process, from the design of the actual research work, to
the selection of appropriate and validated methods to test your
hypothesis, to the interpretation of data without prejudice and backed
by results of previous studies. Ethical standards require a researcher
to voluntarily present the outcome of the inquiry before stakeholders,
regardless of the results. A scholarly work should be subjected to
close scrutiny. It likewise requires competence and expertise.

Another consideration as discussed in Module 2 pertains to

the accountability of the researchers to their funding institutions.
Government can be a primary source of financial support for
research undertakings. Logic dictates that government funds (which
come from taxes) be utilized judiciously and in accordance with the
foreseen outcomes and impact of government laws should motivate
a researcher not to perform any actions or be involved in any
transactions that cannot be substantiated.

Research programs or inquiries are undertaken to generate

new information or explore new technology to benefit mankind.
Should quality of the research or inquiry fail to meet the highest
ethical and logical standards, its very purpose is defeated.
Furthermore, the public and other stakeholders will not trust the
whole cycle of inquiry as well as the persons involved therein.
Another downside is that it will be difficult to develop technology
based on inventions or studies with unsupported information or data.
Every research activity particularly in data collection should be
supported with well - maintained records.

Intellectual property rights should be respected and other

people’s contributions should be acknowledged. Moral and social
responsibility should be seriously considered in any research
undertaking or inquiry. For example, the welfare of animals used for
laboratory trials should be taken into account. Human life should
always be protected prioritized during the conduct of research
projects or inquiries. It is unethical to discriminate against people on
account of their gender, race, or religion. Research must promote
critical thinking and improve problem-solving abilities and skills-it
should not be used for black propaganda or to pursue unfounded
allegations against an individual, a group of people, or an
organization.

Current research projects or inquiries are generally

collaborative and multidisciplinary in nature. Research ethics
dictates good relations between research collaborators. As in any
relationship, trust, respect, and cooperation are fundamental values
that should be adhered to by people in the field of research. A
collaborator, a researcher, and a funding agency are required to stay
committed to agreements they enter into. They should be open to
constructive criticism, and learn from biased and prejudicial
comments.

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 Non-compliance with ethical standards of research can be
classified into two:
 Research misbehavior
 Research misconduct

Deviations from generally accepted research practices are

considered unethical. They may constitute acts that violate
institutional or professional policies or a code of ethics but may not
be viewed as research misconduct according to the United States’
Federal Policy. These may include, but are not limited to the
following:
 Conflict of interest: Co-ownership in a company that has
direct stake over the conduct of your research for instance,
a sponsor not revealing any financial interest.
 Poorly maintained research records and laboratory
notebooks.
 Violation of animal welfare in handling laboratory test
animals.
 Submitting for publication one paper to two different
journals and concealing such act from both publishers.
 Sabotaging your colleagues’ or someone else’s work.
 Guest or ghost authorship even if a colleague has no
significant contribution to the paper.
 Non – inclusion of outliers from a data set without
explaining your reasons for doing so.
 Proceeding with the presentation of your results to the
public even without going through a peer-review process.
 Enhancing the significance of your research using
inappropriate statistical techniques or analytical methods.
 A discrepancy between a procedural description and what
was actually carried out.
 Improper waste disposal.

Research Misconduct: Fabrication and Falsification

The United States Federal Policy defines “research

misconduct as fabrication, falsification or plagiarism in proposing,
performing or reviewing research, or in reporting research results.”
Though a thin line divides the boundaries of misconduct and an
honest mistake, a set of criteria delineating research misconduct
has also been cited by the US Federal Policy. First, misconduct
constitutes the inability to present all pieces of evidence in relation
to certain allegations. Second, there should be an element of
deliberate and irresponsible performance of the said act. Last,
misconduct pertains to certain deviations from normally acceptable
research practices.

The US Federal Policy defines fabrication as an act of

composing data or results and recording or reporting them. On the
other hand, “falsification is an act of manipulating research
materials, equipment or processes, or changing or omitting data or
results such that the research is not accurately represented in the
research record.

Consequences of Research Misconduct

Research misconduct is a grave offense in the scientific

community. Its consequences are as follows.

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  It affects primarily the integrity of the whole process of scientific
inquiry, allowing highly significant research findings to go down
the drain.
 It would also mean retraction of journal articles from the reputable
publication circulation, if it has already been published.
 It damages the reputation of the researchers involved - a string of
interconnecting problems will ensue including lawsuits arising from
embezzlement, return of research funds, relief from administrative
positions, and imposition of a ban to undertake clinical trials, even
retraction of PhD degrees or worse, imprisonment. It scars the
disgraced scientist and drags the names of certain funding
institutions (which are responsible for screening and selecting
inquiry grant recipients) into controversy.
 The very essence of a scientific inquiry (being a scholarly work) is
tarnished.

Responsible research starts with knowing what should be

done and what should not be done in accordance with the moral
principles upholding the integrity and reliability of the results
generated in the course of doing research work.

Research Misconduct: Plagiarism

Plagiarism as described under the US Federal Policy is “the

appropriation of another person’s idea, processes, results, or words
without giving appropriate credit.” Case of research misconduct have
been around since late 1970’s. The Office of the Research Integrity
(ORI) in the US reported 196 cases of misconduct in 2001. (ORI
Annual Report, 2001) On the other hand, the National Science
Foundation’s Office of the Inspector General in the United States, in
its summary findings in 2001, reported 11% cases of falsification,
17% fabrication, 61% plagiarism, and 11% other forms of
misconduct. (Fisher, 2010) Taylor and Francis Publishing Group, on
the other hand, noted 23% rejection in 2010 of submitted papers that
had been plagiarized.

Forms of Plagiarism

How can we establish if one is guilty of plagiarism? Plagiarism

may take many forms such as:
 Cheating,
 Presentation of commissioned work,
 Presentation of work or ideas of another person,
 Presentation of collaborative work as an individual work,
 Improper citations of sources,
 Non- acknowledgement of references, and
 Stealing of information from a work done by another person (or
not requesting the author’s permission to use such information).
(Stabingis, 2014)

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) makes

guidelines pertinent to publication ethics (Rabab A.A. Mohammed,
2015) which aims to eliminate plagiarism in the preparation of
proposals as well as in the publication of reports or papers.

Importance of Citations

Let us first examine why you have to cite your references. The
inclusion of citations generally strengthens your hypothesis in a

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 research proposal. This reflects that members of the scientific
community have recognized that specific research problem, and that
together with other independently performed research studies, you
will be able to address the issues at hand. Moreover, the availability
of related literature will allow you to make comparisons and contrasts
that could improve your own approach to addressing the problem
(Vogelsang, 1997). In addition, citations provide support with regard
to the level of expertise and the nature of work of a researcher in his
or her specific field of study. His or her track record will show how
much work he or she has already put in as contribution to the body
of knowledge and the inexhaustible wellspring of information in a
given discipline.

How Research Misconduct Can Be Avoided

Adhering to specific ethical standards is the primordial duty of

researchers. Sharing of resources in conducting an inquiry is
inevitable. These standards pertains to one’s sense of fairness,
transparency, and consistency in regard to his or her line of work and
in business dealings. Research work requires dedication, passion,
and hard work as well as respect for other individuals.

Carol Greider, 2009 Nobel Laurete for Physiology/Medicine, once

said “Do what excites you. Follow your passion. Don’t necessarily
worry about what obstacles might be there, because there are
always ways to overcome them. But the most exciting thing is to be
able to do what you love and just don’t let anything stand in the way
of that.”
The journey to a scientific inquiry is not easy and brings with it great
responsibility. Falsification is tantamount to manipulating research
methodology or data, or changing or omitting data or results so as to
modify the track or course of your inquiry in a manner that is no
longer objective and truthful. On the other hand, fabrication pertains
to tampering with results or methodologies that are really non –
existent. As a result, fabricated results or methodologies are
unaccounted for in research records. Plagiarism is equivalent to theft
of intellectual property. Misappropriation, self-plagiarism, collusion,
and patch writing are some form of plagiarism.

VALIDATE
E
Read the questions carefully and then answer the following on
the space provided below.

1. Why is ethics important in the conduct of an inquiry, investigation, or

immersion?
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_____________________________________________________________
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_____________________________________________________________

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 2. Give an example of an instance of research misconduct. Elaborate.
_____________________________________________________________
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_____________________________________________________________
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3. What could happen to you and your inquiry, investigation, or immersion

should you fail to observe ethical guidelines?
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_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

ENGAGE
You are one of the research heads in the government
research institution. News articles about the retraction of several
papers published in high-impact journal have caused a stir in the
institution. So the director of the institution has issued a
memorandum requiring all concerned personnel to strictly observe
ethical guidelines in publishing papers.
Your task is for your research group to come up with a
multimedia presentation that will be used for an information and
education campaign (IEC) on ethical guidelines in publishing a
paper. This campaign will be implemented in all regional offices of
the institution. Your presentation will be assessed based on depth,
content, and effectiveness of the campaign material.

(You can have this space below for your output)

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 MY TREASURE

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