Ethics in Research

Dr. Gurmeet Singh

Ethics
Ethics: principles for guiding decision making
and reconciling conflicting values
People may disagree on ‘ethics’ because it is based
on people's personal value systems

What one person considers to be good or right may

be considered bad or wrong by another person
What might constitute unethical
practices?
• Collecting data without prior consent

• Revealing participants’’ names in reports without their knowledge

• Doing a study without first getting permission

• Not informing parents/guardians that you are doing research with

their child(ren)

• Taking bodily samples without consent

• Damaging the environment

• Pushing respondents too far in interview/focus group situations

• Doing observations undercover

Ethical Issues Involving The Researcher
• Conference paper from incomplete research

• Glossed research method

• Anticipated outcomes

• Citation and authorship

• More details required for method, outcomes

• Incomplete references

• Sponsorship

• Plagiarism
 Plagiarism

• Comes from the Latin word meaning “to kidnap”

• Examples of plagiarism:
• Copying someone else’s words without proper citation
• Stealing someone else’s ideas
• Stealing someone else’s intellectual property

Bottom Line: Cite sources properly and minimize quotations

in research reports
Plagiarism in Research is Usually Quite
Different
• True plagiarism is, quite bluntly, stealing.
• Sometimes a person just copies text word for word from a book or article and
pretends that he is the author.
• Or buys an already written paper on the web.
• These are quite deliberate aims to deceive.
Plagiarism Extends to More than Words
• One should always provide references for any
▫ statistics
▫ graphs
▫ tables
▫ numbers, etc.

that one wishes to use in one's own paper.

• Thus, it isn’t just the words of another person’s ideas that one should reference.
 “Plagiarism” Sometimes Not Intentional
• Many instances of plagiarism stem from sloppy research rather than through a deliberate desire to cheat.

• Many students during the research process take bad notes, e.g. they write down someone else’s text verbatim

but forget to include the quotation marks.

• Later when they are writing the actual paper and they refer to their notes, they fail to remember that the text is

another author’s and not their own.

• A reader who recognizes the original text might think that the student has cheated. And this may lead to tough

penalties.

• So, the golden rule is to take excellent notes, write your whole paper yourself and to document your sources as

well and as honestly as possible.

What constitutes ethical conduct?

• Dignity

• Confidentiality

• Honesty

• Transparency

• Openness

• Autonomous

• Informed consent

• Not misrepresenting anyone – written, verbally, or via observation

Ethical research: A practical
response
 Ethical decision making:
 Remember ethical decisions are always made within political, social, and cultural contexts
 Uses a combination of ethical perspectives:
 Duty ethics: Is my intended act the right one to take for the given context?
 Utilitarianism : What will be the consequences of my actions?
 Virtue ethics: Will actions and consequences of my an action diminish, degrade, harm,
and humiliate those it effects?
 Disclosure ethics: Who should I confide in to take advice regarding my actions?
 Professional ethics: Will the action transgress my professional responsibilities, and codes
of conduct?
 Organisational ethics: Will my action result in reputational damage for the organisation?
Will my action transgress any organisational codes of practice?
 Reporting Research Results
Results of research studies should be reported in a honest, accurate manner
•Researchers cannot “massage” data to fit their hypotheses
•Researchers cannot make up or report false results
•Researcher must report what they find, even if the data does not support their initial
hypotheses
•Researchers should ensure that data is being collected consistently (do checks of
research assistants)
•Researchers should give the proper credit (authorship) to those who have earned it
Thank you