Lecture 2

Ethics

BY

Akyene Tetteh (PhD)

Dpt. Of Management Studies

Contact Information: atetteh@umat.edu.gh

UNIVERSITY OF MINES AND

TECHNOLOGY

Course Code: GM/GL/MN 451

 What is Ethics?

 Ethics are standards of conduct (or social norms) that

prescribe behaviour.

 Ethics are moral principles that govern a person's behaviour or

the conducting of an activity.

 Ethics in engineering is the study of moral issues that confront

engineers and engineering organizations when some crucial
decisions are taken.

 Standards of conduct do not describe our actual behaviour,

since people often violate widely accepted standards.

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 Ethics and Morality

Ethics (Professional) Morality (Personal)

1. The rules of conduct Principles or habits with respect
recognised in respect to a to right or wrong conduct. While
particular class of human action morals also prescribe dos and
or a particular group or culture don’ts, morality is ultimately a
personal compass of right and
wrong.
2. Social system – External Individual – Internal
3. Because society say it is the Because we believe in something
right thing to do. being right or wrong.

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 Ethics and Morality Cont’d.
4. Ethics are dependent on others for Usually consistent, although can
definition. They tend to be consistent change if an individual’s beliefs
within a certain context, but can vary change.
between context.
5. A person strictly following Ethical A Moral Person although perhaps
Principles may not have any Morals at bound by a higher covenant, may
all. Likewise, one could violate Ethical choose to follow a code of ethics as it
Principles within a given system of would apply to a system. "Make it fit"
rules in order to maintain Moral
integrity.
6. Ethics are governed by professional Morality transcends cultural norms
and legal guidelines within a particular
time and place

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 Ethics and Law

There are several reasons why ethics is not law;

1. Actions that are illegal may not be unethical: example,
cheating on a tax return or driving over the speed limit.
2. Actions that are unethical may not be illegal: example,
breaking a promise to a friend or abortion as a birth control
measure.
3. Laws can be unethical or immoral (Hart 1961).
4. The coercive power of government to enforce laws.

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 Ethics and Law Cont’d.
Ethics
Definition It is defined as moral
guidelines set, put forth and
followed by an individual
towards his society.
Codes These are moral codes that
everyone must conform too.
Rules These are rules of conduct
of an orgnaised group of
individual.
Enforceme It comes from within an
nt individual.
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Law
It is defined as a system that
enforces set of rules and
guidelines to govern social
behaviour.
These are ethic codes that
people are required to obey.
These are rules stated by the
government to balance the
society.
It is enforced on the people.
Slide 6
 Ethics and Law Cont’d.
Decision Here, a person decides to what
is right and what is wrong.
Punishment There is no punishment for
defying one’s ethics.
Judging Ethical behavior is judged by
moral standards.
Made These come from within a
person by his moral values.
Application Ethics are universal and can be
applied anywhere, all over the
world.
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It directly states of what is
right and what is wrong.
There is valid punishment for
breaking the law.
Law is judged by judicial
standards.
These are made by using
ethics as a guiding principal.
Laws depend on the country,
state and the place of the
crime.
Slide 7
 Ethics and Religion

Religiously based ethics is that religions provide justifications,

definitions, and interpretations of standards of conduct.

Religious institutions and theologies can be very useful in teaching

ethics and in motivating ethical conduct. Indeed, religions probably
play a key role in the moral education of most of the people in the
world.

Religion can supplement and complement ethics, even though ethics

need not be tied to any particular religion or its teachings.

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 Importance of Ethics in Scientific Research

 Press coverage on stories on ethical issues raised by science, such as

genetic engineering, studies on the genetic basis of intelligence,
global warming etc.
 Scientists and government officials have investigated, documented,
and adjudicated cases of ethical misconduct and ethically
questionable conduct in many aspects of research, and a perceived
lack of ethics in science has threatened the stability and integrity of
research (PSRCR 1992, Hilts 1996, Hedges 1997).
 Science’s increasing interdependence with business and industry has
generated ethical conflicts between scientific values and business
values (PSRCR 1992, Reiser 1993).

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 Case Study 1 “The Baltimore Affair”

In one of the most highly publicized cases of alleged scientific misconduct in recent
memory, which has become known as the “Baltimore Affair,” a paper co-authored by
Nobel Prize winning scientist David Baltimore was suspected of containing fraudulent
data. During the Summer of 1991, the New York Times gave this story front page
coverage. This scandal embarrassed the organizations that sponsored the research,
including the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Whitehead Institute, tarnished
Baltimore’s reputation, attracted the attention of Congress, and even involved the Secret
Service. The paper, which appeared in the 25 April 1986 issue of the journal Cell, listed
six authors. Baltimore supervised the research, although he did not perform the
experiments. The paper experiments showed that the insertion of a foreign gene into a
mouse can induce the mouse’s genes to produce antibodies mimicking those of the
foreign gene. If this claim were true, it would suggest that one could control the immune
system by using foreign genes to make it produce antibodies. So far, this research has not
been confirmed by other scientists.

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 Case Study 2 “ O’Toole the Troublemaker”

Margot O’Toole, a postdoctoral student working at the Whitehead Institute

(MIT) at that time, was under the supervision of one of the paper’s authors,
Thereza Imanishi-Kari. O’Toole grew suspicious of Imanishi-Kari’s research
when she found seventeen pages of Imanishi-Kari’s notes that contradicted the
findings of the paper. She failed in an attempt to repeat some of the experiments
and she suspected that many of the experiments described in the paper had either
not been done or had not yielded the results stated in the paper. O’Toole blew the
whistle on this research by informing review boards at MIT and Tufts about her
suspicions, and these boards investigated the research. These initial
investigations found some errors in the work, but they did not conclude that the
research was questionable. When O’Toole’s one year term as a postdoctoral
student expired, she had difficulty finding work for quite some time and she
became known as a troublemaker.

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 Case Study 3 “Omitting Data”

Akua Antwi is a graduate student helping Professor Brew analyze

data on a spiral galaxy (stars and gas clouds concentrated) in
order to determine its velocity, luminosity, and rate of spin. The
data were produced by an infra-red telescope at a nearby
mountain. Brew intends to publish the results in an astronomical
journal and list her as a co-author. In order to have an example of
how to analyze the data, she reads a paper Professor Brew
published several years ago that uses the same statistical
techniques.

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 Case Study 3 “Omitting Data” Cont’d.

She begins a search for the old data used to write this paper and
to her surprise she finds that the records do not agree with the
results the professor reported in the paper. It appears as if Jonas
omitted about 10 percent of the recorded data. Akua talks to
Jonas about this discrepancy and he explains that he omitted
some of the data because he felt the telescope was not working
correctly when it produced these poor results. She presses him
further on this issue and he tells her to trust his judgment.

Question: Should Professor Brew have included all of the data in

his paper? If so, how should he have discussed problems with the
data? Should Akua pursue this matter any further?

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 Case Study 4 “Data Fabrication”

Victor Johnson and Susan Klein are undergraduate students

analyzing soil samples for Roberto Martinez, who is conducting a
study on soil acidity for the state of Idaho. The study began six
months ago and is supposed to be completed this week. Martinez
plans to list Johnson and Klein as co-authors when he submits the
research to a journal. Each day Johnson and Klein have collected
and analyzed soil samples from different parts of the state. They
are almost near the end of their study when they realize that they
forgot to record the data for six soil samples taken three weeks
ago.

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 Case Study 4 “ Data Fabrication” Cont’d.

They remember the approximate locations of the samples, but not

the exact locations. Johnson suggests that they should go ahead
and record some exact locations for these samples since this act
will not have a significant affect on the outcome of the study and
they do not have time to go back to the sites and collect samples
again.

Question: Klein is not sure that they should make up these

results. Should Klein abide by Johnson’s suggestion? Should she
talk to Martinez about this issue?

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 Case Study 5 “Publishing a Correction”

Collin, Wood, and Butamo have written a paper on the effects of UV

radiation on plant mutations. After reading the paper, Butamo notices
that it contains a minor mathematical error. Butamo mentions this
error to Wood, who wrote the section of the paper that contains the
error. Wood tells Butamo that the error will not affect the paper’s
findings and that they should ignore it.

Questions:
Should they submit a correction to the journal?
What should Butamo do if his colleagues do not want to submit a
correction?

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 What is Ethical Improprieties

The appearance of impropriety is a phrase referring to a situation which to

a layperson without knowledge of the specific circumstances might seem to
raise ethics questions.

 For instance, although a person might regularly and reliably collect

money for her employer in her personal wallet and later give it to her
employer, her putting it in her personal wallet may appear improper and
give rise to suspicion, etc. It is common business practice to avoid even
the appearance of impropriety.

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 Reactions to Concerns about Ethical Improprieties
and Issues in Science

• Various scientific institutions and societies, such as the

National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of
Health (NIH), the American Association for the Advancement
of Science (AAAS), the National Academy of Sciences
(NAS), and Sigma Xi have commissioned committees to study
ethical issues and improprieties in science and make policy
recommendations (Sigma Xi 1986, 1993, AAAS 1991,
PSRCR 1992, Committee on the Conduct of Science 1994).

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 Reactions to Concerns about Ethical Improprieties
and Issues in Science

• Additionally, universities, businesses, and scientific societies

have sponsored workshops and conferences that address
ethical issues in science, scientists have initiated efforts to
integrate ethics into the science curriculum at the graduate and
undergraduate level of instruction, scholars from various
sciences and the humanities have written books and articles
about the ethics in research, and new journals have been
started that address ethical issues in science (Reiser 1993, Bird
and Spier 1995, Garte 1995).

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 Reactions to Concerns about Ethical Improprieties
and Issues in Science

• Finally, scientific societies and organizations have adopted

codes of ethics and have recommended that scientists integrate
ethics into the science curriculum (Sigma Xi 1986, US
Congress 1990, PSCRC 1992).

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 Why some Scientist do not take Ethical Improprieties
Very Serious?

 Because they regard misconduct as very rare and insignificant

and view confirmed reports of misconduct as isolated
incidents or anomalies.

 Some scientists invoke the “psychological pathology” theory

to explain misconduct: scientists who behave unethically must
be mentally deranged because only a crazy person would think
that they could get away with fraud, plagiarism, and other
forms of misconduct (Broad and Wade 1993).

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 Intellectual Ownership And Plagiarism

 Crime does not pay in science, because the scientific method, the
peer review system, and the public nature of scientific research
serve as mechanisms for catching people who break science’s
ethical rules.

 Many scientists believe that no significant ethical issues arise in

science because they view science as “objective.” Science studies
facts, employs objective methods, and produces knowledge and
consensus.

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 Reasons for Ethical Improprieties and Issues

 Pressure to publish or perish.

 Pressure on governmental funding for research.

 Economic incentive in patent and innovative products.

 Lack of proper peer review.

 Lack of ethical education for scientist

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 Why Science Students need Ethical Education?

 Complexity of modern science and social institutions

 Some ethical concepts and principles can be learned by

understanding and practicing an occupation or profession.

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