Research ethics essay

The browser controls to adjust the font size, or print this is ethics in research & why is it important? Ideas and opinions expressed in this essay are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of the nih, niehs, or us most people think of ethics (or morals), they think of rules for distinguishing between right and wrong, such as the golden rule ("do unto others as you would have them do unto you"), a code of professional conduct like the hippocratic oath ("first of all, do no harm"), a religious creed like the ten commandments ("thou shalt not kill... This is the most common way of defining "ethics": norms for conduct that distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable people learn ethical norms at home, at school, in church, or in other social settings. Although most societies use laws to enforce widely accepted moral standards and ethical and legal rules use similar concepts, ethics and law are not the same. Peaceful civil disobedience is an ethical way of protesting laws or expressing political r way of defining 'ethics' focuses on the disciplines that study standards of conduct, such as philosophy, theology, law, psychology, or sociology. One may also define ethics as a method, procedure, or perspective for deciding how to act and for analyzing complex problems and issues. Ethical norms also serve the aims or goals of research and apply to people who conduct scientific research or other scholarly or creative activities. See glossary of commonly used terms in research are several reasons why it is important to adhere to ethical norms in research. First, norms promote the aims of research, such as knowledge, truth, and avoidance of error. For example, prohibitions against fabricating, falsifying, or misrepresenting research data promote the truth and minimize , since research often involves a great deal of cooperation and coordination among many different people in different disciplines and institutions, ethical standards promote the values that are essential to collaborative work, such as trust, accountability, mutual respect, and fairness. For example, many ethical norms in research, such as guidelines for authorship, copyright and patenting policies, data sharing policies, and confidentiality rules in peer review, are designed to protect intellectual property interests while encouraging collaboration. Most researchers want to receive credit for their contributions and do not want to have their ideas stolen or disclosed , many of the ethical norms help to ensure that researchers can be held accountable to the public. For instance, federal policies on research misconduct, conflicts of interest, the human subjects protections, and animal care and use are necessary in order to make sure that researchers who are funded by public money can be held accountable to the , ethical norms in research also help to build public support for research. People are more likely to fund a research project if they can trust the quality and integrity of y, many of the norms of research promote a variety of other important moral and social values, such as social responsibility, human rights, animal welfare, compliance with the law, and public health and safety. Ethical lapses in research can significantly harm human and animal subjects, students, and the public. For example, a researcher who fabricates data in a clinical trial may harm or even kill patients, and a researcher who fails to abide by regulations and guidelines relating to radiation or biological safety may jeopardize his health and safety or the health and safety of staff and and policies for research the importance of ethics for the conduct of research, it should come as no surprise that many different professional associations, government agencies, and universities have adopted specific codes, rules, and policies relating to research ethics. Many government agencies, such as the national institutes of health (nih), the national science foundation (nsf), the food and drug administration (fda), the environmental protection agency (epa), and the us department of agriculture (usda) have ethics rules for funded researchers. Other influential research ethics policies include singapore statement on research integrity, the american chemical society, the chemist professional’s code of conduct, code of ethics (american society for clinical laboratory science) american psychological association, ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct, statements on ethics and professional responsibility (american anthropological association), statement on professional ethics (american association of university professors), the nuremberg code and the world medical association's declaration of following is a rough and general summary of some ethical principals that various codes address*:Strive for honesty in all scientific communications. Do not deceive colleagues, research sponsors, or the to avoid bias in experimental design, data analysis, data interpretation, peer review, personnel decisions, grant writing, expert testimony, and other aspects of research where objectivity is expected or required. Keep good records of research activities, such as data collection, research design, and correspondence with agencies or data, results, ideas, tools, resources. Never t confidential communications, such as papers or grants submitted for publication, personnel records, trade or military secrets, and patient sible h in order to advance research and scholarship, not to advance just your own career. Promote their welfare and allow them to make their own t for t your colleagues and treat them to promote social good and prevent or mitigate social harms through research, public education, and discrimination against colleagues or students on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, or other factors not related to scientific competence and in and improve your own professional competence and expertise through lifelong education and learning; take steps to promote competence in science as a and obey relevant laws and institutional and governmental proper respect and care for animals when using them in research. Do not conduct unnecessary or poorly designed animal subjects conducting research on human subjects, minimize harms and risks and maximize benefits; respect human dignity, privacy, and autonomy; take special precautions with vulnerable populations; and strive to distribute the benefits and burdens of research fairly. It is therefore important for researchers to learn how to interpret, assess, and apply various research rules and how to make decisions and to act ethically in various situations. For example, consider the following case,The research protocol for a study of a drug on hypertension requires the administration of the drug at different doses to 50 laboratory mice, with chemical and behavioral tests to determine toxic effects. He therefore decides to extrapolate from the 45 completed results to produce the 5 additional different research ethics policies would hold that tom has acted unethically by fabricating data.

If this study were sponsored by a federal agency, such as the nih, his actions would constitute a form of research misconduct, which the government defines as "fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism" (or ffp). It is important to remember, however, that misconduct occurs only when researchers intend to deceive: honest errors related to sloppiness, poor record keeping, miscalculations, bias, self-deception, and even negligence do not constitute misconduct. The error does not affect the overall results of his research, but it is potentially misleading. Failing to publish a correction would be unethical because it would violate norms relating to honesty and objectivity in are many other activities that the government does not define as "misconduct" but which are still regarded by most researchers as unethical. These are sometimes referred to as "other deviations" from acceptable research practices and include:Publishing the same paper in two different journals without telling the ting the same paper to different journals without telling the informing a collaborator of your intent to file a patent in order to make sure that you are the sole ing a colleague as an author on a paper in return for a favor even though the colleague did not make a serious contribution to the sing with your colleagues confidential data from a paper that you are reviewing for a data, ideas, or methods you learn about while reviewing a grant or a papers without ng outliers from a data set without discussing your reasons in an inappropriate statistical technique in order to enhance the significance of your ing the peer review process and announcing your results through a press conference without giving peers adequate information to review your ting a review of the literature that fails to acknowledge the contributions of other people in the field or relevant prior hing the truth on a grant application in order to convince reviewers that your project will make a significant contribution to the hing the truth on a job application or curriculum the same research project to two graduate students in order to see who can do it the rking, neglecting, or exploiting graduate or post-doctoral g to keep good research g to maintain research data for a reasonable period of derogatory comments and personal attacks in your review of author's ing a student a better grade for sexual a racist epithet in the significant deviations from the research protocol approved by your institution's animal care and use committee or institutional review board for human subjects research without telling the committee or the reporting an adverse event in a human research g animals in ng students and staff to biological risks in violation of your institution's biosafety ging someone's ng supplies, books, or g an experiment so you know how it will turn unauthorized copies of data, papers, or computer over $10,000 in stock in a company that sponsors your research and not disclosing this financial rately overestimating the clinical significance of a new drug in order to obtain economic actions would be regarded as unethical by most scientists and some might even be illegal in some cases. However, they do not fall into the narrow category of actions that the government classifies as research misconduct. Indeed, there has been considerable debate about the definition of "research misconduct" and many researchers and policy makers are not satisfied with the government's narrow definition that focuses on ffp. However, given the huge list of potential offenses that might fall into the category "other serious deviations," and the practical problems with defining and policing these other deviations, it is understandable why government officials have chosen to limit their y, situations frequently arise in research in which different people disagree about the proper course of action and there is no broad consensus about what should be done. She receives a request from another research team that wants access to her complete dataset. On the one hand, the ethical norm of openness obliges her to share data with the other research team. Another option would be to offer to collaborate with the following are some step that researchers, such as dr. Wexford, can take to deal with ethical dilemmas in research:What is the problem or issue? In this case, the issue is whether to share information with the other research is the relevant information? In this case, there may be other choices besides 'share' or 'don't share,' such as 'negotiate an agreement' or 'offer to collaborate with the researchers. May be useful to seek advice from a colleague, a senior researcher, your department chair, an ethics or compliance officer, or anyone else you can trust. Wexford might want to talk to her supervisor and research team before making a considering these questions, a person facing an ethical dilemma may decide to ask more questions, gather more information, explore different options, or consider other ethical rules. The main point is that human reasoning plays a pivotal role in ethical decision-making but there are limits to its ability to solve all ethical dilemmas in a finite amount of ing ethical conduct in academic institutions in the us require undergraduate, graduate, or postgraduate students to have some education in the responsible conduct of research (rcr). The nih and nsf have both mandated training in research ethics for students and trainees. Many academic institutions outside of the us have also developed educational curricula in research of you who are taking or have taken courses in research ethics may be wondering why you are required to have education in research ethics. Indeed, you also may believe that most of your colleagues are highly ethical and that there is no ethics problem in research.. Indeed, the evidence produced so far shows that misconduct is a very rare occurrence in research, although there is considerable variation among various estimates. Of researchers per year (based on confirmed cases of misconduct in federally funded research) to as high as 1% of researchers per year (based on self-reports of misconduct on anonymous surveys). Even if misconduct is only a rare occurrence, it can still have a tremendous impact on science and society because it can compromise the integrity of research, erode the public’s trust in science, and waste time and resources. In any case, a course in research ethics will have little impact on "bad apples," one might ing to the "stressful" or "imperfect" environment theory, misconduct occurs because various institutional pressures, incentives, and constraints encourage people to commit misconduct, such as pressures to publish or obtain grants or contracts, career ambitions, the pursuit of profit or fame, poor supervision of students and trainees, and poor oversight of researchers (see shamoo and resnik 2015). In any case, a course in research ethics can be useful in helping to prevent deviations from norms even if it does not prevent misconduct. Education in research ethics is can help people get a better understanding of ethical standards, policies, and issues and improve ethical judgment and decision making.

Many of the deviations that occur in research may occur because researchers simply do not know or have never thought seriously about some of the ethical norms of research. Another example where there may be some ignorance or mistaken traditions is conflicts of interest in research. A researcher may think that a "normal" or "traditional" financial relationship, such as accepting stock or a consulting fee from a drug company that sponsors her research, raises no serious ethical issues. Maybe a physician thinks that it is perfectly appropriate to receive a $300 finder’s fee for referring patients into a clinical "deviations" from ethical conduct occur in research as a result of ignorance or a failure to reflect critically on problematic traditions, then a course in research ethics may help reduce the rate of serious deviations by improving the researcher's understanding of ethics and by sensitizing him or her to the y, education in research ethics should be able to help researchers grapple with the ethical dilemmas they are likely to encounter by introducing them to important concepts, tools, principles, and methods that can be useful in resolving these dilemmas. Scientists must deal with a number of different controversial topics, such as human embryonic stem cell research, cloning, genetic engineering, and research involving animal or human subjects, which require ethical reflection and b. The term originated from the greek word ‘ethos' meaning habit or character, and it speaks to how we ought to live, that is, how we ought to treat research which involves human subjects or participants is bound to raise challenging ethical, social, legal and political considerations. Ethics in the context of research is particularly interested in the analysis of ethical issues that arise in research with people as participants. The primary concern of any research project is to protect the participants involved in the study and to ensure that the research is carried out in order to serve the interest of individuals, groups or the society as a whole. Another objective in research ethics is to analyse specific research projects and activities to decipher its ethical l issues involving the protection of confidentiality, the management of risks, the process of obtaining informed consent, physical or legal harm, deception, the protection of privacy and anonymity should be properly addressed in any research project. Study involving human subjects' especially vulnerable people as participants raises unique issues in any research context. In light of this, the sensitive nature of my research project which is on “police brutality in nigeria: a human rights perspective”, raises questions on how ethical issues are to be addressed as it involves victims of police brutality and prisoners as participants in the study. The research seeks to identify the nature and causes of police brutality in nigeria as well as proffer possible solutions to the problem. Also, through research this study is looking to discover the potential victims of this form of brutality, the human rights issues involved and the extent to which the international community or international human rights groups are aware of police brutality in nigeria and what steps have or have not been taken to curb rmore, the methodology of this research project is via a qualitative approach as it acknowledges ethical issues, finds meaning through the eyes of the participants, and it's ideal to explore and understand people's experiences, attitudes, behaviour and interactions. The use of focus groups, personal experiences of victims and telephone interviews with international human rights groups like ‘human rights watch' and ‘amnesty international' would be pertinent to carry out this research. Reports from credible human rights organisations would also be l issues are bound to arise within this research project considering its sensitivity. The ethical responsibility of the researcher is necessary throughout all the stages of the research process, from recruiting participants to the treatment of participants and to the consequences of their participation. According to miller and brewer (2003), it is important that clear and accurate information regarding the research is communicated to the participants, including its possible benefits and risk. Information pertaining to the aims and objectives of the research, its methodology and intended outcomes should be given, presented in lay terms to enhance easy understanding. In addressing the issue of consent, the researcher should ensure that the participant is adequately informed and the consent is explicitly and voluntarily given. The researcher should never coerce anyone to participate in a research study and should make participants aware of their rights which include the fact that they could withdraw at anytime without penalty (endacott, 2004). And anonymity are other ethical issues that could come up in this research project as the process can divulge sensitive and confidential information such as the disclosure of names, addresses, location and occupational details. The researcher should ensure that information shared by the participants is protected from unauthorized observation. It is not enough for the researcher to say he/she will ensure confidentiality, rather the researcher should demonstrate to the participants how. To do this, the researcher should present data publicly only in form of an aggregate e. Referring to the research study in question, the researcher should ensure that information concerning the mistreatment and abuse of inmates by police officers should be held in strict confidentiality which cannot be traced to a particular r ethical issue is the protection of participants from harm, although obviously evident in medical research, social research can also cause great psychological or emotional distress. Qualitative interviews on sensitive topics could trigger powerful emotional responses from a participant and as such, the researcher should anticipate risks e.

Research should not cause the participants harm whether physical or problem of access, which is how to get hold of participants in any research study, is of immense importance to the success of the study; participants could be in terms of an organisation or individual. There are certain ethical issues related to access, a research study could be viewed as an invasion of privacy or an intrusion to the institution to be studied as it interrupts routines and schedules causing inconveniences and disturbances; it is highly unethical to invade other people's privacy and as such gaining access could be a really slow process. Furthermore, the fact that research could disclose the limitations of the activities of an institution or individual could further impede access (flick, 2009). Gain access within the context of this research project, the researcher should be competent in establishing relationships and gaining the trust of its participants and institutions as much as possible to forge a working alliance in which research becomes ative research in cross- cultural studies is difficult, problematic, challenging and time consuming. Ethical issues in cross-cultural research include issues relating to values and world views which involve the misunderstanding of participants by researchers from a different culture. It is important for the researcher to respect the cultural views and belief systems of the participants and not to impose one's values in the research process. The researcher should be sensitive to cultural and social l considerations should be in place when representing or in the dissemination of results in a cross-cultural research. According to marshall and batten (2003), the researcher should portray findings so that it does not damage the reputation of a community or group of people. Sue & sue (1990) states that research procedures can be ethically sound by acknowledging and incorporating the cultural practices of participants and their larger the course of the research, there are ethical guidelines the researcher should adhere to while implementing the project. The researcher must responsibly conduct research morally and legally while conforming to ethical standards, the researcher should be informed and not knowingly contravene the legislation of a country in cross-cultural research. The researcher should not use deception to gain information from participants and should pursue objectivity while upholding their integrity without fear or favour. The safety of both the researcher and participants in a study should be ensured and the risk of harm conclusion, ethics in research should be concerned with finding a balance between benefits and risk for harm (boeije, 2010). As such, it is considered good practice for a research project to fully comply with ethical ibironke helen 09281206page what you're looking for? This essay isn't quite what you're looking for, why not order your own custom international relations and politics essay, dissertation or piece of coursework that answers your exact question? Each of us is qualified to a high level in our area of expertise, and we can write you a fully researched, fully referenced complete original answer to your essay complete our simple order form and you could have your customised international relations and politics work in your email box, in as little as 3 senior lecturer in economics, essay uk researcher international relations and politics essay was submitted to us by a student in order to help you with your   no ratings yet! Page has approximately you use part of this page in your own work, you need to provide a citation, as follows:Essay uk, research ethics. Illustrate your answer with examples from real imer: this essay has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work written by our professional essay opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of uk ds: ethics, research, experiments, this assignment i will attempt to define ethics and explore its significance when conducting social research. Firstly i will present many different views of ethics in social research by analyzing some common considerations that a researcher must take into account if he/she is to conduct a piece of research properly without breaching ethical principles. Examples from real research will also be utilized to demonstrate some consequences of unethical procedures in social research. Some ethical considerations include an over-involvement of the researcher, confidentiality of data, the need to preserve the anonymity of participants and problems emerging from a misinterpretation of in any research, the researcher should take responsibility for ensuring that guidelines and regulations are followed. In addition to this, the british sociological association code of ethics states: ‘guarantees of confidentiality and anonymity given to research participants must be honored, unless there are clear and overriding reasons to do otherwise' (british sociological association, 1996). 1991) contends that during the process of designing and implementing a piece of research one needs to consider the ethical implications on undertaking the research. Homan also note that ethics is the science of morality: those who engage in it determine values for the regulation of human behavior, collecting information about people, raise ethical issues in the focus of attention, chosen methods adopted and in the form and use of the such a contextualized situation, the researcher must seek to cultivate a high degree of trust without influencing the behaviors of participants. The researcher therefore must ensure that the true identity of the participants is not revealed and that any documents used are kept confidential at all times. Douglas (1979) notes that the development of ethics in social research provides something of a safeguard against the researcher encroaching on freedom of speech and the outcome of the research.

Douglas also believes that ethical guidelines serve to remind the social researcher about their obligation in the conduct of their ing to bell (2006) research ethics is about the nature of the agreement that the researcher has entered with the research participants or contacts. Bell further added that ethical research involves getting the informed consent of those you are going to interview observe or take materials from. Then adding to all of this is an obligation of the researcher to adhere to the agreements when they have been carrying out social research, the researcher should take into account ethical considerations, policies and guidelines. For example, it is unacceptable to conduct research that would harm the participants or place the researchers themselves into danger. Participants should give their informed consent to taking part in the research rather than being coerced, bribed or misled. There are ethical codes and protocols for conducting research in social policy, other research frameworks and it is very important that these are adhered to in all enquires. It would be seen as an indicator of the quality of social research study where there is evidence that ethical procedures have been (1997) in gross (2001, 2005) made the point that, although ‘protection of participants' is one of the specific principles in the ethical principles, they're all designed to prevent any harm coming to the participant, or the avoidance of overt ‘sins'. This view is reinforced by cohen et al (2007) who stated that whatever the specific nature of their work, social researchers must take into account the effects of the research on participants and in such a way to protect their dignity as human are several instances where ethical principles are lacking in some social research and result in unethical practices. The subjects, male alcoholic patients who volunteered for the experiment when they were told that it was connected with a possible therapy for alcoholism, were not warned in advance about the effect of the drugs, since this information would have reduced the traumatic impact of the relation to the case presented in the above paragraph it could be argued that the researcher could have given more thought to the ethical consideration of informed consent. An important example is in drug research; such informed consent requires full information about the possible consequences and dangers. Being free is a condition of living in a democracy and when restrictions and limitations are placed on that freedom they must be justified and consented to, as in research. Also, as part of the right to self determination, the subject has a right to refuse to take part or to withdraw once the research has begun. Thus informed consent also implies informed are several other reasons why ethical considerations are important when conducting social research. Although the use of deception has already being explored in the previous paragraph it appears to be a very common way of breaching ethical principles in social research. An example here would be the study by festinger et al (1956) in bryman (2008) of a religious cult; it is quite likely that the fact that the researchers joined the group at a crucial - close to the projected end of the world - fuelled the delusions of group ort and nachmaias nachmaias (1992) explains that conducting research that may violate the rights and welfare of the research participants should neither be the intent or of major interest of the social scientist. They further argue that the underlying objective of research is to contribute to the development of systematic, verifiable knowledge. These ethical considerations help to guarantee that the researcher can be held accountable to the public. Cohen (2007) agrees that the researcher has responsibilities to the research community, for example, not to jeopardize the reputation of the research community (e. Thus, a novice researcher working for a higher degree may approach a school directly, using a clumsy approach, with inadequate data collection instruments and a poor research design and then proceeds to publicize the results as though they are valid and reliable. Cohen (2007) also believes that such a researcher , at the very least, should have sought and gained advice from the supervisor, modified the research as necessary, gained approval for the research, made suitably sensitive overtures to the school, and agree rights of quality and integrity of research is very important to the public and when ethical considerations are applied public support is more than likely to be achieved. Bower (1979) indicated that the government plays an instrumental role in taking responsibility for subjects involved in research it sponsors - but also its accountability in light of the vast amount of public monies on social y, lapses in ethical considerations in research can significantly harm human, researcher and the public in general. Some examples here could be a researcher who fabricates data in a potentially harmful experiment and may harm or kill participants similarly a researcher who fails to adhere to strict regulations and guidelines relating to safety may jeopardize his health and safety and the health and safety of all those who are involved in the research. Punch (2005) explained that a thorough research proposal will have anticipated the ethical issues involved, and will show how they will be dealt you are the original writer of this essay and no longer wish to have the essay published on the uk essays website then please click on the link below to request removal:Request the removal of this policy essay writing social policy policy dissertation sted in ordering? This page on your website:Ethics in research are very important when you're going to conduct an article is a part of the guide:Select from one of the other courses available:Experimental ty and ical tion and psychology e projects for ophy of sance & tics beginners tical bution in er 17 more articles on this 't miss these related articles:2tuskegee syphilis study. 1 academic should be applied on all stages of research, such as planning, conducting and evaluating a research first thing to do before designing a study is to consider the potential cost and benefits of the ch - cost and evaluate the cost and benefits for most decisions in life, whether we are aware of it or should be applied on all stages of research, such as planning, conducting and evaluating a research first thing to do before designing a study is to consider the potential cost and benefits of the can be quite a dilemma in some experiments. Stem cell research is one example of an area with difficult ethical a result, stem cell research is restricted in many countries, because of the major and problematic ethical l standards - researchers should...

The tuskegee syphilis study is an example of a study which seriously violated these use deception on people participating, as was the case with the ethics of the stanley milgram informed consent from all involved in the ve privacy and confidentiality whenever special precautions when involving populations or animals which may not be considered to understand fully the purpose of the offer big rewards or enforce binding contracts for the study. This is especially important when people are somehow reliant on the plagiarize the work of skew their conclusions based on commit science fraud, falsify research or otherwise conduct scientific misconduct. The researcher said that he had found great effects from subliminal messages, whilst he had, in fact, never conducted the use the position as a peer reviewer to give sham peer reviews to punish or damage fellow lly, research must follow all regulations given, and also anticipate possible ethical problems in their ition is an important factor in research, and may be both a good thing and a bad eblowing is one mechanism to help discover misconduct in research.. Take it with you wherever you research council of ibe to our rss blakstad on are free to copy, share and adapt any text in the article, as long as you give appropriate credit and provide a link/reference to this ign upprivacy ncbi web site requires javascript to tionresourcesall resourceschemicals & bioassaysbiosystemspubchem bioassaypubchem compoundpubchem structure searchpubchem substanceall chemicals & bioassays resources...