Research Methodology

Part I

Topic 6

Ethics in Research

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 Learning Objectives
•After completing this topic, you should be able to:
[Link] the terms Ethics and Ethics in research
[Link] the why ethics in research is important
[Link] the different ethical principles
[Link] the cardinal sins of research

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 Ethics 3

• Ethics is rooted in the ancient Greek philosophical inquiry of

moral life. [1]
• It refers to a system of principles which can critically change
previous considerations about choices and actions. [ cited in
1]
• It is said that ethics is the branch of philosophy which deals
with the dynamics of decision making concerning what is
right and wrong.

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 Ethics in Research
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• Scientific research work, as all human activities, is governed

by individual, community and social values. Research ethics
involve requirements on daily work, the protection of dignity
of subjects and the publication of the information in the
research.
• Ethics refer to the norms for conduct that distinguish
between acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
• Research ethics therefore focus on the disciplines and the
standards of conduct during a research.

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 Ethics in Research
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• Research ethics therefore focus on the disciplines and the

standards of conduct during a research.
• Different disciplines, institutions and professions have
standards for behavior that suit their particular aims and
goals.
• These standards also help members of the discipline to
coordinate their actions or activities and to establish the
public’s trust of discipline.

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 Video Moment: Ethics in
Research 6

• [Link]

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Why Ethics in Research

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History: Nurembergy Trials

• The birth of modern research ethics began with a desire to protect

human subjects involved in research projects.
• Doctors Trial of 1946-1947.
• “The Doctors Trial was a segment of the Nuremberg Trials for Nazi
war criminals.
• In the Doctors Trial, 23 German Nazi physicians were accused of
conducting abhorrent and torturous “experiments” with
concentration camp inmates.

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History: Doctors Trial

• The accused physicians tortured, brutalized, crippled, and murdered

thousands of victims in the name of research.
• Some of their experiments involved gathering scientific information
about the limits of the human body by exposing victims to extreme
temperatures and altitudes.
• Tested how quickly a human could be euthanatized in order to carry
out the Nazi racial purification policies most efficiently”

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 Why Ethics in Research
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• 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 error.

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 Why: Values for11collaboration
• 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.

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 Why: Values for12collaboration
• 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 prematurely.

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 Why: Public Accountability
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• 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 public.

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 Why: Public Support
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• 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 research.

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 Video Moment: Why Ethics in
Research 15

• [Link]

• This video presents the history of research ethics. Find our

details on Belmont code, Numeburg code

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RESEARCH MISCONDUCT

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 Video Moment: research
misconduct 17

• Theranos : [Link]

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The “cardinal” research sins

• The three “cardinal sins” of research conduct:

• Falsification
• Fabrication
• Plagiarism
• (FFP) are the primary concerns in avoiding research misconduct.
• Any divergence from these norms undermines the integrity of
research for that individual, lab, university/corporation, and the field
as a whole.

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Data Falsification

• Falsification is the changing or omission of research results (data) to

support claims, hypotheses, other data, etc.
• Falsification can include the manipulation of research
instrumentation, materials, or processes. Manipulation of images or
representations in a manner that distorts the data or “reads too
much between the lines” can also be considered falsification.

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Data Fabrication

• Fabrication is the construction and/or addition of data, observations,

or characterizations that never occurred in the gathering of data or
running of experiments.
• Fabrication can occur when “filling out” the rest of experiment runs,
for example. Claims about results need to be made on complete data
sets (as is normally assumed), where claims made based on
incomplete or assumed results is a form of fabrication.

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Data Fabrication

• This is a dangerous act as it will give a wrong conclusion about a

given guiding research.
• Examples of data fabrication
• 1. Coming up with experimental results without carrying out the
experiment like when coming up with new medicines..
• 2. Reporting survey results for a survey that was never done.

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Case: Data Fabrication

• 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. Tom has almost finished the
experiment for Dr. Q. He has only 5 mice left to test.
However, he really wants to finish his work in time to go to
Florida on spring break with his friends, who are leaving
tonight. He has injected the drug in all 50 mice but has not
completed all of the tests. He therefore decides to
extrapolate from the 45 completed results to produce the 5
additional results.[1]

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 Video moment:

 Data fabrication and falsification

 [Link]

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Plagiarism

• Plagiarism is, perhaps, the most common form of research

misconduct.
• Researchers must be aware to cite all sources and take careful notes.
• Using or representing the work of others as your own work
constitutes plagiarism, even if committed unintentionally.

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Plagiarism

• When reviewing privileged information, such as when reviewing

grants or journal article manuscripts for peer review, researchers
must recognize that what they are reading cannot be used for their
own purposes because it cannot be cited until the work is published
or publicly available.

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Types of plagiarism

• Passing off material partially or completely written by someone else

as your own work.
• Summarizing, paraphrasing, or quoting without crediting the source,
accurately citing the information, or fairly representing the author's
intentions.
• Using facts (statistics, research findings) that are not common
knowledge without citing the source you obtain them from.

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Examples of plagiarism

• Picture used from a book or website and the source is not cited.
• Using a quote from another person and not putting it in quotes (“ ”).
•

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Ethical Principles

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 Video Moment: Ethical
principles 29

• [Link]

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 1: Honesty 30

• Strive for honesty in all scientific

communications. Honestly report data,
results, methods and procedures, and
publication status.
• Do not fabricate, falsify, or
misrepresent data. Do not deceive
colleagues, research sponsors, or the
public.

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 2: Objectivity 31
• Strive 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.
• Avoid or minimize bias or self-deception.
• Disclose personal or financial interests
that may affect research

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 4: Carefulness 32

•Avoid careless errors and negligence;

carefully and critically examine your
own work and the work of your peers.
•Keep good records of research
activities, such as data collection,
research design, and correspondence
with agencies or journals

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 5&6: Openess and 33
Transparency
• Openness
• Share data, results, ideas, tools,
resources. Be open to criticism and
new ideas.
• Transparency
• Disclose methods, materials,
assumptions, analyses, and other
information needed to evaluate your
research

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 7: Accountability 34

• Take responsibility for your part in

research and be prepared to give an
account (i.e. an explanation or
justification) of what you did on a
research project and why

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 8: Intellectual Property
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• Honor patents, copyrights, and other

forms of intellectual property.
• Do not use unpublished data, methods,
or results without permission.
• Give proper acknowledgement or credit
for all contributions to research.
• Never plagiarize.

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 9: Confidentiality
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• Protect confidential communications,

such as papers or grants submitted for
publication, personnel records, trade or
military secrets, and patient records.

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 10: Responsible37Publication
• Publish in order to advance research
and scholarship, not to advance just
your own career. Avoid wasteful and
duplicative publication.
Publishing the same paper in two different journals without
telling the editors
Submitting the same paper to different journals without
telling the editors
Including 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 paper

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10&11: Responsible Mentoring and
respect for colleagues
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• Responsible Mentoring
• Help to educate, mentor, and advise
students. Promote their welfare and
allow them to make their own
decisions.
• Respect for Colleagues
• Respect your colleagues and treat
them fairly.

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 12: Non-Discrimination
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• Avoid discrimination against colleagues

or students on the basis of sex, race,
ethnicity, or other factors not related to
scientific competence and integrity.

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 13: Social Responsibility
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• Strive to promote social good and

prevent or mitigate social harms
through research, public education,
and advocacy

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 14: Competence41

• Maintain and improve your own

professional competence and expertise
through lifelong education and
learning; take steps to promote
competence in science as a whole

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 15: Animal Care42

•Show proper respect and care for

animals when using them in research.
•Do not conduct unnecessary or poorly
designed animal experiments.

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 16: Human Subjects
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protection

•When 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.

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 16: Human Subjects
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protection

•For details on children in research:

•Kirk, S. (2007). Methodological and ethical issues in conducting
qualitative research with children and young people: A literature
review. International journal of nursing studies, 44(7), 1250-1260.
•For details on human subject protection:
•Fouka, G., & Mantzorou, M. (2011). What are the major ethical
issues in conducting research? Is there a conflict between the
research ethics and the nature of nursing?. Health science journal,
5(1), 3.

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 17: Legality 45

•Know and obey relevant laws and

institutional and governmental policies.

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Ethical codes

• The principles mentioned above are just generic principles of

research ethics.
• However, in a particular domain or group of people or country or
organisation, they may have their own ethical list of guidelines to
conduct research.
• An example is the Nuremburg code which was developed to
prosecute the Nazi doctors in Germany. Others include the Helsinki
Declaration and Belmont Report
•

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Topic 6 concluding remarks

• Research ethics protects every one involved in research

• There are principles and guidelines for every aspect

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 Topic 6 assignment
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Read the following a articles given

 Pimple, K. D. (2002). Six domains of research
ethics. Science and engineering ethics, 8(2), 191-
205.
 Greaney, A. M., Sheehy, A., Heffernan, C., Murphy,
J., Mhaolrúnaigh, S. N., Heffernan, E., & Brown, G.
(2012). Research ethics application: A guide for the
novice researcher. British Journal of Nursing,
21(1), 38-43.
 Fouka, G., & Mantzorou, M. (2011). What are the
major ethical issues in conducting research? Is
there a conflict between the research ethics and
BIT the nature of nursing?. IST
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03/26/13
 Topic 6 assignment
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As part of your proposal include a section on

Ethical considerations. This usually is under
the methodology chapter.

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 References of Key Material Used
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1. Fouka, G., & Mantzorou, M. (2011). What are the major

ethical issues in conducting research? Is there a conflict
between the research ethics and the nature of nursing?.
Health science journal, 5(1), 3.
2. [Link]

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