Research Ethics

Research and Research Ethics

Research Participants

• Individuals from whom the researcher may obtain data.
• Through interaction (e.g., surveys)
• Identifiable private information (e.g., student records)

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• “Effective and ethical relationships
• will aid to make more rapid progress
• on the project”

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Ethics is defined as the norms for conduct that distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behavior.

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Ethics in research is actually the application of ethical principles to a variety of topics involving research.

• These include the design and implementation of research

Ethics in Research

• Is the application of fundamental principles to a variety of topics involving research.

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• provides guidelines for the responsible conduct of research.

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• Educates and monitors the conduct of research to ensure high ethical standard.

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Definition of Research Ethics

Why Have Ethical Standards?

• Protect rights and welfare of participants
• Ensure accuracy of scientific knowledge
• Protect intellectual rights

Where do Standards Come From?

• Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects

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• Professional organization

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Knowing what constitutes ethical research is important for all people who conduct research projects.

All researchers should be familiar with the basic ethical principles and have up-to-date knowledge about policies and procedures designed. WHY?..

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• to ensure the safety of research subjects and
• to prevent sloppy or irresponsible research

Why study research ethics?

Public Trust & upright

Authorship

• Authorship credit should the individual’s contribution to the study.
• Author is anyone involved in the research study with:
• Initial research design
• Data collection and analysis
• Manuscript drafting
• Final approval
• However, the following do not qualify:
• Providing funds or resources
• Mentorship

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Research Ethics PRINCIPLES

There are ethical principles that should be taken into account when performing research.

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• PRINCIPLE ONE: Minimize the risk of harm

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• PRINCIPLE TWO: Obtain informed consent

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• PRINCIPLE THREE: Protect confidentiality or privacy

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• PRINCIPLE FOUR: Avoid deceptive practices

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Principles of Research Ethics

• Obtain Informed consent from potential research participants.
• means that participants should understand that  they are taking part in research and what the research requires of them.
• When in doubt, ask for permission
• Consent should always be obtained in writing
• Elements:
• Capacity
• Ability: individual is competent enough to understand, evaluate, and make a decision of whether to participate or not
• Age
• Information
• Is it complete/comprehensive and fully understood?
• Voluntariness
• Subjects have the choice to participate or withdraw and are aware of this choice

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CONSENT

Informed Consent

TO OBTAIN INFORMED CONSENT YOU NEED TO PROVIDE THE FOLLOWING TO THE PARTICIPANTS:

• Discuss to them the purpose of research
• What they will be doing and for how long
• Offer to withdraw at any time for any reason
• Potential benefits to participants
• Harm or risk of discomfort
• How privacy will be protected
• Instructions on how to get copy of results

The process of obtaining consent

• Identify participant population
• Produce information sheet and consent document
• Obtain permission
• Present research information to participant and discuss its contents – indicating that withdrawal at any time is possible
• Answer participants questions
• Give a copy of the consent document
• Allow the participant time to consider
• Meet participant and discuss documents, to answer any more questions and assess participants understanding
• Obtain appropriate signed consent
• Start research

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• Minimize the risk of harm.
• Any research should not harm participants.
• Subjects must be protected from harm, or at the least fully informed about the potential costs and benefits resulting from.
• Research that is physically or psychologically dangerous is generally considered unethical
• It is not harm that you need to think about since a researcher does not intentionally go out to cause harm. Rather, it is the risk of harm that you should try to minimise. HOW?

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HARM

PRIVACY

Confidentiality and Anonymity

• Confidentiality is a basic requirement in all studies (sagepub.com)
• The researcher agrees not to reveal the identity of the participants to anyone other than the researcher.
• A stronger condition if it can be met is that of anonymity.
• This means the identity of the participant is not known by anyone including the researcher.

EXAMPLE: Conducting survey to a large group of people

Fill-out the instrument but not include the names on the survey form.

The researcher will have the data but no names.

• Often tied to the informed part of consent
• how can participants know (a) that they are taking part in research and (b) what the research requires of them if they are being deceived?
• Omission: withhold information (the information was refused to give)
• Commission: provide false information
• i.e., lying
• Establishing false intimacy

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DECEPTION

Plagiarism

Paraphrasing

Falsification

Effects of Falsification

Cases involving ethical rules

• Mr. A has just discovered an error in a paper that has been accepted for publication in a journal.
• The error does not affect the overall results of his research, but it is potentially misleading.
• The journal has just gone to press, so it is too late to catch the error before it appears in print. In order to avoid embarrassment, Mr. A decides to ignore the error.

Question:

• What is the unethical action of Mr. A?

A:

• Mr. A's error is not misconduct nor it is his decision to take no action to correct the error.
• Most researchers, as well as many different policies and codes, would say that Mr. A should tell about the error and consider publishing an errata. Failing to publish a correction would be unethical because it would violate norms relating to honesty and objectivity in research.

Summary

• Researchers must fully understand the policies and theories designed in research ethics to guarantee upstanding research practices.

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• Now that you have read these basic principles of research ethics, you may want to understand how the research strategy you have chosen affects your approach to research ethics

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• Researchers must, where feasible, also provide research participants with an appropriate summary of the research results.
• Researchers must take all reasonable steps to ensure that their findings are accurate and properly reported.
• If they become aware of misleading or inaccurate statements about their work, they must correct the record as soon as possible.

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Good practice in Research

References

• Dr. M. Macdonald, Ethical Issues in Research into Applied Linguistics and Language Education
• http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/
• http://dissertation.laerd.com/principles-of-research-ethics.php

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