Conducting Research
Importance of ethics in research
Currently, ethics has become a cornerstone of researches, hence the reason that all researchers are under unparalleled scrutiny. Concerns regarding ethics negatively affect research, and any abuses committed by a few always results in extensive publicity. Ethics can be defined as a discipline emphasizing on standards of conduct (Gregory, 2003). Different fields have their own ethics which govern researches that are conducted in them. For example, in medicine there are certain procedures or routines that govern how to analyze complex problems and issues in health. The various routines governing complex problems in research are summarized by ethical principles, which entail honesty, objectivity, confidentiality, openness, human subject protection, non-discrimination, social responsibility, intellectual property protection, and respect for police among others (Nolen & Putten, 2007).
Therefore, the importance of ethical actions and behavior are several. First, they promote research goals such as seeking knowledge, truth, and precision or accuracy (Nolen & Putten, 2007). For example, replication of data and prevention of data falsification will help in error prevention. Second, ethics promote an atmosphere for collaborative work amongst researchers where there is accountability, fairness, mutual trust, and confidentiality. For instance, publishing guidelines, patenting, and confidentiality are suited in protection of intellectual property while encouraging collaboration. Hence, numerous researchers would be stimulated to research since they would be given credit for their work.
Third, the ethical norms would facilitate accountability to the public where human subject protection, animal rights, and federal legislations principles would help in making sure that researchers funded by public money are held accountable. Fourth, ethics are a source of public support for researches. This is the case because many researches would be likely be funded if majority of the population can trust the aim and quality of the research. Lastly, ethics in research are important as they encourage moral and ethical values. The values include social responsibility, human rights, law compliance, and adherence to health and safety. For example, a researcher ignoring biological safety procedures might pose as a health risk to many people.
Impact of Ethics in Research
Ethics in research has a vast impact on crucial stakeholders in the society. The aspects affected by ethics include, the organization sponsoring the research, the customer who will benefit from the research, the actual research project, results, and participants. An organization depends on ethics because it would enable it obtain funds, maintain credibility and accountability, and fulfill social responsibility. Furthermore, organizations would also be guided in making sure that the researchers they engage in protect animal and human rights. In the case of the customer, ethics makes an impact of provision of better services and products. Because of ethical principles like safety procedures, disease outbreaks, faulty products, or dangerous products would not reach customers. Ethics in the actual research project results in projects that are beneficial to the society, and protect rights of both animals and humans. Without ethics, the research projects would lack confidentiality, originality, and even become discriminatory to certain special groups. The results are also impacted by ethics where precision and accuracy are upheld. Ethics advocate for replication and conducting test researches hence the reason why precision and accuracy would be achieved. In the case of impact on participants, ethics would result improving participants knowledge, preservation of rights and legislations, and in proper organization of the research.
Validation of ethical behavior in research
In discussing validation procedures of ethical behavior in research, the common ethical concerns would also be highlighted. Mumford et al., (2009), stipulate the common ethical concerns in research as; plagiarism, privileged information misuse, data issues, conflict of interest issue, and issues of human subject research.
Plagiarism is termed as improper giving of credit to someone else’s information (Mumford et al., 2009). It is a common issue in research and has to be combated through proper citation of both published and unpublished works. However, common concepts found in many text books need not be cited. Furthermore, team members who contributed to a research should be properly listed in a research publication. In dealing with misused privileged information, a research team has to contact the relevant authority and seek for a warrant before commencing a research. Also, extra credit should be accorded to organizations that are in charge of protecting privileged information.
Data is also a crucial issue that has to be validated for proper adherence of ethical standards in research. Integrity of data can be maintained by proper record keeping, managing data using up to date technologies or data bases, and carrying out test experiments. Proper software and firewalls are also essential when ensuring that data is not tampered or corrupted.
Furthermore, conflict of interests in research may arise when research results are distorted through personal interests of a researcher. Preventive measures in this case can be publicly disclosing outside interests in the research, internal monitoring of research by an organization, and inclusion of a notice of conflicting financial interests (Mumford et al., 2009).
There are also issues in human subject research. There are federal, state, and institutional legislations that are aimed at protecting human rights and safety. For instance, in biological researches, federal laws prohibit the research without gloves and face masks. This is beneficial in protecting participants of research and customers.
References
Gregory, I. (2003). Ethics in Research. New York: Continuum. Pp. 5-27
Mumford, D., Devenport, L.D., Brown, R.P., Connelly, S., Murphy, S. T., Hill, J.T., & Antes, A.L. (2009). Validation of Ethical Decision Making Measures: Evidence for a New Set of Measures. ETHICS & BEHAVIOR, 16(4), 319–345
Nolen, L.A., & Putten, J.V. (2007). Action Research in Education: Addressing Gaps in Ethical Principles and Practices. Educational Researcher, Vol. 36, No. 7, pp. 401–407 DOI: 10.3102/0013189X07309629
