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RESEARCH ETHICS AND PLAGIARISM
Research ethics
• Ethical issues in research
– Negotiating access– Data protection– Academic integrity
The Milgram studies
• Obedience to authority – Stanley Milgram (1963)
• Highly controversial
• Based on volunteers acting as teachers of people learning a series of simple word pairs
Milgram studies (cont/)
• The ‘student’ sat in a separate room
• ‘Teachers’ shown the electric chair, then told to administer increasing shocks for a wrong answer
• ‘Student’ would scream and beg for the experiment to stop, then silence
• Men in white coats calmly told ‘teachers’ to continue
• ‘Teachers’ continued… many in tears
Milgram study results
• How many volunteers administered ‘fatal’ shocks?
Milgram study results
• 66% of volunteers administered ‘fatal’ shocks – because an authority figure told them to do so
• Peer support enabled some to disobey
• Most volunteers needed counselling afterwards for post-traumatic stress disorder
• Also went on to investigate deviance to authority
• The start of ethics committees
Research Ethics
• The appropriateness of the researcher’s behaviour in relation to the rights and fair treatment of the subject of research work, or people who are affected by the research
• Ethics relate to:– Research subjects– Research facilitators (e.g. contacts in
organisations)– Research collaborators– Research users
General Ethical Issues in Research
• Privacy of participants
• Voluntary nature of participation and right to withdraw
• Consent and possible deception
• Maintaining confidentiality of data
• Reactions of participants to how data are collected
• Effects on participants on how data are used, analysed and reported
• Behaviour and objectivity of researcher
Ethical issues in data collection
• Stay within agreed limits or explicitly negotiate extensions
• Maintain objectivity – record and retain data both supporting and opposing your viewpoint
• Maintain confidentiality of data
• Treat research subjects with courtesy
Ethical issues in analysis and reporting
• Maintain your objectivity – don’t ‘cook’ the results
• Ensure that anonymity is maintained unless consent to use real names is given
• Ensure that participants can’t be identified indirectly
• Try to ensure that results are not abused (difficult if research is sponsored)
‘Academic Integrity’ (a.k.a. Plagiarism)
• Claiming someone else’s work– Intellectual Property Theft
• Be fair to other people’s work – IP is all academics have!
• Plagiarism = FAIL!
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