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!