Ethical Issues in Academic Research

About Ethical Issues in Academic Research

Abstract

Graduate students and faculty members engaged in research face some ethical issues unique to the research process. When the results of new research are interpreted, there are several possibilities concerning the data and its interpretation. A researcher’s conclusion can be: • True • True and relatively complete in its explanations • True as far as it goes, but incomplete in its explanations • Probably true, but plagiarized from someone else • False, but the researcher thought it was true when it was written • Researcher based his work on all facts that were commonly known by competent researchers in the field • Researcher was negligent, and did not take into consideration things he should have known about the field • Researcher was incompetent in performing the research • False, and the researcher knew it was likely to be false • Results were faked • Results were significantly distorted There are subsets to each of the basic three categories mentioned above. A conclusion can be true and a relatively complete explanation of a topic. It can also be true as far as it goes, but significantly incomplete in that all relevant issues are not discussed. It can be true as far as what it says about the facts of the research, but be plagiarized from someone else. The possibility, false, but believed true, is not an ethical issue as long as it is based on all facts that a competent researcher in the field would be expected to know. This possibility is an ethical issue if there is negligence or incompetence shown in the research. This means that the researcher did not take into consideration facts and issues that he should have known about. Real world examples of these situations will be reported on and discussed. The possibility that the research is false and the researcher knew it was false, is the most serious research ethical failure that will be discussed. This occurs when the data is significantly distorted or completely faked. The ethical issues in each of these possibilities will be examined, and some tentative recommendations will be made as to how to deal with them. A virtue engineering ethics approach will be applied to these situations.