Module 4, Session 1: Ethics in Research

[Peter]

#3216

The most common ethical issues in my field are plagiarism and honesty in reporting research findings. Nurturing of ethical responsibility to postgraduate students may entail training, role modeling (they need to learn it from the supervisors and senior researchers) and sticking to research guiding procedures and requirements (e.g. for plagiarism, make it mandatory to use credible anti-plagiarism software before submission). My University is yet to constitute an ethical clearance committee/board but the national scientific council do offer this services to students and researchers.

[Thando]

#3225

We don’t really have ethical issues, apart from plagiarism in my field because all our research is qualitative.

[Joyce]

#3250

In my field of statistics, ethical issues span all the way from data collection to interpretation. Specifics include not maintaining confidentiality when administering questionnaires, asking leading questions to guide your results; after collecting the data, leaving out data that do not support what you want to propose or add/create data to support a prescribed output and during analysis, over-interpreting data and reporting results of data analysis without availing the analysis output. Plagiarism is also an ethical issue in my discipline.
To nurture ethical responsibility in my students, I first ensure I uphold ethical standards visibly so that they can emulate me. In particular, I would ensure my students know what is expected of them.

[Irene]

#3293

This was a very interesting session. In my field ethical issues mostly center around plagiarism. Students and faculty are required to adhere to guidelines provided on avoiding plagiarism. Personally I help my students understand and implement the guidelines.

Sometimes we have research areas that touch on human subjects and in these cases ethical clearance must be obtained from the Ethics committee before the research can commence. However, for any research we require students to get informed consent from their respondents and they are required to attach evidence that they took their respondents through the informed consent procedures.

[Sine]

#3298

As a human geographer, I often work on issues that affect people and their environment so when conducting research, I work with people as my participants who needs to be protected and not be exposed to any risks. Students are required to apply for ethical clearance before conducting a study. We have a departmental ethics system where students submit all details about their study, if research needs ethical approval the departmental representative and supervisor will work with students in obtaining ethical clearance.

[Jane]

#3366

Ethical issues touching my discipline include plagiarism and honesty in interpretation of data and reporting. My institution has a plagiarism software which promotes ethical standards of post graduate work. some of the research work deal with social issues involving sensitive data collection processes, interpretation and reporting that regard human relations hence requiring high ethical standards relating to humans. such include research dealing with vulnerable groups and children. Hence the need to uphold confidentiality while taking precautions to avoid causing trauma to affected groups of people especially during data correction.

[Kristen Cheney]

#3380

This PPT is at best a very cursory introduction to research ethics. In fact, it conflates epistemology, research integrity, andd ethics, when these are all related but distinct concerns. When we talk of ethics, we need to engage much more deeply with our responsibilities as researchers to the people/creatures/environments with which we engage. Inherent in that process is realising our relative privilege and power. In my field, development studies, we are often ‘studying down’, i.e. studying people far less privileged than ourselves. And yet we benefit from collection of their knowledge, by getting degrees, publishing, etc. While indeed, we have to be sure we first ‘do no harm’ (which is more challenging than it sounds when you get down to it), it is important that we also think carefully about what risks we expose participants to and what benefits we bring to them. It may be worth it from your perspective, but is it worth it from theirs?? How will you avoid being exploitative and extractivist? What will your research offer that will improve their lives, directly or indirectly? How will you ensure those benefits are shared with your participants?
Moreover, ethical practice is not a matter of ticking off items on a checklist; it is an ongoing process of reflection and engagement over time. We must clearly communicate this to our students again and again, always pushing them to consider the ethical implications of their day-to-day research praxis. At present, the ethical clearance at our institution is rather nascent, but I and others are trying to strengthen it. Again, it needs to be communicated that ethical clearance is not just a bureaucratic hurdle to overcome; it is merely a baseline for ethical practice. And that practice should be dynamic, with us always striving to improve it.

[Pauline]

#3389

Ethical issues pertaining to research involving human participants are pertinent in my field. In clinical trials, voluntary participation without coercion; ensuring participant safety; bearing in mind the benefits of conducting the study; acting in the best interest of the participant; being fair; freedom to withdraw from the study at any time. Very often there is a fine line between issues such as compensation and perceived inducement to participate. Ethics bodies usually provide guidelines on issues such as compensation. However, in certain communities potential for compensation may be the reason for participation. Often the benefits of the study are not immediately apparent or may not be restricted to participants, but are deemed to be of benefit to wider society. This needs taking time to clearly explain the benefits – when potential participants may not necessarily view them as such. Alot of time must be allocated to providing information clearly enough for participants to make informed choices; and providing ample opportunity for questions and clarification.

[Pauline]

#3390

The way we engage with our students helps nurture ethical responsibility. What they see us do; giving students feedback that nurtures practice that gives credit where it is due; identifying and avoiding plagiarism; valuing honest interpretation; acknowledging that a negative result is an important result.

[Joram]

#3405

Ethical considerations
Students are expected to observe ethics regarding interaction with the society and participants. In particular there should not be harm to participants and the society;confidentiality should be observed regarding the data provided by respondents.In topics in medical anthropology students are often required to take the proposal through IREC for review and clearance. I advise students to use the IREC office and at a fee get the review done. All required to get research approval and clearance by NACOSTI before embarking on data collection. In the write up students are expected to avoid plagiarism.
Students are nurtured through the process of ethics through methodology course that has a theme on ethical consideration in research.Indeed on the thesis methodology its expected they will indicate what ethical considerations they observed in data collection. The main ethical concern though is that many students do not deposit a copy of the research report/thesis as required by NACOSTI

[Alando]

#3443

Ethical issues that are particularly pertinent in your field,
I see four ethical issues that are pertinent in my field of urban planning. These include plagiarism, honesty in interpretation and reporting of results, attribution of credit to people who might have helped in one way or another to the successful execution of a research study, and the use of photos of places and even known premises without the authority of the subjects.

Suggestions on how to nurture ethical responsibility in our students,
I think students should be continuously made aware of the importance of observing ethical considerations so that they internalise and put them to use. While the institution where I work has an elaborate ethical clearance process, such a process would be meaningless as long the students have not internalised the importance of being ethical in conducting their researches. This is not to say that such processes are useless; simply, there is a need to corroborate the laid down ethical clearance processes with sensitisation of the students/ researchers.

[Scholastica]

#3455

Issues of plagiarism has been quite a task. Other issues of interest is cooking field data hence students having bogus results.

[Scholastica]

#3458

To ensure ethical issues are adhered to, students are given orientation on various ethical issues in research. All students taking field studies have their proposals being approved by the Ethical Review Committees within the University, in this case we have Maseno Ethical review Committee.

[Tom]

#3508

There are clearances that the students in my university must obtain as they embark on their fieldwork. These clearances will differ depending on the area of research. In my discipline, literary studies, most of the students do not really need any clearance. They undertake library research. There are those few who are interested in the more recent ‘outgrowths’ in the discipline, like popular culture studies, and these find that they have to get the clearances that students in the social sciences must get.
The major ethical issues that we deal with are those categorized in (I) in the Power Point presentation. The matter of plagiarism is one that has been in focus in recent times, at one point giving rise to a heated debate on whether anti-plagiarism applications should be used as supervision instruments.

[Mmaphuti]

#3554

in my institution there is a clear guidelines regarding the ethical clearance. before the student can engage in research project he or she has to receive ethical clearance that are approved by the university research committee. plagiarism is still a thorny issue in students however turnitin is place to assist in that regard. the students are taken through the turninit training before they commence with with their research project

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