Ethical Issues Research & Project Methods SECC504 Professor Julian Newman 21/10/09

Ethical Issues for Masters’ Students Two main sets of Ethical issues fall to be considered 1.Ethics of scholarship, research and intellectual property 2.Ethical dealing with research subjects, informants and participants You will need to show that you understand both, and act accordingly

Ethics of Scholarship, Research and Intellectual Property Fabrication of Results Intellectual Property –Forms of Intellectual Property –Who owns your work? –Personal and organisational responsibilities –“Moral Rights” of the author Plagiarism –Levels of Plagiarism –Sanctions: Academic, Legal and other

Fabrication of Results (1) Increasing concern about the amount of “Scientific Fraud” including invention of data – concern expressed by Government, UK Research Councils, Journal Editors etc In order to prevent fabrication, increasingly investigators are required to archive their data and to make it available to other investigators after a reasonable period of time (to allow priority to be established in publication). Universities have to protect themselves against damage to their reputation if fabricated data is used to claim bogus results.

Fabrication of Results (2) Two famous examples of Fabrication were Piltdown Man (“missing link” in human evolution) The Cyril Burt scandal Piltdown Man was exposed as a hoax in 1953 It was discovered, after Sir Cyril Burt’s death, that he had probably made up his co-authors, and that estimates of the correlation between twin IQs, which he had published in scientific journals, were not actually based on administering standardised intelligence tests Doctors have been “struck off” Medical Register for fabrication

Fabrication of Results (3) Fabrication of Results is a form of cheating:- reporting data that were never actually collected, changing some data to eliminate discrepancies, inflating sample size in order to boost statistical significance, etc. If you adopt a procedure of removing statistical outliers, and report that fact, you are not cheating. If you clean up your data and report it as the original data collected, you are cheating. Deliberate fabrication can lead to similar university sanctions as Plagiarism.

Intellectual Property (1) There are numerous forms of Intellectual Property –Copyright; “Moral Rights” of the Author; Patents; Trade Marks; Registered Designs etc –Rights created under licence –You must respect Intellectual Property rights in your Dissertation work

Intellectual Property (2) Rights of the Author: Copyright and Moral Rights Copyright is an economic right –Established by the Berne Conventions (International Treaties) then enacted into national laws –you cannot make copies of a copyright work without permission –Copyright lasts for a term of years (normally 50 to 70 years). “Moral Rights”, e.g. right to be recognised as the author, cannot be sold. Relationship between author and an institution (Newspaper, University etc) may affect who owns Intellectual Property.

Intellectual Property (3) Patent applications have to prove originality. Patents have shorter life than Copyright, e.g. 20 years. US authorities are more likely to grant Patents than other countries, e.g. Microsoft recently patented PageUp and PageDown keys! Parts of Human Genome have also been copyrighted! There are complex legal issues about patenting software, –embedded software more likely to be covered by a Patent –other software more likely covered by Copyright.

Intellectual Property (4) Many Intellectual Property rights are conceded because the “infringer” cannot afford to defend the case The University cannot afford to defend itself against your breaches of Intellectual Property claims (e.g. installing unlicenced software on university machines)

Intellectual Property (5) Who owns your work? –The Copyright of your assessed work (e.g. Dissertation) belongs to the University. –The “Moral Rights” remain with you, they are unalienable –Copyright of works created in course of employment belongs to employer – some exceptions are made for academic papers Personal and organisational responsibilities –Both YOU and the University are responsible for respecting IP –You have a duty to the University to respect others’ IP claims, and disciplinary action may follow infringement

Ethics of Procedures Involving Human Participants (“Subjects”) General Ethical Considerations regarding human participants Legal protections for minors and vulnerable people University’s procedures for Ethical approval Data Protection legislation

General Ethical Considerations regarding human participants Do no harm Voluntary Informed Consent Anonymity Confidentiality

Legal protections for minors and vulnerable people Vetting for access to minors and vulnerable people “Minors” includes anyone under 18 To work with them, including research and voluntary work, you need to be cleared by Disclosure Scotland (in England, by CRB) If you wish to do so, YOU will be responsible for paying the fee for this check You will also need Parental and Child Consent for the actual study Similar problems apply to vulnerable people e.g. mental patients, elderly etc

Main Information Required for Ethical Approval Details of yourself, your supervisor, the project, the number and nature of the research participants, how they will be recruited and the intended research procedures Whether the procedures will cause discomfort, anxiety, stress or embarrassment Checklist relating to informed consent, confidentiality, anonymity and data protection Checklist relating to minors, schools, vulnerable people, deception and sensitive issues Declaration concerning ethical guidelines

University's procedures for ethical approval for Masters students Complete Ethical Consent form EC1 and submit to School (to Denise Smith for SEC) Form will be considered by School’s Ethics Committee or Chair If approved the signed form will be returned to you Otherwise, the Committee or Chair may seek more information, or refer it to University Ethics Committee, or refuse it outright (an explanation will be given); if more information is sought you may resubmit the form with appropriate amendments

Dealing with Ethical Issues in your Proposal If Ethical approval is needed, you MUST have obtained it BEFORE you start your project Therefore you should address the points in the EC form when preparing your proposal: think out all the details! Ensure that what you say in the Ethical Issues section of your proposal is consistent with what you say about your intended Methods. –E.g. do not say in the Methods section that Requirements will be gathered from a Case Study of firm X and then in the Ethics section say that no human participants will be involved: firm X is made up of people, and you must be aware of the need to protect those individuals’ interests.