Research Ethics
Unethical standards demote values vital in teamwork—for example, lack of accountability, mutual respect, fairness, and trust. However, there are numerous ethical norms to be practiced in research (Higgins et al., 2019). For instance, copyright, guidelines for authorship, and data sharing policies, among other norms, safeguard intellectual property interests. It is unethical to steal and disclose the ideas of a researcher. Instead, they should receive credit from the contribution they have made.
Ethical considerations should be put in place before carrying out research (Harriss, MacSween& Atkinson, 2019). The study should promote both social and moral values. Examples of the deals include; animal welfare, human rights, social responsibility, among others. For instance, a researcher who acquires information from a clinic may end up killing a patient to get data. Consequently, a researcher who does not adhere to the guidelines governing them may jeopardize others’ health and health.
There are various examples of unethical researches. One example is the 2013 research on DNA, where isolation of purified DNA was patented. However, the ruling by the USA Supreme Court was against. Another example of unethical research happened in the year 2014. A biochemist, HarukoObokata, published a high profile showing methods to convert adult spleen cells in mice that change into pluripotent stem cells. Later the researchers were unable to produce results. Hence Obokata practiced misconduct due to fabricating falsified data.
In the era of social science experiments, Facebook research and OkCupid’s studies have particular compatibility (Pagoto&Nebeker, 2019). However, they vary in objectives in different activities. In many activities, they engage in risky experiments that are unethical. It happens since they affect human behavior affecting the society negatively. They involve themselves in telling the falsified public data, which has no proof. Consequently, it results in misconduct in terms of research. They involve themselves in deception activities, promising available unverified experiments.
The Volkswagen (VW) deals have concerns with the environmental protection agency (EPA). The VW cars sold to the USA have a defeat device that detects changing performance (Jung & Sharon, 2019). However, the German car giant has invented cheating emissions in the USA. The company has accusations from EPA on modification of software fitted on a 3-liter diesel engine, included on some Porsche and Audi models of VW. However, VW has denied the claims affecting over 10,000 vehicles. Besides, VW has been found with irregularities in terms of the measure of Carbon dioxide emissions. Since it is a renowned company globally, it has affected the global ethical concerns on EPA concerns. Hence VW scandal is not proper since it has gone centrally to the moral code of research.
To sum up, ethical concerns in research are essential to guard the patenting policies which encourage collaboration. It hence makes the researchers accountable. Various research forums are practicing unethical research such as VW, Facebook, and OkCupid’s. However, practicing ethical standards is essential to hold research reliable.
References
Harriss, D. J., MacSween, A., & Atkinson, G. (2019). Ethical standards in sport and exercise science research: 2020 update. Int J Sports Med, 40, 813-817.
Higgins, W. C., Rogers, W. A., Ballantyne, A., &Lipworth, W. (2020). Against the use and publication of contemporary unethical research: the case of Chinese transplant research. Journal of Medical Ethics.
Jung, J. C., & Sharon, E. (2019). The Volkswagen emissions scandal and its aftermath. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 38(4), 6-15.
Pagoto, S., &Nebeker, C. (2019). How scientists can take the lead in establishing ethical practices for social media research. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 26(4), 311-313.