Ethics in Research
What is Ethics in Research
Ethics for research is very important for doctoral research, as this is the step before being recognized as academically trained and recognized while contributing in a meaningful way to a person’s field. Further, research is “defined as any form of careful consideration of a study concerning a problem that aims to contribute to a body of knowledge or theory by means of scientific methods”. (Qamar, 2018) Scientific means is the scientific process, where a hypothesis is tested and conducted to determine if a hypothesis is valid. This experimental process allows for the replication and sharing within the community of the results to ensure the results remain valid. Ethics in research is a part of a long process that starts with the initiation of research, to completion, and to the publication and beyond. During this scientific research process, we use ethics to determine as experts if what we are researching, arguing, and formulating theories and asking, ‘should we’. For instance, researching computer processors and creating a breakthrough technology may and will have to ask, should this technology be mass-produced? Are there enough resources for producing lithium car batteries for western culture? Research ethics assumes responsibility with the use of voluntarily meaningful work that is to be used with the notion of implied consent for published work. Therefore, when using someone’s work, to maintain integrity we must ask ourselves should we reference this or apply that in order to support or deny existing standpoints. The benefit of the field if of course noble, but nobility can be inhumane, thus we must use ethics.
Why is having Ethics is Research Important?
Ethics in research is important from several aspects. For one, take into consideration the question of should we when handling another person’s thoughts. By not following the use of the ethical practice, we may misconstrue and fall into logical fallacies that weaken our writing. Two, the use of ethics takes into consideration the effects of the production of our work, asking questions who will this affect? How will this manifest into my field? These questions are important to consider, but not to dwell on as the future is unpredictable. However, asking ethical considerations about our work prior to doing it can help determine where we want to take our research, as research is concerned with adding to the body of knowledge and assisting others. Finally, ethics is important in research as it gives a context to the audience who must interpret our findings. While we understand the nature of our work, it is really the community that must understand, reflect, and responds to the norms set forth by the writer’s ethical standards.
Reference
Qamar, B. K. (2018). Research Ethics. Pakistan Armed Forces Medical Journal, 68(6), 1503–1504.