Ethics

JOURNAL #TEN [RES701]

Ethics

Morals vs. Ethics

Let’s firstly deal with these similar but different concepts.

Morals can be explained as principles people hold that they use to guide them, their morals are often shaped by their environments and in some cases their belief systems. Morals allow people to shape their ideas about what they understand to be right and wrong, and what actions and behaviour are considered to them as being ‘good’.

Ethics are somewhat different in that they have a more practical application. Ethics are normally created in the form of defined rules, actions and behaviours. We can commonly see ethical rules in play in when we look at the applications of medicine and law.

There are often misconceptions surrounding morals and ethics, however it is useful to understand that ethics are not always moral, and morals are not always ethical. We can see this distinction in following examples:

1. Criminal organisations will often bind members to a set of rules, such as a code of silence, that dictate their ethically-correct behaviour, but from a moral standpoint this is seen as incorrect behaviour.
2. Lawyers have a responsibility to ethically maintain attorney-client privilege, if a lawyer were to inform the court of his or her clients wrongdoing, this would be morally correct in the pursuit of the correct passage of justice, but ethically it would represent a breach of responsibility.

So, morals apply to the individual and their idea of what is right and wrong. Ethics, in comparison, are a set of standards that prescribe what ought to be done, what is deemed to be right or wrong, and what obligations are expected - these standards apply to all those that fall under the remit of the ethical considerations.

For clarity, ethics are not laws despite the law often incorporating ethical standards to which most reasonable people would agree. Laws and the application of laws can and do however deviate from what society may consider as ethical. The same can be said for religion, it is true that there are instances where religions assume a position of high ethical advocacy, however if ethics were intrinsically linked to religions then we would expect to only see ethical behavior from those with religious convictions, which is clearly not the case.

More broadly speaking, society can not tell us what is ethical. Ethics can not be determined by taking a poll, the consensus being the deciding factor on what is, or is not ethical behaviour. Societal consensus would require an agreement of the ethical problem, which would be a task in itself. Ethical standards in society can deviate from the ethical norms most societies accept, and there are clear examples of this throughout history.

A point to note is that ethics are not static, as we continue to study our moral beliefs and behaviour, so too do we need to review the ethics we apply in the institutions we rely upon, to ensure they are held to a set of standards that are reasonable and well founded.

Ethical Standards in Research

Many institutions and public agencies deploy ethical standards to assist its members in establishing the trust of the public, this is essential in many fields including science, medicine, law, business and engineering - all of which require a high level of trust. Research forms a large part of these fields as academics, students and learned professionals carry out scholarly and creative projects. Developing ethical standards when conducting research is important to ensure expectations are met and adhered to by all those cooperating in the research - this is especially useful when coordination is between different disciplines.

The promotion of standards has many benefits, they help to define the permitted scope of a project, which particularly important where humans and the wider living world is involved, and they help to avoid errors when dealing with knowledge and truth. Also, it is essential that researchers are held accountable for their work, ethics assist in supporting research positions, promoting trust, respect, and fairness through the identification of misconduct, the registering of conflicts of interest, confidentiality clauses with regards to peer reviews, and intellectual property interests.

When applied to research, ethical standards can encompass many moral social values, which in turn can help lead to public support for a research project which, may increase the likelihood of receiving funding. Ethical principles when conducting research include:

• Honesty in communications
• Objectivity to avoid bias
• Integrity, sincerity and consistency
• Careful in examination of conducted work
• Openness to sharing and to criticism
• Honouring of all forms of intellectual property
• Confidential use of records and data
• Responsible use of the publication process
• Educate, mentor and promote the welfare of learners
• Respect and treat colleagues fairly
• Promote social good and mitigate harm
• Avoid policies that discriminate
• Improve self competency
• Adhere to laws and governmental policies
• Protect the living world and minimize harm and risk

Solving Ethical Problems

1- You find some good images on the web that would look good on your site. You copy and paste them to your blog.

If the website is not for profit such as a student blog, and there is no financial gain, then the harm is limited and this would be ethical, however it would be reasonable to expect the source to cited where possible. If the image is used for the purposes of a website for a commercial entity then permission should be obtained by the owner, or the image purchased under license.

2- You are in a hurry to finish an assignment and you find the perfect explanation of a difficult concept on wikipedia. You decide to copy it into your work.

This would be unacceptable behaviour, not only will the learning of the subject be compromised but it is a foolish exercise as it would most likely be discovered. Either a request should be made for an extension, citing valid reasons to allow for more time to complete the assignment, or the assignment should be submitted omitting the concept.

3- You are a medical researcher and you think you have discovered a new drug that cures lung cancer. It worked well on mice although a few of them died of heart problems. You want to test it on people. You recruit 100 lung cancer patients into your treatment programme. You don’t tell them about the new drug. You treat 50 patients with usual drugs and 50 with the new drug to see which is better.

This is extremely unethical behaviour, testing a drug on mice does not mean it will work in the same way on humans. Furthermore, people should not be kept in the dark about the administering of any untested drug. Such an act may also lead to further ethical problems such as, if the test proved positive, should the research be used to get the drug approved by the relevant authorities - this could lead to other science projects being conducted in the ‘dark’ which increases potential for harm.

4- You are doing your PhD about drug abuse among students. You interview 30 students about their drug use. You discover that one of the students is actually a fairly big time dealer and you report him to the police.

Clearly defined guidelines should be established and recited to the students participating in the study. Either the researchers should explain that if certain information is provided to them, then it would be passed to the relevant authorities. Alternatively, the researchers could make the choice to not collect the identities of the participants, in doing do this would protect themselves from a compromising situation.

5- You are a researcher looking at the effect of violent computer games on children. You recruit 20 children into your study. Over a month you regularly show them images of violence to see if it has an adverse effect on their behaviour. One of the children becomes quite distressed each time and so you stop showing her images and drop her from the study.

It is impossible to know the long term affects of this type of violent exposure in children, it would not be ethical to test children in this way and should not be permitted. An alternative solution, such as studying those children already playing these games approved by the parents, should be considered.

6- You want to research how easy it is to hack into your organisation’s computer system by persuading people to divulge login and password details. You recruit a small team to ring up key people in the organisation and persuade them to give either their own or their boss’s details.

Companies may deploy this kind of research to determine how secure their computer system is with respect to those individuals authorised to use it. If permission was granted by the companies consideration should be made to the affect it may have on the employees subjected to the hack.

References

By David B. Resnik, J.D., Ph.D. - What Is Ethics in Research & Why Is It Important? (n.d.). National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/index.cfm

University, S. C. (n.d.). What is Ethics? Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/what-is-ethics/

What’s The Difference Between Morals And Ethics? (2018, November 8). Dictionary.Com. https://www.dictionary.com/e/moral-vs-ethical/