Computer Science 494: Research Methods

Study Guide

Unit 5: Research Ethics

This unit contains the following sections:

  • 5.1 Preface
  • 5.2 Learning Outcomes
  • 5.3 Research Ethics
  • 5.4 Refereeing an Article
  • 5.5 Plagiarism
  • 5.6 References

5.1 Preface

Research ethics involves the application of fundamental ethical principles to a variety of topics involving scientific research. These include the design and implementation of research involving human experimentation, animal experimentation, various aspects of academic scandal, including scientific misconduct (such as fraud, fabrication of data, and plagiarism), whistleblowing; regulation of research, etc. Research ethics is most developed as a concept in medical research. The key agreement here is the 1974 Declaration of Helsinki. The Nuremberg Code is a former agreement, but with many still important notes. Research in the social sciences presents a different set of issues than those in medical research. (“Research Ethics,” 2014).

Research projects involving human subjects or participants conducted by members of the University community or by external researchers who use Athabasca University resources or participants must receive prior written approval of the Athabasca University Research Ethics Board (REB). The “University community” comprises all Athabasca University faculty, staff, research assistants, graduate students, and visiting researchers. Approval is required irrespective of the source of financial support (if any) and irrespective of the location of the project, in the latter case, so long as the investigator represents the work as Athabasca University research. (Athabasca University Research Centre, 2013)

We anticipate that you will need about 6 hours (360 minutes) to complete this unit.

5.2 Learning Objectives

After completing Unit 5, you should be able to

  • discuss ethical issues in research.
  • discuss the issues raised by the process under which articles are refereed.
  • discuss ethical issues involved in intellectual indebtedness and plagiarism.

5.3 Research Ethics

We estimate that this segment of Unit 5 should take about 4 hours (240 minutes) to complete.

Although it is not assigned as a reading, the revised policy statement on research ethics agreed by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), governs all research involving humans as subjects or participants conducted at Canadian universities, including Athabasca University. Any Athabasca University student who undertakes research involving humans must act in accordance with the Athabasca University Research Policy (Athabasca University, 2009a, 2009b), which reflects the principles of the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics, 2010).

Reading Assignment 5.3.R1

The first reading assigned below introduces the basic concepts that inform ethics in research. The second narrows the focus to ethics in online research.

Trochim, W.M.K. (2006). Ethics in research. Retrieved from the website of the Research Methods Knowledge Base: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/ethics.php

Burckman, A. (2002). Ethical guidelines for research online. Retrieved from http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~asb/ethics/

Reading Assignment 5.3.R2

The eight articles identified below consider specific aspects of online research. After completing these readings, identify the top 10 ethical issues posed by Internet research.

Ess, C. [2001]. Internet research ethics. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227991156_Internet_Research_Ethics_The_Field_and_Its_Critical_Issues

Ess, C. & Association of Internet Researchers. (2002). Ethical decision-making and Internet research: Recommendations from the AoIR ethics working committee. Retrieved from http://www.aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdf

Capurro, R. & Pingel, C. (2002). Ethical issues of online communication research. Ethics Information and Technology, 4(3), 189–194. Retrieved from http://www.capurro.de/onres.htm

Elgesem, D. (n.d.). Internet research ethics: What is special about the ethical issues in online research? Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7767061_What_is_special_about_the_ethical_issues_in_online_research

Bassett, E.H. & O’Riordan, K. (n.d.). Internet research ethics: Contesting the human subjects research model. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227255051_Ethics_of_Internet_research_Contesting_the_human_subjects_research_model

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Internet Research Ethics. Available from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-internet-research/

Jones, R.A. (1994). The ethics of research in cyberspace. Internet Research, 4(3), 30–35. Retrieved from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/10662249410798894/full/html

Berry, D.M. (2004). Internet research: Privacy, ethics and alienation, an open source approach. Internet Research, 14(4), 323–332. Retrieved from https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/berry2.pdf

5.4 Refereeing an Article

We estimate that this segment of Unit 5 should take about 1 hour (60 minutes) to complete.

Reading Assignment 5.4.R1

Each of the four readings below is cited in the “How to review” section of the “Tips” web page of Silvia Miksch (n.d.).

Smith, A. J. (1999). The task of the referee. Retrieved from http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/mckinley/notes/reviewing-smith.pdf

Parberry, I. (1994). A guide for new referees in theoretical computer science. Retrieved from http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~dahlin/professional/parbery-referee.pdf

Knuth, D. E. (n.d.). Hints for referees. Retrieved from http://www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/~silvia/research-tips/Knuth.pdf

Knuth, D. E., Larrabee, T. Roberts, P. M. [1987]. Refereeing 1: Excerpts from class, October 30, and Refereeing 2: Excerpts from class, November 2. In Mathematical writing (pp. 31–35). Retrieved from https://jmlr.csail.mit.edu/reviewing-papers/knuth_mathematical_writing.pdf

5.5 Plagiarism

We estimate that this segment of Unit 5 should take about 1 hour (60 minutes) to complete.

“Plagiarism is a form of intellectual dishonesty in which another’s work is presented as one’s own.” (Athabasca University Student Services, 2011). Plagiarism involves both

  • copying material word for word from another source without indicating that the materials is a quote (either using quotation marks or by offsetting the material from the rest of the text) and providing both a proper citation and a bibliographic reference.
  • paraphrasing material from another source without providing both a proper citation and a bibliographic reference.

Students who are concerned to avoid plagiarism and to acknowledge intellectual indebtedness are encouraged to visit the plagiarism page at the Athabasca University Write Site.

Reading Assignment 5.5.R1

The general problem of plagiarism has been greatly compounded by the availability of Internet technologies. It is now easier than ever to plagiarize but, conversely, it is also easier than ever for an alert reviewer to detect plagiarism.

Hart, M. & Friesner, T. (2004). Plagiarism and poor academic practice—a threat to the extension of e-learning in higher education? Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 2(1), 89–96. Retrieved from http://www.ejel.org/volume-2/vol2-issue1/issue1-art25.htm
Note: This URL was inactive as of January 13, 2012, but the website was available through the Internet Archive: http://web.archive.org/web/20090410063311/http://ejel.org/volume-2/vol2-issue1/issue1-art25.htm

Assignment 1

Review Assignment 1 on the course home page, and do whatever you can at this point.

5.6 References

Athabasca University. (2009a). Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans Policy. Retrieved March 7, 2014, from http://ous.athabascau.ca/policy/research/ethicpolicy.htm

Athabasca University. (2009b). Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans Procedures. Retrieved March 7, 2014, from http://ous.athabascau.ca/policy/research/ethicprocedures.htm

Athabasca University Research Centre. (2013). Research requiring ethics review. Retrieved March 8, 2014, from http://research.athabascau.ca/ethics/

Athabasca University Student Services. (n.d.). Intellectual honesty and plagiarism. Retrieved March 7, 2014, from http://www.athabascau.ca/handbook/honesty.php

Athabasca University Write Site. (2011). Plagiarism. Retrieved from https://www.athabascau.ca/write-site/documentation-plagiarism/index.html

Bassett, E. H. & O’Riordan, K. (n.d.). Internet research ethics: Contesting the human subjects research model. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227255051_Ethics_of_Internet_research_Contesting_the_human_subjects_research_model

Berry, D.M. (2004). Internet research: Privacy, ethics and alienation, an open source approach. Internet Research, 14(4), 323–332. Retrieved from https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/berry2.pdf

Burckman, A. (2002). Ethical guidelines for research online. Retrieved from http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~asb/ethics/

Capurro, R., & Pingel, C. (2002). Ethical issues of online communication research. Ethics Information and Technology, 4(3), 189–194. Retrieved from http://www.capurro.de/onres.htm

Devroye, L. (2002, February 26). Musings: The case against blind reviewing [Weblog posting]. Retrieved from http://luc.devroye.org/blindreferee.html

Elgesem, D. (n.d.). Internet research ethics: What is special about the ethical issues in online research? Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7767061_What_is_special_about_the_ethical_issues_in_online_research

Ess, C. [2001]. Internet research ethics. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227991156_Internet_Research_Ethics_The_Field_and_Its_Critical_Issues

Ess, C., & Association of Internet Researchers. (2002). Ethical decision-making and Internet research: Recommendations from the AoIR ethics working committee. Retrieved from http://www.aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdf

Exell, R.H.B. (2001). Ethical Case Studies. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20151126231420/http://www.jgsee.kmutt.ac.th/exell/JEE613/EthCases.html

Interagency Panel on Research Ethics. (2010). Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (2nd. ed.) [TCPS 2]. Retrieved from http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/eng/policy-politique/initiatives/tcps2-eptc2/Default/

Jones, R. A. (1999). The ethics of research in cyberspace. Internet Research, 4 (3), 30–35. Retrieved from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/10662249410798894/full/html

Knuth, D. E. (n.d.). Hints for referees. Retrieved from http://www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/~silvia/research-tips/Knuth.pdf

Knuth, D. E., Larrabee, T. Roberts, P. M. [1987]. Refereeing 1: Excerpts from class, October 30, and Refereeing 2: Excerpts from class, November 2. In Mathematical writing (pp. 1–35). Retrieved from https://jmlr.csail.mit.edu/reviewing-papers/knuth_mathematical_writing.pdf

MacDonald, C. (n.d.a). Business ethics case studies: The polluter’s dilemma. Retrieved from http://www.businessethics.ca/cases/pollutersdilemma1.html

MacDonald, C. (n.d.b). Business ethics case studies: Whistleblowing & the environment: The case of Avco Environmental. Retrieved from http://www.businessethics.ca/cases/wb-env1.html

Miksch, S. TIPS: How to do research. Retrieved from http://www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/~silvia/research-tips/

Parberry, I. (1994). A guide for new referees in theoretical computer science. Retrieved from http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~dahlin/professional/parbery-referee.pdf

Payne, J. [2009]. Introduction to sociology: Ethics decision exercise. Retrieved February 19, 2009 from http://www.sociology.org.uk/EthicsEx.pdf

Research Centre, Athabasca University. (n.d.). Research requiring ethics review. Retrieved November 18, 2011, from http://www2.athabascau.ca/research/ethics/

Research ethics. (n.d.a). Wikipedia. Retrieved November 18, 2001, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_ethics

Smith, A. J. (1999). The task of the referee. Retrieved from http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/mckinley/notes/reviewing-smith.pdf

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Internet Research Ethics. Available from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-internet-research/

Trochim, W.M.K. (2006). Ethics in research. Retrieved the website of the Research Methods Knowledge Base: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/ethics.php

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