The idea of ethics in humans has been an ingrained philosophy for millennia. The issue isn’t whether ethics are necessary; it’s the question of what defines ethical values that causes debate and discussion. Regardless of the theoretical aspects that an individual’s ideas of morality contain, the fact is that ethics are required - even mandated - when you perform research for the aim of scholarship.

Ethical perspectives have been postulated by philosophers and taught to students through ideas such as the Golden Rule as children all the way through the Hippocratic Oath for medical professionals. In general, ethics define the principles of conduct that delineate behaviors as acceptable in a community of people.

The Necessity of Ethics in Research

With the principles of ethics varying depending on the belief system of the individual, including this philosophy as a core value in research can be subjective. Typically, the norms used to define ethical values are learned from one’s environment, which is an uncontrolled variable. Learning what’s right versus wrong as a child is difficult to adjust since these beliefs are ingrained at very impressionable ages.

However, as people mature, it’s expected that they begin to shed the beliefs that were subjected to them in error, and by the time one becomes a scholar, all of their beliefs and values should have been questioned and adjusted for their maturity. To that degree, a framework of ethics is used in every aspect of research and scholarship.

These ethical norms may slightly vary based on fields of study, but they contain common elements. Ethics in research always promotes truthful knowledge to the best of the researcher’s ability, avoiding errors or falsifying data. These values also encourage standards that are necessary for working collaboratively amongst others, such as following copyright policies, confidential data sharing, and other privacy interests.

Using Ethics to Prove or Disprove Scholarship

Evidence-based research is used to make an impact in the academic world and/or in society. As such, it’s crucial that this information is evaluated for quality and ethical conduct so that the results are trusted as legitimate resources. The use or misuse of ethics in research is important enough that it can prove or disprove the scholarship of a researcher.

Certain standards are expected to make this determination and ensure that the research’s results were accomplished through integral actions that were non-biased, had no conflict of interest apparent, and were free from any agenda short of furthering knowledge on the subject. When factors arise that are contrary to these standards, the scholarship can be considered invalid and unethical. These factors may include the researcher’s actions such as:

●      Falsely including data or adjusting it to suit another purpose

●      Nondisclosure of the researcher’s involvement with a party that could be considered a conflict of interest

●      Nondisclosure of known data that was easily obtainable but contradicted the research being performed

●      Applying idea as the researcher’s instead of attributing them to the original author or using ideas without permission

●      Not disclosing details of questionable methods used to obtain results for the research in the final pape 

●      Knowing others were using flawed data or applying unethical behaviors in their research and not disclosing it

●      Adjusting the results or methodology of a study in response to pressure from an outside source

Keeping these standards at the highest level of accountability ensures that the public can trust in the legitimacy of the results of scholastic research. Federal policies are in place in the event of misconduct during research, including protecting humans and animals from experimentation. Through the highest ethical standards and integrity, research can continue to be supported by outside sources, including public support.

Ensuring Your Products are Professional With Impactio

While the program you use to present your scholastic research doesn’t determine ethnicity, it does help showcase your professionalism.

With Impactio, the research you’ve worked so hard on can be integrated into an all-in-one platform that converts your citation and publication information into text, data, and tables. You can also showcase your research achievements. From there, you can produce a final copy in PDF form or web pages, and share it with a large community of other researchers who are also a part of the Impactio world.

Make as large an impact as possible with your ethical research when you publish and share your work through Impactio.