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<name>Caution--this module is still under construction!</name>"Graduate Education in Research Ethics for Scientists and Engineers" is a project funded by the National Science Foundation (SES 0629377) to design and integrate a pilot program in research ethics for graduate students in science and engineering. This project is being built around three key components three workshops: (1) a Graduate Awareness Workshop to create awareness of fundamental ethical issues in research, (2) a Moral Deliberation Workshop to promote skills of moral deliberation, (3) a Case Analysis Workshop that will provide frameworks and strategies for structuring and framing problematic situations in research ethics, and (4) a capstone activity, an Ethics Banquet, where students will generate poster presentations on their work in research ethics. This first module introduces the Graduate Awareness Workshop to students. It will be accompanied shortly by an instructor module that provides insights into how to approach teaching basic issues in research ethics. This module has been developed through Connexions as a part of the EAC Toolkit project, NSF SES 0551779.

Module introduction

Graduate awareness workshop

Upon entering UPRM, you will be asked to participate in an awareness workshop that introduces basic ethical issues and concepts pertinent to research activities. A Pre-Test involving discussion of scenaros in research ethics will be followed by a lecture that defines key concepts and situates the fundamental problems of research ethics in its "Three Capital Sins," i.e., fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism. Integrated into this part of the workshop will be a demonstration of the intrinsic connection between science and ethics. This workshop closes with a Post-Test designed to measure and assess any changes in your awareness.

What you are going to do.

    Workshop activities

  • To prepare for the workshop, you will read a short selection on research ethics and explore the links provided in this module on the Hwang Woo Suk, Tuskegee, and Enron cases. This will get you ready for the workshop.
  • Exercise 1: Take a workshop pre-test in Research Ethics
  • Exercise 2: Identify key duties in the research ethics context, the duties of researchers, duties of professors to students, and duties of students to professors.
  • Exercise 3: Reflect and write on the fundamental mission an purpose of the university. What goes on within the university? How does the university contribute to the surrounding community?
  • Exercise 4: You will return to the cases presented in the first part of the workshop. What issues covered during the workshop on research ethics arose in these cases? For example, what issues discussed in the workshop arose in the Tuskegee case?

    Beginning your exploration of research ethics. click on the links to the following three cases:

  • Hwang Woo Suk
  • Tuskegee
  • Enron (Exploring the link to Enron will also help you to access interviews with Jeff Skilling.)

    Key issues and themes in research ethics

  • Conceptual map exploring the etymological roots of ethics and its relations and differences with concepts like morality, religion, and law.
  • Research Ethics Themes: Research gravitates around a double axiological axis. The first deals with issues surrounding the commitment of any academic endeavor to the pursuit of truth . The second arises from the social responsibility of the researcher to the whole academic enterprise. This double axiological axis provides a basis for framing issues in Research Ethics.
  • Academic integrity as the condition that makes possible the university's mission.
  • The intrinsic connection between science and ethics
  • Three Capital Sins against academic integrity: fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism
  • What is ethical relativism and absolutism ?

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Source:  OpenStax, Graduate education in research ethics for scientists and engineers. OpenStax CNX. Dec 14, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10408/1.3
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