Why do researchers make a big deal out of ethics?

Ethics are, at a basic level, a moral sense of what is right and what is wrong. So why are ethics so important in research?

Before undertaking any research (such as  involving humans) an accredited research establishment must obtain ethical clearance (Cenere et al. 2015).
The purpose of ethical clearance is to ensure that the research being done is legal and complies with ethical standards and committees such as the Human research ethics committee (HREC) (Cenere et al. 2015).

Ethics does not only apply to the research itself but also to the analysis of the data and written results (Cenere et al. 2015). This means researchers are expected to be comply with standard ethical principles. These include:

• Honesty
• Objectivity
• Openness
• Integrity
• Legality

(Resnik 2015)

A researcher that has been found to not comply with these ethical standards can face serious scientific or academic misconduct, loss of reputation and research funding, and have serious repercussions on their career(Cenere et al. 2015).

A recent example of unethical research was the ‘MMR Vaccine causes autism’ fiasco.

As stated by Godlee, Smith & Marcovitvh (2011), a 1998 paper authored by Andrew Wakefield and 12 others, examined a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. It was later found to be fraudulent, scientifically and ethically false. Wakefield was stripped of his medical license and the journal it was published in retracted the paper (Kellans, K 2010).  Over the following decade, further study consistently has found no evidence of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism (Godlee, Smith & Marcovitch, 2011). Unfortunately, the anti-vaccination movement had already gathered motion and a rise in measles cases has been seen(Kellans, K 2010).

For further information, here is a short video on research ethics from Yale University Medicine Professor Robert Levine who helped craft ethical guidelines that are still used today.

 

 

References

Cenere, P, Gill, R, Lawson, C, Lewis, M 2015, Communication Skills For Business Professionals, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, Vic.

Godlee, F, Smith, J & Marcovitch, H 2011, ‘Wakefield’s article linking MMR vaccine and autism was fraudulent ‘, The BMJ,  January, viewed 6 April 2016, http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.c7452

Kellans, K 2010, ‘Journal retracts paper linking MMR, autism’,  ABC Science, viewed 6 April 2016, http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/02/03/2808812.htm

Resnik, DB 2015, What is Ethics in Research & Why is it Important? , viewed 4 April 2016, http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/

Yale University 2011, Research Ethics, video, viewed 6 April 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD-YCDE_5yw