Why should research be
ethical?
Growing ethical relationships in
research.
Ethics Coordinator
Charles Grinter
WA505D
ethics@aut.ac.nz
Where do I get more information?
What is Ethics?
What has ethics got to do with Research?
What ethical values do we use?
Who decides research is ethical?
Where do I get more information?
http://www.aut.ac.nz/research/research-
ethics/ethics
• The Ethics Knowledge Base
– Additional Resources
Where do I get more information?
What is Ethics?
Where do I get more information?
What is Ethics?
What has ethics got to do with Research?
What has ethics got to do
with doing research?
‘Researchers are guests in the private
spaces of the world’
(Stake, 1994, in Denzin and Lincoln, 1994, p.244)
How you get there determines
where you arrive.
Where do I get more information?
What is Ethics?
What has ethics got to do with Research?
What ethical values do we use?
The BIG Question
How do we decide what is ethical in a
society in which there are competing
systems of values?
Our own
Those of our parents
Those of our ancestors
Those of our lawgivers
Those of our employers
Those of our funders
Those of our teachers
"The easy confidence with which I
know another man's religion is
folly teaches me to suspect that
my own is also."
- Mark Twain
Is it about relationships?
Confucius
子貢問曰、有一言、而可以終身行之者乎。子曰、
其恕乎、己所 不欲、勿施於人。
Adept Kung asked: "Is there any one word that
could guide a person throughout life?"
The Master replied: "How about 'shu'
[reciprocity]: never impose on others what you
would not choose for yourself?“
Analects XV.24, tr. David Hinton
There is one all-pervading Atman. It is the
innermost soul of all beings. This is the
common, pure consciousness. If you injure
your neighbour, you really injure yourself. If
you injure any other creature, you really injure
yourself, because the whole world is nothing
but your own Self. -
• Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami
Sivananda
Moses
• "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD
alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your
God, with all your heart, and with all your soul,
and with all your strength. Take to heart these
words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them into
your children. Speak of them at home and abroad,
whether you are busy or at rest. Bind them at your
wrist as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your
forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your
houses and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
Te Whakakoha Rangatiratanga:
Growing respectful relationships
with thanks to Dr Hinematau McNeill and Mauriora Kingi
Research Values from Nga Tangata Whenua
Te Whakakoha Rangatiratanga:
Growing respectful relationships
with thanks to Dr Hinematau McNeill and Mauriora Kingi
• Te Whakaiti • An appropriate humility
• Te Whakamana • Empowerment of the
researched
• Koha • Reciprocity
• Manuhiri towards • Respect and recognition
Tangata Whenua of their Mana Whenua
• Tangata Whenua • Te Manaaki ma Te Tiaki
towards Manuhiri (Hospitality and Care )
Are there absolutes?
Moses
• Then God delivered all these commandments: "I, the LORD, am your God, who
brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other
gods besides me. You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in
the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not
bow down before them or worship them. For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous
God, inflicting punishment for their fathers' wickedness on the children of those who
hate me, down to the third and fourth generation; but bestowing mercy down to the
thousandth generation, on the children of those who love me and keep my
commandments. "You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain. For
the LORD will not leave unpunished him who takes his name in vain. "Remember to
keep holy the sabbath day. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the
seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD, your God. No work may be done then either
by you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female slave, or your beast, or by
the alien who lives with you. In six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth,
the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the
LORD has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. "Honor your father and your
mother, that you may have a long life in the land which the LORD, your God, is
giving you. "You shall not kill. "You shall not commit adultery. "You shall not steal.
"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. "You shall not covet your
neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male or female
slave, nor his ox or ass, nor anything else that belongs to him.“ (Exodus 20:1-17)
Hindu Values: Mohandas Gandhi
• vegetarianism and an ideology of harms
reduction leading ultimately to nonviolence
• active creation of truth through courage and his
'satyagraha'
• rejection of cowardice and concern with pain or
indeed bodily harm
Qu’ran
• Surah 17:22 ff
• 017.022
YUSUFALI: Take not with Allah another object of
worship; or thou (O man!) wilt sit in disgrace and
destitution.
PICKTHAL: Set not up with Allah any other god
(O man) lest thou sit down reproved, forsaken.
SHAKIR: Do not associate with Allah any other
god, lest you sit down despised, neglected.
Are values something intrinsic in the nature of
things?
Natural Law theories 1
• The natural law is given by God or the nature of
the thing in question;
• It is naturally authoritative over all human
beings or all being;
• It is naturally knowable by all human beings;
Natural Law theories 2
• The good is prior to the right;
• Right action is action that responds
nondefectively to the good;
• There are a variety of ways in which action can
be defective with respect to the good
• Some of these ways can be captured and
formulated as general rules.
Can we work out values by thinking?
The Greeks
• Plato and the Theory of Forms – a moral
realism
• Aristotle and the Golden Mean and Virtue
Ethics
Kant
• Universalizability
• Each Person is an end in themselves and may
never be a means to an end.
The Consequentialists
• Machiavelli
• John Stuart Mill
• Jeremy Bentham (Utilitarianism)
Deep Ecology
• The well-being and flourishing of human and nonhuman life on Earth have value in
themselves (synonyms: intrinsic value, inherent value). These values are independent
of the usefulness of the nonhuman world for human purposes.
• Richness and diversity of life forms contribute to the realization of these values and
are also values in themselves.
• Humans have no right to reduce this richness and diversity except to satisfy vital
human needs.
• The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantial decrease of
the human population. The flourishing of nonhuman life requires such a decrease.
• Present human interference with the nonhuman world is excessive, and the situation
is rapidly worsening.
• Policies must therefore be changed. These policies affect basic economic,
technological, and ideological structures. The resulting state of affairs will be deeply
different from the present.
• The ideological change is mainly that of appreciating life quality (dwelling in
situations of inherent value) rather than adhering to an increasingly higher standard
of living. There will be a profound awareness of the difference between big and great.
• Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation directly or indirectly
to try to implement the necessary changes.
Is being ethical a matter of following the right
process?
Proceduralism
• Procedural Liberalism
• Legal Postivism
International Codes
• The Nuremberg Code (1947)
• The Declaration of Helsinki 2008 (1964)
Nuremberg trials
• High altitude experiments
• Freezing experiments
• Malaria experiments
• Typhoid experiments
• Experiments with poison.
Kennedy & Grubb, 2000
The Nuremberg Code
• The Nuremberg Code resulted from the
Nuremberg trials was the first modern attempt
to lay down principles upon which research is to
be conducted.
The Nuremburg Code
1. The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential
2. The research conducted should be for the good of society. It should be systematic and necessary, but not
able to be carried out by any other means.
3. There should be preliminary experimentation which indicates a justification for stepping up to research on
human subjects.
4. The conduct of any experiment should be such that all unnecessary pain and suffering is avoided
5. Experiments should not be conducted where there is priori reason to suppose disabling injury or death may
occur. It may be that such experimentation can be carried out where the subjects of the research are the
research scientists themselves
6. The risk of the experiment must be outweighed by the humanitarian importance of the research
7. Precautions must be taken to protect the human subject against the dangers of injury, disability or death.
8. Only those scientifically qualified should carry out such experiments, and they should act with the utmost
skill and care.
9. A research subject who finds it impossible to continue participation in the experiment should be at liberty to
bring the research to an end.
10. A research subject who considers that there is a risk of injury, disability or death in continuing the
experiment must be prepared to terminate the experiment.
The New Zealand Context
• Shift of power in legislation from the Researcher
to the Researched.
• The National Women’s Hospital scandal, the
proliferation of market research, the
invasiveness of technology, and the effect on
the public’s perception of researchers.
New Zealand examples
• Dr Green’s cervical cancer research:
‘The unfortunate experiment’. Followed the progression of
cervical (and other gynaecological cancers in untreated women most of who
were not informed they had the disease.
• Physiotherapy on neonates:
Research using physiotherapy techniques to treat neonates without the
express knowledge / consent of parents.
• Organs for research.
Organs were taken from children who died at
Green Lane Hospital without the knowledge or
consent of parents.
Legislation: page 1
• New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act
2000
• Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and
Compensation Act 2001
• Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994
• Health Research Council Act 1990
• Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and
Treatment) Act 1992
Legislation: page 2
• New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990
• Official Information Act 1982
• Privacy Act 1993
• Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act
1988
• Human Rights Act 1993
• Public Records Act 2005
• Animal Welfare Act 1999
Regulations:
• Health and Disability Commissioner (Code of
Health and Disability Services Consumers.
Rights) Regulations 1996
• Health (Retention of Health Information)
Regulations 1996.
Codes:
• Health Information Privacy Code 1994
• Interim New Zealand Guidelines for Good
Clinical Research Practice.
The New Zealand Context
• Before participants are recruited
• Before the data is collected
• Robust review
• Independent review
• Community review
Ethical considerations apply
from the start
“The beginning is the most
important part of the work.”
Plato, The Republic
Greek author & philosopher in
Athens (427 BC - 347 BC)
Design informed by ethical
values
The BIG Question
How do we decide what is ethical in a
society in which there are competing
systems of values?
NZ’s Basic Values
Given in the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi as discerned by the
Courts and the Waitangi Tribunal
• Partnership
• Protection
• Participation
NZ’s Basic Values
• Partnership
• Protection
• Participation
Partnership
Between researcher and participants
• How do we act reasonably, honourably and in
good faith with each other?
• How do we work for each other’s Mutual
benefit?
• How do we act in accord with Reciprocity?
NZ’s Basic Values
• Partnership
• Protection
• Participation
Protection
Between researcher and participants
• How do we actively protect each other from:
– Harm?
– Coercion?
– Deceit?
• How do we respect Diversity?
NZ’s Basic Values
• Partnership
• Protection
• Participation
Participation
Between researcher and participants
• How do we view each other (participant vs
subject)?
• How do we respect each other’s freedom
(voluntary, including the right to stop
participating)?
• How are we acting for our mutual benefit?
Ethical Principles for research
involving people
Informed and Voluntary
Consent
• Allow people genuine choice as to whether
they join or stay in the research;
• Let people know everything that will be
involved beforehand;
• Avoid giving participants surprises;
Informed and Voluntary
Consent
• Remember that you can only use
information for the purpose for which it was
given and inform people of all probable uses;
• Ensure that information is given in
appropriate language;
• Always remember that by participating,
people are helping you more than you are
helping them.
Respect for rights of privacy and
confidentiality
• Observe the Information Privacy Principles
and the Privacy Act;
• Keep the information safely secure;
• Observe the Code of Health and Disability
Users’ Rights;
• Treat confidentially any information which is
incidental to the research.
Minimisation of Risk
• Try and evaluate risk from the participant’s
point of view; your familiarity with your
processes may reduce the level of risk that
you associate with them.
• Advise people beforehand about the
possibility and probability of any risk;
Minimisation of Risk
• Avoid unnecessary risk of harm to other
people, one’s self, and the University;
• Have a contingency plan;
• Ensure involvement of, or access to,
appropriately skilled people.
Truthfulness, including
limitation of deception
• Remember to do what you tell people you’re
going to do;
• If you need to change something, let people
know what you’re changing and why;
• Use deception only when there is no other
way to gain the data and even then, limit its
use as much as possible.
Social and Cultural Sensitivity and
Commitment to the principles of the
Treaty of Waitangi.
• Respect difference by acting differently;
• Be aware that consultation is also part of the
initial planning stage of research;
What is Consultation? (p.1)
Based on case law, some of the elements of consultation can be summarised as
including, but not limited to, all or any of the following:
• discussing a proposal not yet finally decided
upon;
• listening to what others have to say and
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considering responses;
• having sufficient time for genuine effort to be
made;
What is Consultation? (p.2)
Based on case law, some of the elements of consultation can be summarised as
including, but not limited to, all or any of the following:
• having enough information to enable the
person your are consulting with to be
adequately informed so they are able to make
intelligent and useful responses;
• having an open mind and being ready to change
or even start afresh although you already may
have a working plan in mind;
What is Consultation? (p.3)
Based on case law, some of the elements of consultation can be summarised as
including, but not limited to, all or any of the following:
• it is an intermediate situation involving
meaningful discussion;
• the party obliged to consult holds meetings,
provides relevant information and further
information on request, and waits until those
being consulted have had a say before making a
decision;
What consultation is not:
• merely telling or presenting a final proposal;
• Talking about or discussing something with
someone in generalised terms;
• the same as negotiation, although a result of
consultation could be an agreement to
negotiate.
Social and Cultural Sensitivity and
Commitment to the principles of the
Treaty of Waitangi.
• Be familiar with the principles of the Treaty
of Waitangi;
• Communicate appropriately and politely.
Research Adequacy
• Your research must have clear goals;
• Your research method must enable these
goals to be achieved;
• Your research needs to be sufficiently
significant to justify the participation of
other people (remember to take your
education into account when evaluating this
factor).
Avoidance of Conflict of
Interest
• It is preferable to invite people who are not
in a dependant relationship to the researcher
to participate in the research;
• The role of funding is to enable the research,
not to influence the research outcome;
• Use appropriate means to prevent conflicts of
interest arising, e.g. third party involvement
etc.
Respect for the Vulnerability of
Some Participants
• People may be vulnerable because of their
age, disability, health status or some other
reason;
• Be familiar with the difference between
consent and assent and be sure to obtain
both when applicable;
Respect for the Vulnerability of
Some Participants
• Make the effort to be familiar with any
special guidelines relating to particular
groups to which people involved in your
research belong.
Respect for Property
including University property and intellectual property rights.
• Be aware of and respect legal or culturally
determined property rights;
• Obtain the necessary permissions before
using that which belongs to someone else;
• Ensure that your research enhances the
reputation of the University.
Ethical Principles for Research
involving Animals
The Five Freedoms
• proper and sufficient food and water
• adequate shelter
• opportunity to display normal patterns of
behaviour
• handling without unnecessary pain or distress
• protection from and rapid diagnosis of injury or
disease
The Three R’s
• 1. Replacement
Replacing animals with non-animal alternatives.
Computer models can sometimes be used for
teaching instead of live animals.
The Three R’s
• 2. Reduction
Using as few animals as necessary.
The Three R’s
• 3. Refinement
Pain or suffering must be reduced as much as
possible, for example, by using painkillers.
‘Researchers are guests in the private
spaces of the world’
(Stake, 1994, in Denzin and Lincoln, 1994, p.244)
How you get there determines
where you arrive.
Some final thoughts on how to
achieve ethical research
For research to be ethical:
Its goal needs to be ethical;
For research to be ethical:
Its goal needs to be ethical;
How that goal is achieved needs to be ethical;
For research to be ethical:
Its goal needs to be ethical;
How that goal is achieved needs to be ethical;
And both of these need to be seen to be ethical.
Thank you
Do you have any questions?
Always do right – this will gratify
some and astonish the rest
Mark Twain