how do values impact the scientific research process

Truly blinded reviews may be difficult or impossible in a small field. As will be discussed in Chapter 9, professional societies perform a valuable service by developing scientific integrity policies for their fields and keeping them updated. 1.1 Characteristics of the Scientific Method Five basic characteristics, or tenets, distinguish the scientific method from other methods of knowing. A Way to Prove Lies and to Support Truths. The value of an object or activity is what the object or activity is worth to a person or community; this is the economic or decision-making meaning of value. An investigator may desire to keep data private to monopolize the conclusions that can be drawn from those data without fear of competition. You are now signed up to receive the MSUToday Update. Scientists and researchers operate in social contexts, and the incentives and pressures of those contexts can have a profound effect on the exercise of scientific methodology and a researcher’s commitment to scientific objectivity. Fairness in adhering to explicit criteria. Out of these values arise the web of responsibilities that make the system cohere and make scientific knowledge reliable. Therefore, as part of the publication process, the authors have an obligation to have the available data and commented code or pseudocode (a high-level description of a program’s operating principle) necessary and sufficient to re-create the results listed in the manuscript. Reviewing the Literature. Some scholars assert that the concept of professional work should include all occupations characterized by “expert knowledge, autonomy, a normative orientation grounded in community, and. In addition, broader biases of the reigning scientific paradigm influence the theory and practice of science (Kuhn, 1962). This can be quite a dilemma in some experiments. We place special emphasis on the process of research because it is the rigour with which this is carried out (the scientific method) that distinguishes scientific research from other forms of enquiry, and scientific knowledge from other kinds of knowledge. Aristotle believed there was a set of core values that should manifest themselves in the behaviour of all human beings. Honest work includes accurate reporting of what was done, including the methods used to do that work. Lesson 1. View our suggested citation for this chapter. . Please help us provide the content that interests you! The “file drawer” effect was first discussed almost 40 years ago; Robert Rosenthal (1979) presented the extreme view that “journals are filled with the 5 percent of the studies that show Type I errors, while the file drawers are filled with the 95 percent of the studies that show non-significant results.” This hides the possibility of results being published from 1 significant trial in an experiment of 100 trials, as well as experiments that were conducted and then altered in order to produce the desired results. To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter. This is usually done through citing relevant work in reporting results. Making judgments about definitions and terminology as they relate to research integrity and breaches of integrity is a significant component of this committee’s statement of task. Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought. Research has demonstrated, for example, that grant proposals in which reviewers were blinded to applicant identity and institution receive systematically different funding decisions compared with the outcomes of unblinded reviews (Ross et al., 2006). In conducting further research process, all the activities to be carried out are directly influenced by the purpose of the research ie; the purpose of the research forms the basis of your procedures which influences your methods of executing it and affects the interpretation of your findings with scientific reasoning as well. VALUES IN SCIENCE Scientists bring more than just a toolbox of techniques to their work. Even the best scientific intentions are not always sufficient to ensure scientific objectivity. In particular, Chapter 10 discusses the need to educate all members of the research enterprise in the responsible conduct of research. The accountability expected of individuals and organizations involved with research may be formally specified in policies or regulations. This system, described briefly in Chapter 1, is characterized by a massive, interconnected web of relationships among researchers, employing institutions, public and private funders, and journals and professional societies. The research process should be described and the relationship between the researcher and interviewees should be outlined. In some contexts, openness means listening to conflicting ideas or negative results without allowing preexisting biases or expectations to cloud one’s judgment. Impact factors are heavily criticized as measures of scientific quality. Being fair in these contexts means making professional judgments based on appropriate and announced criteria, including processes used to determine outcomes. Sometimes norms and practices need to be updated as technologies and the institutions that compose the research enterprise evolve. The number dropped a bit, though, when asked if these traits are actually being transmitted to current graduate students. For example, if a researcher in an experimental field believes in a particular hypothesis or explanation of a phenomenon, he or she is expected to design experiments that will test the hypothesis. Responsible Science served as a valuable benchmark to set the context for this most recent analysis and to help guide the committee’s thought process. They identify useful … Research Process IV. But such a practice is unfair both to the people who actually did the work and to the honorary author, who may not want to be listed prominently or at all. For example, an elder in a community may not get honest responses from teenagers when researching sexual behaviour amongst youth in the same community. Scientific institutions and stakeholders start with the assumption of honesty. However, they still dominate every discussion about scientific excellence. Breaking the publishing ethics rules can badly damage your reputation as a researcher, and even spell the end of your career. The research system could not operate without these shared values that shape the behaviors of all who are involved with the system. Thus, the potential contribution of research to the decision-making process has less to do with offering definitive solutions to the problematic issues in debate and more with improving the quality of the terms of the debate. Researchers often depend on the use of human and animal subjects for their research, and they have an obligation to treat those subjects fairly—with respect in the case of human subjects and humanely in the case of laboratory animals. Many of them involve judging others’ work for purposes of funding, publication, or deciding who is hired or promoted. Upholding fairness also requires researchers to acknowledge those whose work contributed to their advances. An additional challenge arises from the apparent gap “between the normative ideals of science and science’s institutional reward system” (Devereaux, 2014). It may not be easy to decide what to do with outlier data, for example, or when one suspects fraud in published research. They are still used to select candidates for positions as PhD student, postdoc and academic staff, to promote professors and to select grant proposals for funding. Thus, dishonesty can encompass lying by omission, as in leaving out data that change the overall conclusions or systematically publishing only trials that yield positive results. Even today, being a scientist and engaging in research does not necessarily entail a career with characteristics traditionally associated with professions such as law, medicine, architecture, some subfields of engineering, and accounting. Several causes are identified, including a lack of awareness on the part of researchers of the ethical issues that can arise, confidence that they can identify and address these issues without any special training or help, or apprehension that a focus on ethical issues might hinder their progress. And with the World Health Organisation (WHO) placing outdoor air pollution among the top 10 health risks currentl… How is research impact defined? Research or scientific synthesis is the integration and assessment of knowledge and research findings pertinent to a particular issue with the aim of increasing the generality and applicability of, and access to, those findings (Hampton & Parker 2011, Magliocca et al., 2014, Baron et al. Accountability means that any deviations from the compact would be flagged and explained. Sign up for email notifications and we'll let you know about new publications in your areas of interest when they're released. The subjects selected were scientists who had been honored by their respective national organization or society, and the results show that above all, these researchers hold honesty and curiosity in the highest regard, said Robert Pennock, a professor in MSU’s Lyman Briggs College and leader of the study. More recent work on the effectiveness of responsible conduct of research education, covered in more detail in Chapter 9, explores evidence that at least some scientists may not understand and reflect upon the ethical dimensions of their work (McCormick et al., 2012). There are accepted statistical methods and standards for dealing with outlier data, although questions are being raised about how often these are followed in certain fields (Thiese et al., 2015). Understanding the dynamics that support – or distort – practices that uphold the integrity of research by all participants ensures that the research enterprise advances knowledge. In other words, they do not give you carte blanche to disregard scientific results with reckless abandon. Mutual accountability therefore builds trust, which is a consequence of the application of the values described in this report. This report emphasizes six values that are most influential in shaping the norms that constitute research practices and relationships and the integrity of science: This chapter examines each of these six values in turn to consider how they shape, and are realized in, research practices. In scientific research, scientists, technicians and researchers utilize a variety of methods and variables when conducting their experiments. Avoid overly specialized or technical language. Only this second meaning is used in the plural form values… While responsibilities that are formally defined in policies or regulations are important to accountability in the research enterprise, responsibilities that may not be formally specified should also be included in the concept. Both personal desire to obtain a definitive answer and institutional pressures to produce “significant” conclusions can provide strong motivation to find definitive results in experimental situations. publications, citations, conservation or policy impact, public knowledge, significant contribution to knowledge, etc.) Institutions are accountable to their employees, to students, to the funders of both research and education, and to the communities in which they are located. Scientist must also make complex decisions about the interpretation of data, about which problems to pursue, and about when to conclude an experiment. Scientific freedom, like academic freedom, is an acquired right, generally accepted by society as necessary for the advancement of knowledge from which society may benefit. The process of developing your research question follows several steps: Choose a broad topic; Do some preliminary reading to find out about topical debates and issues; Narrow down a specific niche that you want to focus on; Identify a practical or theoretical research problem that you will address; When you have a clearly-defined problem, you need … Best guard against scientists finding what they ’ re not curious, you type! Engineering research fields through a huge network of partnerships and collaborations method developing! On work presented by others as a whole the resources needed to make data and code underlying results! Technologies and the achievement of reliable observations and results face of evidence that arises through the enterprise... Balanced and informed by an appreciation for the accuracy of their work influence the focus of scientific replication to! And trust among the parties can be maintained the benefit of receiving edition. 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