RESEARCH ETHICS

All due protocol observed, I greet you all ladies and gentlemen who have turned up for this
seminar. I’m KAJJUBI WILLIAM and I will be discussing about research ethics. Let me first give
an insight at ethics in general and then we dig deep into the research ethics and its principles.
When most people think of ethics (or morals), they think of rules for distinguishing between
right and wrong, such as the Golden Rule ("Do unto others as you would have them do unto
you"), a code of professional conduct like the Hippocratic Oath ("First of all, do no harm"), a
religious creed like the Ten Commandments ("Do not kill"), The most common way of defining
"ethics" is: norms for conduct that distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
Most people learn ethical norms at home, at school, in church, or in other social settings.
Although most people acquire their sense of right and wrong during childhood, moral
development occurs throughout life and human beings pass through different stages of growth
as they mature. Ethical norms are so ubiquitous that one might be tempted to regard them as
simple commonsense. On the other hand, if morality were nothing more than commonsense,
then why are there so many ethical disputes and issues in our society?
The study of research ethics spans innumerable and diverse fields of inquiry, ranging from
physics to history, archeology to biotechnology, and touches on issues as localized as student-
mentor relationships, and as global as biomedical research in developing countries.
There are a number of ethical principles that should be taken into account when performing
research. At the core, these ethical principles stress the need to do good (known
as beneficence) and to do no harm (known as non-malfeasance). In practice, these ethical
principles mean that as a researcher, you need to:  obtain informed consent from potential
research participants;  minimize the risk of harm to participants; protect
their anonymity and confidentiality; avoid using deceptive practices; and  give participants
the right to withdraw from your research.
Now let me briefly talk about the various ethical principles in research; Honesty- you should
honestly report data, results, methods and procedures, and publication status. Do not fabricate,
falsify, or misrepresent data. Objectivity- Strive to avoid bias in experimental design, data
analysis, data interpretation, peer review, personnel decisions, grant writing, expert testimony,
and other aspects of research where objectivity is expected or required. Integrity- Keep your
promises and agreements; act with sincerity; strive for consistency of thought and action.
Carefulness- Avoid careless errors and negligence; carefully and critically examine your own
work and the work of your peers. Openness- Share data, results, ideas, tools, resources. Be
open to criticism and new ideas. Transparency- Disclose methods, materials, assumptions,
analyses, and other information needed to evaluate your research. Accountability- Take
responsibility for your part in research and be prepared to give an account (i.e. an explanation
or justification) of what you did on a research project and why. Intellectual Property- Honor
patents, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property. Do not use unpublished data,
methods, or results without permission. Give proper acknowledgement or credit for all
contributions to research. Never plagiarize. Confidentiality- Protect confidential
communications, such as papers or grants submitted for publication, personnel records, trade
or military secrets, and patient records. Responsible Publication- Publish in order to advance
research and scholarship, not to advance just your own career. Avoid wasteful and duplicative
publication. Responsible Mentoring- Help to educate, mentor, and advise students. Promote
their welfare and allow them to make their own decisions. Respect for Colleagues- Respect
your colleagues and treat them fairly. Social Responsibility- Strive to promote social good and
prevent or mitigate social harms through research, public education, and advocacy. Non-
Discrimination- Avoid discrimination against colleagues or students on the basis of sex, race,
ethnicity, or other factors not related to scientific competence and integrity. Competence-
Maintain and improve your own professional competence and expertise through lifelong
education and learning; take steps to promote competence in science as a whole. Legality-
Know and obey relevant laws and institutional and governmental policies. Animal Care- Show
proper respect and care for animals when using them in research. Do not conduct unnecessary
or poorly designed animal experiments. Human Subjects protection- When conducting
research on human subjects, minimize harms and risks and maximize benefits; respect human
dignity, privacy, and autonomy; take special precautions with vulnerable populations; and strive
to distribute the benefits and burdens of research fairly.
Having talked much about research ethics principles, let us now take a dig at two of the
biggest research misconducts and that is data fabrication and plagiarism. Data fabrication is
the act of making up data or results and recording or reporting it while conducting research
while plagiarism is the act of using someone’s ideas or writings without any acknowledgement
of the source of that material. Let me give some examples of these acts for clear understanding.
Paul is a mechanical engineering student CEDAT doing a practical to determine acceleration
due to gravity, he has so far run 11 experiments out of the required 15 and discovers that he is
remaining with little time to finish all the 15 experiments and then he decides to extrapolate
from the 11 available samples and he uses the values to submit the practical on time, Paul has
done data fabrication.
Also some students are given course work to find out living standards of people around
Makerere University and are required to use questioners to find out the feedback from the
community and these students decide to fill in the questioners and hand in, they have done an
act data fabrication.
A student of public health at Mulago has been instructed to assess the impact of covid 19
and he quotes number of deaths and infections in his report but doesn’t quote the source of
the figures, then this is an act of plagiarism.
Also a student is writing a literature review for his research dissertation about the history
of Makerere for the 100 years of its existence and he uses information from some journals in
the University library but in the references he doesn’t acknowledge the writers of the journals,
this is plagiarism.