Research Methodology

RESEARCH ETHICS
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Mohd Noh Karsiti
November 2017

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

Module Lesson Outcome

At the end of this module the participants should be able to:
• Define what is meant by research ethics in the context of industry research
• Discuss common ethical issues arising from research
• Identify  good  research practice as required in ethical and business guidelines
• Promote good and cordial relationship between colleagues and other research 
participants  

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

RESEARCH AND SCHOLARLY WORK (def)

Research:
Original investigation undertaken in order to gain
knowledge and understanding

Scholarly Work:
Creation, development and maintenance of the
intellectual infrastructure of subjects and disciplines

1Webster’s New World Dictionary, 3rd College Edition

2 © 2000 Josephson Institute of Ethics - Reprinted with permission.
© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017
Research Methodology

CONTENT
A. RESEARCH ETHICS

B. ETHICAL ISSUES AND MISCONDUCT

C. AUTHORSHIP OF RESEARCH PUBLICATION

D. CODE OF CONDUCT AND ETHICS

COMMITTEE

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

WHAT IS ETHICS
Legal vs Ethical

“ Legal: of or relating to law, deriving authority from or founded on law : de jure”1

“ Ethical: of or relating to ethics <ethical theories>; involving or expressing moral

approval or disapproval<ethical judgments>; conforming to accepted standards of
conduct <ethical behavior> .” 1

“Moral: Relating to what is good or bad, having to do with moral duty and
obligation.” 2
(Moral - principles of right and wrong.)

“Ethics is not about being better than someone else; it’s about being the best we
can be.” 3
1Merriam Webster’s Online – retrieved 27/12/12
2Webster’s New World Dictionary, 3rd College Edition
2 © 2000 Josephson Institute of Ethics - Reprinted with permission.
© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017
Research Methodology

WHAT IS ETHICS
What is Ethics in Research & Why is it Important?
by David B. Resnik, J.D., Ph.D.
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/index.cfm

“Most societies also have legal rules that govern behavior, but
ethical norms tend to be broader and more informal than laws.
Although most societies use laws to enforce widely accepted CONDUCT
moral standards and ethical and legal rules use similar concepts,
ethics and law are not the same. An action may be legal but
unethical or illegal but ethical…
One may also define ethics as a method, procedure, or
CODE
perspective for deciding how to act and for analyzing complex
problems and issues…
Many different disciplines, institutions, and professions have
standards for behavior that suit their particular aims and goals…
Ethical norms also serve the aims or goals of research and apply PURPOSE
to people who conduct scientific research or other scholarly or
creative activities.

COMMUNITY

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

WHY RESEARCH ETHICS?

Outstanding Issues:
“Cases of scientific malpractice in Brazil increased significantly between 2009
and 2012, according to a study looking at article retraction in scientific journals.
The study, published in Science and Engineering Ethics, says that this could
threaten the country’s growing popularity as a research partner ” 1

“After a 19-month investigation, the National University of Singapore (NUS) today

says that it has determined that one of its former scientists, the immunologist Alirio
Melendez, has committed “serious scientific misconduct”. The university found
fabrication, falsification or plagiarism associated with 21 papers, and no evidence
indicating that other co-authors were involved in the misconduct, it says.” 2

1 http://www.scidev.net/global/publishing/news/brazilian-paper-retractions-publishing-ethics.html
2 http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/12/immunologist-accused-of-misconduct-in-21-papers.html

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

6.2 ETHICAL ISSUES

Researchers: Institutions: Publications:

• Incomplete research
• Questionable research
method
• Anticipated outcomes
• Lack of details of reported
method, outcomes
• Sponsorship
• Rights of subjects
• Consent
• Funding (conflict of interest)
• unpublished sources
• Constrained topic-choice
• Senior research review
• Misrepresentation
• Withholding/Suppressing
report
• Political Correctness
• Economic Factors
• Authorship
• Plagiarism
• Incomplete references
• Misrepresentation of
research significance
• Consideration of the
Research's Implications
• Submission Venue(s)

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

Scientists Bad Behaviours

Martinson, Anderson & de Vries: Nature 435, 737-738 (9 June 2005)

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

What contributes to ethical problems in

research?
• greed • personal interest
• dishonesty • company survival
• envy • funding pressure
• exploitation • lack of skill
• peer pressure • conflicting interest
• work pressure • short cuts
• lack of collegiality • naivity
• self-promotion • carelessness
• sloth • ambitious
• arrogance • competition

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

RESPONSIBILITIES OF RESEARCHERS

• Respect the truth and the rights of those affected by their research
• Manage conflict of interest so that ambition and personal advantage do not
compromise ethical or scholarly considerations
• Adopt methods appropriate for achieving the aims of each research proposal
• Follow proper practices for safety and security
• Cite awards, degrees conferred and research publications accurately, including
status of any publications, such as under review or in press
• Promote adoption of this Code and avoid departures from the responsible
conduct of research
• Conform to the policies adopted by their institutions and bodies funding the
research
-Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

RESPONSIBILITIES OF INSTITUTIONS

• Promote responsible conduct of research

• Establish good governance and management practices
• Provide proper training
• Establish and promote monitoring system
• Provide safe research environment

-Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

PRINCIPLES OF RESPONSIBLE RESEARCH

• Honesty and Integrity

• Respect for Human Participants, Animals and Environment
• Good Stewardship of Public Resources Used to Conduct Research
• Appropriate Acknowledgement of the Role of Others in Research
• Responsible Communication of Research Results

-Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research

CODE

RESEARCHER INSTITUTION

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

RESEARCH MISCONDUCT
• Data Managements
– Falsification – altering data
– Fabrication – creating data
– Plagiarism – borrowing ideas or words without
appropriate attribution
(includes misrepresentation of credentials)
in proposing, performing, reviewing research and reporting
research results.

• Copyright (legal protection of intellectual property)

– Original works of authorship (books, software)
– Covers the particular expression of an idea in the work
– The idea itself cannot be copyrighted.

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2014

Research Methodology

RESEARCH MISCONDUCT

Case Summaries, The Office of Research Integrity

https://ori.hhs.gov/case_summary

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2014

Research Methodology

ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT
“Academic misconduct includes cheating and plagiarism. Cheating implies dishonesty in fulfilling
academic requirements. Plagiarism may involve presenting another person’s work as one’s own,
including
• Direct duplication, by copying or allowing to be copied another person’s work or submitting
one’s own work which has already been submitted for assessment purposes for other
purpose; or
• The act of taking an idea, writing, data or invention of another person and claiming that the
idea, writing, data or invention is the result of one’s own findings or creation; or
• An attempt to make out or the act of making out in such a way, that one is the original
source of the creator of an idea, writing data or invention which has actually been taken from
some other source.

The University may, in the case of academic misconduct, suspend or terminate the candidature
of the student.”

UTP POSTGRADUATE RULES AND REGULATIONS 2010

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT
• Research misconduct
– Falsification – altering data
– Fabrication – creating data
– Plagiarism – borrowing ideas or words without
appropriate attribution
(includes misrepresentation of credentials)
in proposing, performing, reviewing research and reporting
research results.

• Copyright (legal protection of intellectual property)

– Original works of authorship (books, software)
– Covers the particular expression of an idea in the work
– The idea itself cannot be copyrighted.

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism
Copying of ideas, text, data or other creative work (tables, figures and
graphs) and presenting it without proper permission
• Covers the use of ideas that have been presented in prior work
• Word-for-word copying must be clearly identified

Avoid Plagiarism
• Signal every quotation, even when you cite its source
• Don’t paraphrase too closely
• Cite a source for ideas (not for own use)
• Don’t plea ignorance, misunderstanding or innocent intentions
• Avoid inappropriate assistance

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

AUTHORSHIP

PUBLICATION AND AUTHORSHIP GUIDELINE 2010

UTP Ratify the Vancouver Protocol 1997: Authorial credit should be based only on
SUBSTANTIAL contributions to the scientific investigation in the process of

• Conception, design, execution, analysis and interpretation of the data, AND

• Drafting, reviewing and revising of manuscript content for intellectual contributions, AND
• Approval of the final manuscript

Insufficient Factors:
• Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify
authorship.
• General supervision of research groups is not sufficient for authorship.
• Merely approving final draft for publications does not qualify as scientific contribution

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

INCONSISTENT AUTHORSHIP

PUBLICATION AND AUTHORSHIP GUIDELINE 2010

Guest, gift and ghost authorships are inconsistent with the definition of authorship
and are considered to be in violation of this policy.

• Guest authorship is defined as granting authorship out of respect or appreciation and possibly
with the belief that it will improve the likelihood of publication, reputation or status of the
completed work.
• Gift authorship is defined as granting authorship out of obligation to, dependence on or as a
tribute to individuals who have not contributed to the work.
• Ghost authorship is a failure to properly identify and credit someone who has made
substantial contributions to the research or writing of a manuscript that merits authorship.
This includes the cases of research officers and writers who are hired to conduct the work or
prepare the report with the understanding that they will not be credited as authors.

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

DEVELOPMENT OF CODE OF ETHICS IN

RESEARCH
• 1947 Nuremberg Code (due to Nazi experiments)–
voluntary consent required, subject may quit, avoid injury
• 1964 Declaration of Helsinki –
based on Nuremberg, developed by medical professional, independent review, result
published only if comply to regulations
• 1990 WHO International Guidelines on Ethics and Epidemiology
• 1993 WHO International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research
Involving Human Subjects.
• 2006 MoH - Good Clinical Practice Guideline –
standard for the design, conduct, performance, monitoring, auditing, recording,
analyses and reporting of clinical trials that provides assurance that the data and
reported results are credible and accurate and that the rights, integrity and
confidentiality of trial subjects are protected

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology
TOP 10 EVIL HUMAN EXPERIMENTS
10 STANFORD PRISON
EXPERIMENT
9 MONSTER STUDY
© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017
The Stanford prison experiment was a psychological study of human
responses to captivity and its behavioral effects on both authorities and
inmates in prison. The experiment was conducted in 1971 by a team of
researchers led by psychologist Philip Zimbardo at Stanford University.
Undergraduate volunteers played the roles of both guards and prisoners
living in a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford psychology
building
The Monster Study was a stuttering experiment on 22 orphan children in
Davenport, Iowa, in 1939 conducted by Wendell Johnson at the
University of Iowa. Johnson chose one of his graduate students, Mary
Tudor, to conduct the experiment and he supervised her research. After
placing the children in control and experimental groups, Tudor gave
positive speech therapy to half of the children, praising the fluency of
their speech, and negative speech therapy to the other half, belittling the
children for every speech imperfection and telling them they were
stutterers
1http://listverse.com/2008/03/14/top-10-evil-human-experiments/
Research Methodology

TOP 10 EVIL HUMAN EXPERIMENTS

PROJECT 4.1

8 Project 4.1 was the designation for a medical study conducted by the
United States of those residents of the Marshall Islands exposed to
radioactive fallout from the March 1, 1954 Castle Bravo nuclear test at
Bikini Atoll, which had an unexpectedly large yield

7 PROJECT MKULTRA
Project MKULTRA, or MK-ULTRA, was the code name for a CIA mind-
control research program, run by the Office of Scientific Intelligence, that
began in the early 1950s and continued at least through the late 1960s.
There is much published evidence that the project involved the
surreptitious use of many types of drugs, as well as other methodologies,
to manipulate individual mental states and to alter brain function

1http://listverse.com/2008/03/14/top-10-evil-human-experiments/

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

TOP 10 EVIL HUMAN EXPERIMENTS

UNIT 731

2 Unit 731 was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and
development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal
human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–
1945) and World War II. It was responsible for some of the most
notorious war crimes carried out by Japanese personnel

1 NAZI EXPERIMENTS Nazi human experimentation was medical experimentation on large

numbers of people by the German Nazi regime in its concentration camps
during World War II. At Auschwitz, under the direction of Dr. Eduard
Wirths, selected inmates were subjected to various experiments which
were supposedly designed to help German military personnel in combat
situations, to aid in the recovery of military personnel that had been
injured, and to advance the racial ideology backed by the Third Reich

1http://listverse.com/2008/03/14/top-10-evil-human-experiments/

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

RESEARCH INVOLVING ANIMAL

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

ETHICAL AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR

RESEARCH
Research may be conducted by observing the following:

• Informed consent and non-coercion of subjects

• Confidentiality and data protection
• Utility and quality of research
• Research that do not harm the participants
• Respect for human dignity of participants

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

INFORMED CONSENT

Informed consent assumed the following:

• Adults are assumed to be competent unless demonstrated

otherwise.
• Potential subjects should be adequately informed of the aims,
methods, benefits, hazards and any discomfort.
• Documentation given to potential subjects should be
comprehensible.
• Consent should normally be in writing and records kept.
• Potential subjects are free to withdraw without implication.
• All subjects should be volunteers, decisions not to participate
should not prejudice the subject in any way.

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

RESEARCH ETHICS COMMITTEE

Objective
1. To facilitate and promote ethical research that is beneficial to the parties
involved, university and the society.
2. To protect the rights, dignity, safety and well-being of all parties involved
in the project.
Responsibilities:
1. establish, promote, implement and review policies and procedures with regards to
research ethics.
2. review and approve applications that is referred to the committee on matters relating
to ethical consideration requirements.
3. withhold, suspend or withdraw approval of research considered in contravention of
the university policies and procedures on research ethics.
4. propose and monitor training programs to promote research integrity and professional
conducts.
5. deliberate and decide on cases referred to the committee with regards to ethical
issues and breach of conduct by any other university bodies.
6. report to Senate/MC on all matters [1-5] that require intervention.

UTP SENATE MEETING 2010

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

COMPILATION CODES OF ETHICS AND

CONDUCTS

Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

https://www.opcw.org/fileadmin/OPCW/SAB/en/2015_Compilation_of_Chemistry_Codes.pdf
© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017
Research Methodology

CLOSING REMARKS

Next Steps:

1. Researchers are expected to be aware of the implication resulting from the

work conducted (to the community and society).
2. Researchers must take all necessary steps to ensure that research is
conducted professionally, and in compliance to the all rules/ethical
frameworks.
3. Researcher are to have the highest priority and care towards the subject
involved in the research.

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

REFERENCES
1. LAW (wherever applicable)
2. UTP Students Rules & Regulations (for students)
3. UTP Code of Conduct and Discipline (for staff)
4. PETRONAS Code of Conduct and Business Ethics

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

Case Study
source

copy

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

source
Abstract

copy

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

source
Objectives

copy

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

source
Results

copy

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

source
Results

copy

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017

Research Methodology

source
Conclusion
copy

© Mohd Noh Karsiti/UTP2017