MEC 9301

LECTURE 7

RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION

ETHICS IN ENGINEERING

Prof. I. A. Rufai,
Mechanical Engineering Department,
Bayero University, Kano.
 Lecture Outline

i. What is Ethics?
ii. Ethical Issues in Engineering
iii. Ethics in Research
iv. Regulation of Research Practices
v. Research Misconduct and Fraud
vi. How to Avoid Ethical Dilemmas
 WHAT IS ETHICS?
 Principles for guiding decision making and
reconciling conflicting values;

 Branch of philosophy dealing with morality;

 Concerned with the distinction between: good and

evil; acceptable and unacceptable behaviors.
 Basic Ethical Principles
i) Beneficence - connotes acts of mercy, kindness,
and charity. It is suggestive of altruism, love,
humanity, and promoting the good of others.

ii) Benevolence – refers to the virtue of being

disposed to act to benefit others

iii) Non-maleficence - states that we should act in

ways that do not inflict evil or cause harm to others.
 ETHICAL ISSUES IN ENGINEERING

Three ethical traditions that are directed at the ethical

assessment of research and innovation in engineering:

engineering ethics;
ethics of technology; and
research ethics.
Ethics of Technology

 A field in which considerations of professional

responsibility give general ethical reflections on
technologies and their role in society.

 A form of applied ethics focused on ethical issues

involving technology that is of concern to society as
a whole;
Ethics of technology adhere to ethical principles that
are quite different from those of engineering ethics,

Issues in ethics of technology are typically

governed by values such as justice, autonomy,
freedom, privacy, dignity, and general welfare.
Ethical issues typically concern ways in which the
development or use of a technology may threaten
the realization of particular values,

The ethics of technology are dominated by

consequentialist ethical theory, which makes the
morally correct dependent upon the
compatibility of the consequences with the
accepted rules or values.
 RESEARCH ETHICS
Professional ethics for and by researchers;
Aimed at addressing ethical issues in various
scientific fields, such as engineering research;
Developed for engineering research as it was
developed for the natural sciences;
The most prominent practice in engineering is
engineering design.
 Research Ethics Cover Many Areas

Use of human subjects in research;

Use of animals in research;
Technology development and deployment;
Moral debates: Stem cell research, impact of
technology (nuclear weapons, genetic
screening), etc.
Professional issues: Authorship, IP rights,
confidentiality, etc.
 Ethical Issues in Engineering
Research and Design

Engineering science is applied scientific research

concerned with the understanding of natural
phenomena for practical applications;

Engineering design is the development of plans for

the realisation of technological products, systems
and processes;
Ethical issues in engineering research are mostly
similar to those of research in the fundamental
natural sciences;

They involve scientific integrity, institutional integrity,

social responsibility, human subjects’ research, and
similar issues;
Impacts of technology that raise ethical concerns
include:

 hard impacts (physical impacts on environment,

health and safety) and

 soft impacts (impacts on social realities and

ideals such as justice, equality, individual rights,
identity, etc.).
Ethical concerns have been raised in relation to
the following impacts:

Environment: concerns regarding the question

whether the environmental impacts of a technology
can be justified
Health: concerns with the impact of technologies on
physical and mental health.
Safety: concerns about the safety of technologies
and the potential damage they could do,

Justice, access and equality: concerns regarding

the distribution of goods and risks for harm that result
from the use of new technologies,
Individual rights and liberties: concerns about
whether and how the impacts of technologies may
reduce or violate individual rights and liberties,
Autonomy, authenticity and identity: impact of
technology on free will, the ability to have one’s own
thoughts, to make one’s own decisions,

Human dignity: concerns regarding the impact of

technologies on human dignity, e.g. human cloning,
reengineering of humans,
Bodily integrity: concerns concerning technologies
that infringe the inviolability of the physical body
Dual use: possibility that a new technology or
technological product can be used in ways other
than its intended use

Hubris: concern that for some technologies we

overestimate our ability to predict their
consequences
 Ethical Issues in Specific Fields of Engineering
and Technology:

a) Nuclear technology

 Problems of waste disposal.

 Risks of nuclear catastrophes,
 Development of nuclear weapons,
b) Robotics

Responsibility for actions by robots and artificial

intelligence programs,
Well-being and safety issues,
Ethical issues concerning social robots and
humanoid robots,
Ethical issues concerning unmanned aerial vehicles
(drones),
c) Environmental engineering

 General issues in environmental ethics (such as

the level of responsibility for future generations),
 Ecological restoration,
 Ethical issues with geo-engineering (such as
those relating to drilling for exploration and
production of water, oil, or gas),
 Ethical issues with climate engineering (such as
the threat of unforeseen harmful side-effects),
d) Nanotechnology

 Health and environmental risks,

 Ethical issues with nano-medicine,
 Just distribution of benefits and risks,
 Military applications,
 Privacy risks (molecular monitoring and
tracking devices).
 Ethical Guidelines for Research
A) Informed Consent
State the purpose of the research and describe the
procedures to be followed.
Describe any potential risks or discomforts the
participant may encounter.
Describe any potential benefits from participation.
Describe extent to which results will be kept
confidential.
 B) Freedom to Withdraw

Participants must be informed that they are free to

withdraw from the study at any time without penalty,

If you have a power relationship with the participants

you must be extra careful to make sure that they
really do feel free to withdraw,
 C) Deception

Providing false information to the participant about the

nature and/or purpose of the study:
It is discouraged but not prohibited in all cases.
Sometimes required in order to conduct a valid
research study,
The researcher must justify the use of deception.
Deception (cont’d)

If deception is used the following are recommended:

Debriefing - an interview with the research
participant to reveal deceptive aspects of the
study,
Dehoaxing: informing the participant about
deceptive aspects of the research study,
Desensitizing: eliminating any undesirable
feelings the study may have created
 Protection from Mental and Physical Harm

All researchers must:

-take responsibility for their own health and safety and
that of others;
-- follow the organisation’s policy, guidance and safe
systems of work;
- use protective equipment as recommended
- not change research/work protocols without their
manager’s and safety specialist’s consent;

- report incidents that have, or could have resulted in,

injury or damage;
- assist in the investigation of accidents;
- report unsafe conditions or actions;
- work co-operatively to improve health and safety
standards.
REGULATION OF RESEARCH PRACTICES

a) Economic Regulation of Research

the issue of who sponsors your research as well
as how much money you get.
It's the ethical duty of a researcher to get their
results published somewhere.

b) Political Regulation of Research

 c) Ethical Regulations and Guidelines:

a. The Nuremberg Code

b. The Council for International Organizations on
Medical Science (CIOMS)
c. National Committee on Research Ethics in Norway
d. Singapore Statement on Research Integrity
e. National Health Research Ethics Committee (NHREC)
f. Bayero University Research Ethics Committee
(BUREC)
g. etc.
 Guidelines for Research Ethics in Science,
Engineering and Technology (NENT, 2016)

Obligations of research to society:

1 Research has an independent responsibility for the
role it plays in social developments.
2 Research should be compatible with sustainable
development.
3 Research has a responsibility to contribute to
greater global justice.
Scientific integrity, truthfulness, and accountability:
4 Researchers are responsible for conducting high-quality
research characterised by scientific integrity, truthfulness,
and accountability,
5 Researchers must respect the contributions of other
researchers and observe standards of authorship,
6 When reviewing the work of others, researchers have a
responsibility to evaluate their own qualifications and
impartiality,
7 Researchers must comply with national and international
rules and regulations,
Uncertainty, risk, and the precautionary principle

8 Researchers must clarify the degree of uncertainty

in their research and evaluate the risk associated
with the research findings,

9 Researchers must strive to observe the

precautionary principle,
 Protection of research subjects

10 Researchers must respect the requirement of

freely given, informed consent,

11 Researchers must protect the privacy of their

research subjects,
Protection of animals used in research

12 Researchers must proceed with due care and

respect animal welfare when preparing and
conducting experiments involving animals,
13 Researchers must arrange their research in such
a way that the use of the research results is not in
conflict with fundamental animal welfare
requirements,
The relationship between research and other
knowledge-bearers and forms of knowledge

14 Researchers must acknowledge the economic and

cultural value of other forms of knowledge,
15 Where relevant, researchers should engage in
dialogue with other knowledge-bearers,
16 Research should involve the affected parties
where relevant,
Commissioned research, openness, and
conflicts of interest

17 Research institutions and the researchers involved

must ensure openness and scientific quality in
commissioned research,
18 Research institutions and the individual researcher
must ensure openness about possible conflicts of
interest,
 Whistleblowing and ethical responsibility
19 When, in the course of their work, researchers
become aware of matters that they consider to be in
conflict with ethical principles or their social
responsibility, they have the duty, to act as
whistleblower,
20 Research institutions must have independent
mechanisms that can support employees in
whistleblowing situations,
Dissemination of research to the general public

21 Research institutions should reward dissemination

that popularises research as well as research-based
participation in public debates.
22 Research institutions and researchers are both
responsible for disseminating research findings.
23 Researchers should not misuse their titles to add
weight to their views
 Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

• Also known as Research Ethics Committees

(RECs), or Ethical Review Boards (ERBs);

• Formally designated to approve, monitor and

review all research studies involving human
subjects;
Researchers must submit a Research Protocol
to the IRB for review

Three of the most important categories of review

are exempt studies, expedited review, and full
board review;
Much educational research falls in the exempt
category: being exempt from full committee review
because the study involves no or minimal risk;
Studies with children, prisoners, and fetal
participants are never exempt

 Even if your study ultimately falls in the exempt

category, it is still essential that you follow the
ethical guidelines
 RESEARCH MISCONDUCT AND FRAUD

• “Research misconduct = fabrication, falsification, or

plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing
research, or in reporting research results.”

• Overlap of research and publication misconduct –

research misconduct becomes publication misconduct
when that work is published,
Three common problem areas:

• Data manipulation;
• Authorship;
• Conflicts of interest;
• Plagiarism;
 Scientists Behaving Badly
Martinson et al. (2005), Nature, 435, 737-738
• 2002 (anonymous) survey, responses from >3000
early- and mid-career NIH-funded scientists based in
the USA;
• Asked about work-related misbehaviour over past 3
years;
• 33% admitted to misbehaviour in at least one of the
top-10 most serious categories: falsifying data, not
disclosing commercial interests, plagiarism;
 Other Questionable Behaviours

• 5% published the same data or results in two or

more publications,
• 10% had inappropriately assigned authorship
credit,
• 11% had withheld methodology details or results in
papers or proposals,
• 15% had dropped observations or data points,
• 28% admitted to inadequate record keeping,
 Examples of Research Fraud

Fabricating missing data points in order to

complete a study in time for a deadline,

Trimming: smoothing irregularities to make the data

appear extremely accurate and precise,
 Examples of Research Fraud (cont’d)

Cooking: retaining only those results that fit the

theory, and discarding others,

Forging: inventing some research data that are

reported; even reporting experiments that were never
performed.
 Some High-profile Cases of Serious Fraud:

i) Jan Hendrik Schön, Germany,

Physics,
Falsified and fabricated data in numerous
publications,
16 affected articles in Science and Nature 2000/01
alone,
Investigation report Sept 2002,
Doctorate revoked.
ii) Jon Sudbø
Norway,
Oral cancer,
Data fabrication – 900 fictitious subjects - and
manipulation,
Published in The Lancet Oct 2005,
Commission report June 2006,
Licence to practice & doctorate revoked;
 Why do researchers engage in misconduct?

• Lack of knowledge about research and publication

ethics;
• Larger, multi-disciplinary and more global
collaborations;
• Increasing pressure on researchers to publish;
• Financial inducements compromising integrity.
 HOW TO AVOID ETHICAL DILEMMAS
i). Know the rules.
How are researchers supposed to behave?
Who says so?
ii). Know your rights & responsibilities.
Membership of research teams
Co-authorship
Ownership of intellectual property
Conflicts of interest, etc.
iii). Learn to recognize the most common ethical
mistakes:
Misappropriation of text or ideas.
Deceptive reporting of research results.
Breach of confidentiality;
iv). Take steps now to avoid conflicts in your research
project Or resolve them quickly;

v). Learn from others' mistakes.

 TAKE-HOME MESSAGE!!!

IF You Research and Publish ETHICALLY,

THEN You PROSPER;

ELSE You PERISH!

COMMENTS?
OBSERVATIONS?
QUESTIONS?