HSCI705 Discussion Ethical Scenario

Ethical scenario

The policies I would advise my colleague to explore to avoid conflicts of interest are Fraud and Misconduct policies. Fraud and misconduct policies prevent academic dishonesty (Turk,2020). Data falsification is a form of academic dishonesty that would not be acceptable in an academic setting. The data collected for research would be used to support a hypothesis or thesis. The institution could then use the research findings to influence policy or public funding decisions.

Moreover, scientific research cannot occur without honest and ethical scientists who do not falsify data or otherwise violate scientific norms of behavior. If the institution has a fraud or misconduct policy, I suggest my colleague investigate whether there is a formal process for reporting such offenses. If there is, I would advise my colleague to make sure that they are not excluded from any disciplinary action in the event of an offense. Regarding research misconduct, like fraud and academic dishonesty, being proactive may result in less damage to one’s career later (Turk,2020). This is because any false data or work used in fraudulent publications should be considered when evaluating someone’s work for promotion or tenure decisions in the future.

Types of conflict of interest include: direct, indirect, and dual. A direct conflict of interest is one in which the researcher has a financial interest in the outcome of their research (Field,2019). An indirect conflict of interest is when a researcher has professional or personal interests that could influence their objectivity in the research process. Dual relationships exist in a relationship between two different people (e.g., client and service provider), where such a relationship could undermine or give rise to conflicting obligations when performing separate services for each other. In most situations, conflicts of interest can be addressed by avoiding them altogether or by modifying the circumstances under which disclosure is made.

Methods to manage conflict of interest include public disclosure, impartial, independent decision-making, physical separation, and assignment of tasks. Public disclosure is the method by which a researcher makes disclosures to all parties that may be affected by their conflicts of interest (Field,2019). This would include disclosing one’s conflicts to the review board or a research ethics committee when planning their research methodology or designing their study protocol. Impartial decision-making helps to address situations in which biases might impact the research design or results. For impartiality to be present, there would need to be a balanced representation from all interested parties who would not have similar interests at stake during the data collection phase of the study. Consequently, all interested parties need to be represented on the review board or ethics committee, and in order to achieve a balanced representation, such a committee should have multiple members. The researcher should also disclose their conflicts of interest and the review board or ethics committee should consider this when making decisions about the research that they are performing.

Physical separation is achieved by finding an alternative method to conduct one’s research that does not involve having direct ties to the resources that were used for collecting data for one’s study. There are two options when it comes to separating oneself from those who may have been instrumental in completing their study: assigning tasks at another institution or recruiting independent researchers at an alternate institution. If a university is an institution where the research was conducted and where the data was collected, then one can simply assign tasks to someone else who does not have a conflict of interest to complete and who works at another institution. Alternatively, if it is possible for an independent researcher at some other institution to collect the data, then this would be another alternative way of conducting research without having a conflict of interest.

References

Catano, V. M., & Turk, J. (2020). Fraud and misconduct in scientific research: a definition and procedures for investigation. Med. & L., 26, 465.

Field, M. J., & Lo, B. (Eds.). (2019). Conflict of interest in medical research, education, and practice.