Research Ethics - Ethical Theories (part 1 of 3)

Summary

This videocast, the first of a three-part series on research ethics by the National Centre for Research Methods, delves into different ethical theories as a precursor to discussing ethical principles and practices in subsequent episodes. It contrasts Euro Western ethics, which include deontology, consequentialism, virtue ethics, and value ethics, with indigenous research ethics focused on community consensus, relationships, and social justice. The author encourages reflection on why Euro Western ethics seldom emphasize benefits to research participants, contrary to the indigenous approach.

Highlights

• People often see research ethics as dull, but it's actually quite fascinating due to its complexity and connection to major world issues 📚.
• Deontological ethics focus on adherence to rules, potentially overlooking varying scenario contexts 🔒.
• Consequentialists emphasize the results of actions, which involves predicting uncertain future impacts 🔮.
• Virtue ethics prioritize personal virtues, yet can conflict with the realistic challenges individuals face in upholding these standards 👍.
• Value ethics push for shared moral values fostering group cooperation and moral support within research teams 🤝.
• Indigenous paradigms stress mutual respect, community benefits, and reciprocal relationships in research commitments 🌿.
• Such indigenous ethics also reject the tradition of researchers exploiting communities without giving back, stressing social justice 🛑.
• The call to benefit research participants is notably absent in Euro Western ethics, prompting reflection on its ethical frameworks 🧠.

Key Takeaways

• Research ethics is far from a boring topic; it's intricate and intertwined with broader societal issues like social justice and inequality 🌟.
• Deontological ethics prioritize actions regardless of their consequences, emphasizing universal rules and laws 📜.
• Consequentialism, conversely, focuses on the outcomes of actions, making ethical decisions based on the predicted impacts 🔍.
• Virtue ethics centers on the character and virtues of the individual, promoting good actions from good persons 🌟.
• Value ethics considers shared values within a group or community, fostering collective ethical decisions ⚖️.
• Indigenous research ethics highlight community consensus, relationships, and reciprocity, aiming for social justice and participant benefits 🌍.
• Unlike Euro Western ethics, indigenous frameworks emphasize research as a means of doing good, not just avoiding harm 💪.
• Understanding these different ethical perspectives can enrich research practices and awareness, blending them for more effective outcomes in diverse contexts 🌐.

Overview

Research ethics often gets labeled as boring, yet it's anything but dull! This videocast busts that myth, diving into the fascinating complexity behind ethical theories and how they link to broader societal issues like power imbalances and social justice.

The videocast explores several Euro Western ethical theories, such as deontology, consequentialism, virtue ethics, and value ethics. Each offers a unique lens on moral decision-making, from rule-based actions to outcome-focused evaluations, individual virtues, and collective moral values.

Introducing Indigenous research paradigms, the videocast contrasts them with Euro Western ethics. Indigenous approaches focus on community, reciprocity, and social justice. The videocast ends with a thought-provoking query on why Euro Western theories often overlook the importance of benefiting research participants.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Ethical Theories The chapter titled 'Introduction to Ethical Theories' is the first part of a series focusing on research ethics. It aims to explore different ethical theories, setting the foundation for understanding ethical principles and ethical practice, which will be covered in the subsequent parts. Contrary to the common perception of research ethics as a monotonous subject, the chapter intends to present it in an engaging and thought-provoking manner.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Complexity and Connection of Research Ethics The chapter titled 'Complexity and Connection of Research Ethics' delves into the intricate nature of research ethics and its interconnectedness with other ethical spheres. It challenges the perception of research ethics as a dry and isolated field, emphasizing its complexity and its ties to individual, institutional, political, and societal ethics. Additionally, the chapter highlights the relevance of research ethics to broader global issues, such as social concerns, underlining its importance in contemporary discourse.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Ethical Dilemmas and Wrong Actions The chapter titled 'Ethical Dilemmas and Wrong Actions' delves into the intricacies of research ethics, highlighting the inevitable presence of ethical dilemmas without straightforward solutions or ideal outcomes that satisfy all parties equally. It underscores the existence of social injustices, inequalities, and imbalances of power that these ethical challenges often encompass. While recognizing the absence of universally right answers, the chapter emphasizes the reality of clearly unethical actions and decisions, which will be examined further in the following videocasts.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Overview of Ethical Theories The chapter titled 'Overview of Ethical Theories' introduces the importance of understanding ethical theories as a foundation for ethical principles in research practices. It provides a broad overview of ethical theories from both Euro Western and indigenous perspectives. The chapter begins by discussing deontology, emphasizing that despite its complex terminology, the underlying concepts are quite straightforward.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Deontological Ethics Deontological ethics focuses on the morality of actions themselves rather than their outcomes. Adherents of this ethical theory evaluate actions based on their intrinsic qualities, categorizing them as good or bad independent of their consequences. For example, within this framework, killing is considered wrong, even in self-defense, and lying is unethical regardless of potential benefits.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Consequentialism The chapter discusses consequentialism and contrasts it with deontological ethics. Consequentialism suggests that actions can be deemed right or wrong based on their outcomes, such as helping someone who is miserable to increase overall happiness. On the other hand, deontological ethics emphasize adherence to rules and laws, implying that one can formulate universal guidelines to navigate ethical practices in any scenario. The narrator expresses skepticism about the latter approach, indicating a belief that it may not be entirely reliable or applicable in every situation.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Virtue Ethics The chapter discusses the limitations of universal ethical codes, especially in emerging fields like social media and big data research. It argues that it's impossible for any code to anticipate every possible ethical dilemma. This is part of a broader conversation around virtue ethics and its comparison to other ethical theories such as consequentialism.
• 05:00 - 06:00: Value Ethics This chapter discusses value ethics within the Euro-Western paradigm, focusing on the importance of the consequences of actions. It contrasts with deontological ethics by emphasizing that the morality of an action is determined by its impact and effect on improving or worsening lives. For example, telling lies is considered acceptable if it results in a better outcome for someone.
• 06:00 - 07:00: Combination of Ethical Theories in Euro Western Research Consequential ethics involves assessing the morality of a decision by considering its context, unique setting, and possible outcomes. It focuses on evaluating the impact, consequences, and implications of decisions. The challenge lies in predicting future outcomes which are inherently uncertain.
• 07:00 - 09:00: Indigenous Research Paradigm This chapter discusses the complexities and challenges in predicting future outcomes and understanding the full implications of one's actions. It highlights the difficulties inherent in making decisions when the consequences are uncertain or unknown. The chapter also touches upon virtue ethics within the Euro-Western paradigm, specifically focusing on the evaluation of whether someone is considered a good or virtuous person.
• 09:00 - 10:00: Post-colonial Indigenous Ethical Theory The chapter discusses the relationship between virtuous character and virtuous actions, highlighting the notion that being a good person naturally leads to being a good researcher. This idea ties into a neoliberal perspective that emphasizes individual responsibility in ensuring societal well-being. The speaker reflects on personal experiences, acknowledging the challenge in adhering to one's own standards despite the difficulty.

Research Ethics - Ethical Theories (part 1 of 3) Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 This is the first of three videocasts on research ethics. We're going to look at ethical theories in this videocast , the next two will look at ethical principles and ethical practice. | People think of research ethics often as quite a dry dull boring topic. I don't think it is
• 00:30 - 01:00 dry and dull I think it's incredibly interesting and it's very complex and some of its interest comes from its complexity. People also sometimes talk about research ethics as though it exists in some kind of a bubble on its own but it doesn't. It's linked into other forms of ethics individual ethics institutional ethics political and societal ethics and it's also linked into big issues in our world like social
• 01:00 - 01:30 injustice, social inequalities imbalances of power. Because of the complexity of research ethics there are not always right answers to be found to ethical dilemmas there's not always an ideal solution or a way to give everybody the same level of priority. There are however definitely some wrong ways of acting some unethical ways of acting and we will be looking at some of those as we go through these videocasts. But to
• 01:30 - 02:00 begin with we need to look at ethical theories because these provides a context for the ethical principles and the ethical work we do in our research practice. This is a very broad overview of some of the ethical theories from both the Euro Western and the indigenous research paradigms. | So the first one we're looking at is deontology don't be put off by the long words because the concepts behind them are really quite straightforward . In deontology the
• 02:00 - 02:30 priority is given to someone's actions and whether the action that someone takes is ethical whether it's a good action or a bad action in itself no attention is paid to the potential or actual consequences of that act. So for example people who follow a deontological code of ethics would say that it is bad to kill someone even in self-defense. It's bad to tell a lie even if by doing
• 02:30 - 03:00 so you may help someone when they're miserable. |Deontological ethics focus on rules and laws and people who follow deontological ethics will look for rules and laws to guide their actions and will regard it is entirely possible to formulate a universal code that will guide you towards ethical research practice in any situation that you might come across. I have a bit of trouble with this because I don't think it is
• 03:00 - 03:30 possible for any code to cover every single eventualities that could occur particularly when you're doing research ethics perhaps at the frontiers of maybe research using social media or research using big data these kinds of things are throwing up ethical dilemmas that we could never have foreseen that I don't really think any universal code could cover there are those who would disagree with me on this. Then the next long word theory is consequentialism which is kind
• 03:30 - 04:00 of a flip side of deontological ethics. Here the people who follow this code which sits again firmly within the euro Western paradigm will be looking at the consequences of an act and saying that it's the consequences that are importantly the effect the impact of someone's actions it doesn't matter if you tell lies as long as those lies improve life for someone rather than making life worse for someone. So rather
• 04:00 - 04:30 than looking at rules laws and universal codes people who follow consequential ethics look at the morality look at the context look at the particular unique setting in which they're trying to make an ethical decision and try to work out what the impact is their decision will be what the consequences will be and what the implications of those consequences will be. The problem of course is this is about predicting the future which is a very uncertain way of
• 04:30 - 05:00 going about things . There is always difficulty in trying to predict what's going to happen when it hasn't happened yet and it's really not always possible nevermind easy truly for see all consequences and all the implications of the consequences of an act you may or may not take. | Then there is virtue ethics again in the euro Western paradigm I'm very much focusing on whether someone is a good person , a virtuous person. The argument is that if
• 05:00 - 05:30 you're a virtuous person you will do virtuous things so if you're a good person you will be a good researcher. This kind of links with the whole neoliberal philosophy is placing emphasis on responsibilities very much on individuals to ensure that society works okay that everybody's welfare is taken care of. It's a difficult one this because I'm still we all do try to live up to whatever standards we see fit but I know from my own experience but that's
• 05:30 - 06:00 not always easy sometimes it's not possible sometimes we fail to live up to the standards that we set for ourselves. Then it may be worth trying I think it's probably always worth trying to live up to high standards but we do need to acknowledge that sometimes we need to set the bar a little lower for ourselves in the interest of self care which is also an ethical position to take as we will see in a later videocat. |The fourth and final ethical theory that I'm going to give an overview of here is value ethics again in the euro western
• 06:00 - 06:30 paradigm. And this is about shared values this is more of a collectivist than an individual approach and it's looking up people's moral priorities and ethical action stemming from those priorities. This can be useful if you're researching cooperatively it can be useful to establish a shared value system within your research team or with your participants if they're not part of your team as such. Then you have a value base
• 06:30 - 07:00 to go back to if you come up against a difficult ethical dilemma or when you're planning the research when you're looking at what ethical dilemmas might lie ahead. | All of these theories have some value to them particularly in thinking through raising your awareness of how research ethics does work or how it might work or how you would like it to work but in practice in the euro Western research we mostly draw on a combination of those depending on the context depending on the problem depending on
• 07:00 - 07:30 what you're trying to achieve. We're also going to look at the indigenous research paradigm which comes from the southern part of the world and this is rather different from any of the Euro Western ethical theories it's very much about community consensus and relationship. It's about working together it's about not looking anyone as an expert over anyone else or another way of putting that is everyone's an expert. People
• 07:30 - 08:00 have their own bodies of expertise that they can contribute to an investigation to find out new knowledge or to solve problems. Relationships are key within the indigenous research ethical theory everything stems from relationships everyone's accountable for relationships with each other with the research with communities and so on. The primary values here respect is a really key value respect for people respect for the environment respect for society and
• 08:00 - 08:30 community and connectivity how people are connected how people are connected with each other with research with the land with knowledge with academia all of these kinds of connections are highly valued. And also reciprocity so relationships should be mutually reciprocal it's not seen as ethical in the indigenous paradigm for a researcher to come into a community take data away and use that data to benefit their career or some other people or
• 08:30 - 09:00 communities. And one of the key things about research in indigenous terms is that it is explicitly linked with social justice so we're moving away from the ethical basis of do no harm which is inherited from biomedical research in the euro Western paradigm and we're moving towards research explicitly being a means of doing good and making positive change in society. |
• 09:00 - 09:30 So there is an interesting quotes here now from Bagale Chilisa who's a professor in Botswana and she says that post-colonial indigenous ethical theory defines research as respectful when it benefits the participants. Benefiting research participants is generally speaking not a priority in Euro Western research. Participants may be more or less involved in research or not involved at all but really seeking to benefit them that's pretty rare almost non-existent
• 09:30 - 10:00 in Euro Western research. So I'm going to leave you with a question to consider before we move to the next videocast on ethical principles and the one after that unethical practice. | "Why is it do you think that euro Western ethical theory does not include this perspective of benefiting participants?"