Ethics Class, The below information is based primarily on Neumans (2005) Chapter 5, The Literature Review and Ethical

Concerns and secondarily on the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Ethical and Legal Standards in Publishing, pp. 11-20. My focus is on those issues that come up in my dissertation courses. The origin of ethics in our society are based on Judeo-Christian ethics, namely moral principles that govern a persons or groups behavior. The moral principles a re in turn based on three schools of Western philosophy. The first, based on the work of Aristotle, teaches that virtues (justice, charity, and generosity) call upon persons and societies to behave in ways that benefit both the person possessing them and that persons society (Oxford, 2013). The second, espoused by Kant, says that humans are bound, from a knowledge of their duty as rational beings, to obey the categorical imperative to respect other rational beings (Oxford, 2013). The third is based on utilitarianism where behavior should be the greatest happiness or benefit of the greatest number (Oxford, 2013). As you read about ethics, you may develop an understanding why some ethical decisions are more difficult than others because of the influence of the three schools of Western philosophy. For our purposes as scholars, we are held to high ethical standards because in our research, human subjects are often used. We are called to respect the rights and dignity of human subjects in our search for new knowledge. As scholars we must be aware of the ethical implications of our research projects and protect our research subjects from unethical behaviors, either unintended or intended. The goals of ethical behavior as stated in the APA Manual are well taken: To ensure the accuracy of scientific knowledge, To protect the rights and welfare of research participants, and To protect intellectual property rights (APA, 2010, p. 11). As scholars who engage in writing papers for classes, for reports, or for publication, we must guard ourselves against plagiarism. Giving credit where credit is due is a simple task of citing authors whose works we are using to support our own work. Correctly citing achieves the first goal sited by APA (2010). As researchers who may use human subjects, we protect our subjects though informed consent, anonymity, and confidentiality. We ask permission for subjects to participate voluntarily in our research project and we confirm their participation with an informed consent that is signed. Anonymity of participants is achieved by some type of coding system so that actual names are not revealed. Confidentiality means securing research data in such a manner that the public cannot trace identifiers back to actual names. Additionally, researchers may not generally use children under age 18, pregnant women, prisoners, persons who are cognitively impaired, or persons who are educationally or economically challenged unless extra legal means are used. Dissertation students at UOP can refer to the Plagiarism Manual found in the Center for Excellence for additional information. Additionally, the CITI Certification required of SAS students addresses ethical concepts relative to human research subjects. SAS forms address some ethical and legal issues for Permission to Use Premises and for Confidentiality Agreements. The forms are available through the student SAS Dissertation Website.

References American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. Neuman, W.L. (2005). Social research methods: Qualitative and Quantitative approaches (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Oxford Dictionary. (2010). Oxford University Press.