Ethnics and Cultural Sensitivity

Ethics & Behavior Questions

The following ethical situations are not designed for this site. This is under revision.

The following situations are not just imagined. All of the following incidents are described in a way that protects the identity of the individuals. All have occurred.

The purpose of the discussion is to think though the implications of the activities and decisions that were available. When you get caught in one of these types of situations (and you will), it is best to have considered the ramifications ahead of time.

Many of the incidents described here could have been avoided. How does your behavior minimize the risk of being involved in a difficult situation?

1. A graduate student does a research project and finishes a thesis in which the study is described. This essence of the work is subsequently published by the student's advisor without including the student as an author, even though the advisor had little to do with the study.

2. A student overhears her advisor discussing an upcoming research project. The student decides to do this study without consulting with the faculty advisor. She seeks funding to support this study without consulting her advisor.

3. A research project seems to be going well until some data are collected that run counter to all the previous data. The student decides he is better off without these new observations so they go unreported.

4. A student attending a major international conference gets drunk at a reception. This leads to a heated discussion about one of the topics discussed in the conference.

5. A student gets a grant to study a specific problem. During the course ofthe research, it is decided that the problem being studied is "too hard" and another topic is chosen (along with a new advisor). The funding agency is not notified.

6. A male graduate student makes advances on a female companion of a faculty member during a field expedition.

7. A female graduate student needs to collect marine specimens in a foreign country. She has brought along only a bikini and, since this is a tropical region, she wears only that while collecting.

8. You apply for a permit to collect plant samples from a National Park as part of your research project. Your professor has indicated that you cannot finish your project without voucher specimens. The permit request is denied for no apparent reason.

9. While studying in a unique area, a company asks you to sell them plant samples. They offer you a large amount of money.

10. While conducting a transect in a remote area of a national park, you come across a patch of marijuana that has clear signs of being cultivated.

11. You are hired part-time to conduct an ecological assessment for a land development company. The company needs to have a positive review of the site in order to build a new facility. In the course of your survey you find a new population of an endangered plant species.

12. Part of your research involves a survey of plants in a small, isolated area. As you begin the work, you note archaeological remains in the area, including a large temple site.

13. Your professor states an opinion with which you strongly disagree. The topic involves a critical issue regarding the interpretation of your research results.

14. A committee member makes an editorial change to your thesis that changes your interpretation of the results.

15. As you approach the completion of your thesis, you suddenly realize that a critical data point is missing or lost.

16. You discover that a chemical you have been carrying on an airplane is a banned substance. You have one more trip to make and it is essential that you have the chemical to finish your data collection.

17. You approach your study area and discover a community group is protesting entry by anyone other than members of that group.

18. You go for the final data collection trip to your long-term field site and discover that it has been bulldozed (or destroyed by a tidal wave). You are pretty sure that you needed that final set of data in order to come to a meaningful interpretation of your study.

19. You have finished your data collection and written up your research. At that point, you discover that you needed a permit to do your research in your study area.

20. Everyone in the community is too busy to spend time with you. You need to spend your research money to pay for interviews. This was not part of your original grant plan.

21. You are working in a remote area in a community where many people are sick. They know that you have medications and ask you for some. You may, or may not, have what they need.

22. You have run out of funds and your visa does not allow you to work. A local company offers to hire you to work on one of their projects.

23. A friend sends you a photograph that is perfect for your publication.

24. Members of the community use your camera to take photos. You discover that some of these are what you need for a publication. You have no idea who took the photos.

25. You have a choice of two methods. One is fast but may compromise some of your personal core values. The other is slow but includes no compromises.

26. You have heard, but not confirmed, that the country in which you will work does not allow a key technology to be used. Your research requires the use of this technology.

27. Part of your interesting data were collected from children. You didn't include children in your IRB.

28. The analysis method that you proposed and then applied to your research does not give a statistically significant result. Another method does.

29. Your proposal seminar provided great detail about what you planned on doing for your research. When you got to your research site, you discovered that there was a much more interesting problem.

30. You discover that your field assistant is being abused by her boyfriend.

31. A senior researcher seems to be distracting you (or maybe preventing you) from getting to your research site.

32. Your voucher specimens from interviews were destroyed by a sudden (and intense) rainfall. There is still time to recollect the plant species, but not enough time to reinterview.

33. You have lost your field notebook and no longer have information linking voucher numbers to collection information.

34. You have made an agreement with a very helpful local botanist to send your voucher specimens to her herbarium. Your official country host tells you to send them to a different herbarium.

35. You have randomly selected field plot locations. When you arrive at your site, you discover that a few locations are not very good.

36. Some very interesting plants are just off your transect. Your study would be much more interesting (and easy to interpret) if they were included.

37. You return for your third annual study to your permanent plot and discover that some local children have removed your plant tags so they could use them in a game.

38. The local government has entered your home while you were away and taken your computer. It has your data and some files that you would rather other people not see.

39. Your advisor tells you that a particular analysis method is just what you need for your data. However hard you try, you can't understand the method or the results. Your advisor says "Just include it anyway."