A Social Sciences perspective on teaching research ethics to UG studentsPeter A. BathDepartment of Information Studies(with acknowledgements to Professors Peter Willett and Val Gillet and Mr. Richard Hudson, RIS)

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Overview• Providing the context

• Clear definitions

• Explaining the issues

• Attention to detail

• Examples and case studies

Examples of slides to illustrate

Focus on final year research projects

Providing the context• Background to national

developments

• UG students may not be aware of Alder Hey etc.

• Other examples of unethical research, e.g., MMR vaccine scare, plagiarism

• Need to relate this to UoS and research ethics policy

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Clear definitions• Concepts may be

unfamiliar – avoiding assumptions of prior knowledge

• Engage students in discussing issues and questioning

• Include legal issues, e.g., DPA (1998)

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Explaining pertinent issues• Research ethics policy

• Relevance to, and impact on, BSc research projects

• Process for handling ethics review

• Definitions of risk, and examples of these

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Attention to detail• Detailed discussion of

potential problems areas:• Safety / well-being

• Informed consent

• Anonymity / confidentialityLinking data sets

• Clear pointers to the relevant resources, use MOLE for module materials

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Case studies and examples• Small group work looking

at real examples

• Include range of examples

• More or less relevant to illustrate issues:

• Patient groups

• Recording media

• Students as participants

• Sensitive topics, obesity, fertility

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Conclusions• Teaching research ethics to

Undergraduate students:• Discussing new concepts / issues

• Engaging students with the idea that research ethics is a process

• Establishing the relevance to their work

• Providing clear examples and definitions

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