Situation Experienced by the Graduate Student
Kim is a graduate student working in a lab. Greg, a co-worker, decides to publish an article, and he lists Kim as one of the co-authors. Greg comes to Kim with the final draft and requests for Kim’s signature. Kim finds the situation difficult because it is a proper procedure that Greg should have requested permission to use Kim’s data. Greg should have previously presented the rough draft. Instead, he presents a final article for signing. Greg is in a hurry with publishing the article, and Kim has to decide whether she would sign or go through the article first.
As Kim reads the article, she discovers that these were not the exact results from the rotational project. While she cannot remember the exact data, she finds that the final results are not exactly the same. The published figures feature figures appear to be different, and the disparity between the control groups seems more dramatic. While she does not have a photographic memory of the results, she vaguely remembers them. And she knows that the results are not accurate. Kim is not sure whether it is ethically correct to put her signature on data that is not accurately correct. Kim suspects Greg of research misconduct. The research is going to be very important to her to get her Ph.D. Her portion of data to the entire research project was small. Kim faces an ethical dilemma where she is not sure if she should report Greg of research misconduct or not.
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Ethical Decisions based on APA core principles
The first ethical decision faced is that of reading the proof of the article before signing the permission form. Using the principle of fidelity and responsibility, I would decide to read the article first before signing. Through this principle, I am obliged as a researcher to act responsibly and truthfulness throughout my work. Acting responsibly would mean that I do not sign a document that I have not previously read and ascertained that its contents are true. From this principle, a scientist should review any article in which they are listed as a co-author.
The next ethical decision is to ask Greg about the article or to seek out more advice about what to do. Based on the principle of fidelity and responsibility, I would seek out more advice about what to do. Informing Greg about the article could mean that he denies it and has more time to cover his tracks. The action could hinder any future investigation. Acting with fidelity and responsibility would mean that I would cooperate with other professionals in my field to serve the best interests of those that I work with. This should also deal with the ethical compliance of my colleagues.
The next ethical decision would be to meet with the research integrity officer or drop the whole thing. Using the principle of integrity, I would decide to meet the research integrity officer and tell her the whole story. The principle of integrity promotes for honesty, accuracy, and truthfulness in the field of science. This should mean being truthfulness and honesty with regard to my doubts about Greg’s research misconduct. Acting with integrity is the right thing and should not be stopped in the face of personal consequences.
Had I chosen a different set of principles for the above ethical decisions, the results could have been different. Following the principle of respect for people’s rights and dignity, I would have respected Greg’s rights to know about the error in the research and inform him. Doing this could have led him to cover his tracks and the prevention of future investigation. Had I acted through the principle of Beneficence and Non-maleficence, I would have considered a decision based safeguarding the rights of those I interact professionally with. This would mean approaching Greg personally, informing him of research misconduct and the consequences of such misconduct, and refusing to place my signature on the article. I could not have taken Greg forward but hoped that he would stop his malpractices. Different outcomes will result from using different principles. This shows that the ethical principles are best applied when one judges the situation at hand keenly.
