In recent years, ethics committees have been strengthened in the French research landscape. Objective displayed by these bodies : ensure upstream that a study or experience will not harm the people who participate. In the Anglo-Saxon world, although these committees (or Institutional Review Boards , IRB) have long been imposed in the humanities and social sciences (SHS), they raise a […] … learn more→
Tag Archives: ethics
Research: ethics committees, the risk of a “bureaucracy of virtue”?
What are tech companies doing about ethical use of data? Not much
Our relationship with tech companies has changed significantly over the past 18 months. Ongoing data breaches, and the revelations surrounding the Cambridge Analytica scandal, have raised concerns about who owns our data, and how it is being used and shared. Tech companies have vowed to do better. Following his grilling by both the US Congress and the […] … learn more→
Does being religious or spiritual make you more ethical at work?
Can religion and spirituality promote ethical behaviour in the workplace? It’s a contentious issue, but our research comprising interviews with forty Indian top level executives suggests it might. We found that virtues embedded within the various traditions of religion and spirituality (Hinduism, Jainism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism) play a role in ethical decision-making in […] … learn more→
Should ethics professors observe higher standards of behavior?
This is an enduring dilemma in the area of ethics and one that has recently come to light with charges of unethical behavior brought against a prominent philosopher, Professor Thomas Pogge of Yale University. Pogge has been accused of manipulating younger women in his field into sexual relationships, a charge he has strenuously denied. Without […] … learn more→
What medical ethics can teach us about the #Rhodesmustfall debate
Picture this: it’s 20 April 2021 and the charming Austrian village of Braunau am Inn – Hitler’s birth place – reveals a new statue of Adolf Hitler on the main square. With the new statue, the village wishes to commemorate Hitler’s valuable contributions to Germany and Austria, contributions from which many still reap benefits. If […] … learn more→
What Social Science can learn from the LaCour scandal
A veritable firestorm hit political science this past week, with revelations that a promising young star, Michael J. LaCour, a doctoral student at the University of California at Los Angeles, apparently had falsified data. The data served as the basis for a recently published paper in Science. Contrary to other studies, LaCour’s paper, written with […] … learn more→
Thesis know-how – reporting on ‘ethics’
I’ve read a number of theses which take a pretty cursory approach to ethical matters. The most worrying are those that simply make a short statement which reports that the research was approved by the relevant university ethics committee and/or meets the ethical guidelines issued by such and such a learned society. Now I find […] … learn more→
Is your university reading your emails?
The policies and realities of monitoring correspondence may vary, but the ethical implications are always significant … learn more→
The ethics of MOOCs
Like any cross between former entrepreneur, teacher of ethics and innovation, and higher ed scholar, I have been following the MOOC movement closely. It is, of course, a movement, with its own brand of evangelism and technological and demographic shock and awe. But it is also an idea whose time may have come, not so […] … learn more→
Why the Great Cheat
The news that 125 Harvard students were under investigation for cheating on an exam came just days after we were informed that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency was stripping Lance Armstrong of his Tour de France titles. In both of these cases, we have alleged wrongdoing by those at the top of their fields, and there […] … learn more→
