Ethics paper -
Look through the case study document and pick 2 case studies. For each case study do the following:
- Answer the questions at the end of the case study.
- Answer any suggested questions at the end of the case study.
- Give additional examples of situations that have the same ethics violations as the case studies.
Data Acquisition Case Study: Data Handling and Record Keeping
You are a graduate student working in a lab where data are accumulated for the purposes of measuring the optical absorption of a variety of samples. For each sample there is a large data file stored on a computer in the lab. In reviewing a lab notebook from one of your predecessors in the lab and comparing that to data published by the lab, you find a gap. That is, some of the data that were published are not accounted for in the lab notebook. Furthermore, you are unable to locate the computer files for this missing data. You talk to a fellow graduate student about this situation, and he tells you that you should be very concerned about the situation and that it should be reported.
Question
What are some possible situations that could explain the "missing" data, and how should you proceed for each?
Data Acquisition Case Study: Intellectual Property
You find a novel solution to an important problem posed by your advisor; however, your advisor sees this as an opportunity for him to get published, downplays the significance of the results, collates a paper and submits it before you are any the wiser (the paper acknowledges a discussion with you, but does not include you as an author). You are absolutely clear that this idea was yours, and feel suitably put out. You approach your advisor and make a complaint, but he empathizes with you and tells you to be a bit quicker with the write-up next time. He tells you, "That's just the way of the world." You decide not to leave it there, and approach the head of the department (going up one link in the management chain). You make your complaint to him, and he asks you for evidence, but you can't provide any because you didn't keep a dated notebook: all of your notes are in several ring binders, some at home and some in your desk at work. You start feeling a bit silly, and the head advises you to drop the matter.
Questions
- Should you drop the issue?
- Are there long-term consequences for anyone to not dropping the issue?
- Is there a "fair" way to make a claim to the results?
- In the last question, what does the word "fair" mean?
- The section on Educational Concerns has a case study about whistle blowing. Are there any whistleblower aspects to this case study?
Educational Concerns Case Study: Reporting Violations and Plagiarism
You are a faculty mentor for a graduate student in your department. The student is taking some classes in another department that requires written essays. He asks you to read his essay before he submits it. You routinely google his work and discover that large parts have been lifted, verbatim, from the web with no quotation marks or citations.
For undergraduates, you could have them consider working on a group report and one member of the group is lifting web materials verbatim without proper citations.
Questions
- What should you do?
- Is there a way to monitor this student's future behavior without irreparably damaging his career?
Educational Concerns Case Study: Whistle Blowing
A graduate student has been working in a lab for a year on what she hopes will be her Ph.D. dissertation research. She has been troubled for the last several months by the possibility that her advisor may be manipulating data used in his publications. This past week, she has just discovered what she believes to be incontrovertible evidence that some of his published data had in fact been fabricated.
Questions
- What should she do?
- With whom should she discuss the issue, if anyone?
- Is there a designated person at your institution to deal with such issues?
Health & Safety Case Study: Hazardous Materials
A condensed matter experimentalist and his students were conducting experiments on thin films of common metals such as aluminum and tin. They realized that they could substantially enhance their work by switching the samples to the metal beryllium, which is highly toxic and can bring about irreversible poisoning. The procedures that they are employing with aluminum and tin would not be suitable for a toxic material such as beryllium.
Questions
- What responsibility does the PI have in considering the new, potentially dangerous material for the research?
- What role should the students have in making this decision?
- If there is a decision to go ahead with the work, what is the PI's responsibility in terms of providing information and training?
- How should he or she proceed with setting up these new experiments in a manner that might ensure the safety of his students?
Research with Human Subjects Case Study: Education Research
Suppose you have a strong interest in physics education, and in pursuit of that interest you want to assess the effectiveness of two different strategies for running recitation sections in large introductory physics courses. The professor who runs the course agrees that both of your proposed strategies have educational merit and that you can try them out on two independent sections of the class. At the end of the term, you discover a clear difference in test performance between the students in the two different groups. You want to give a talk at an American Association of Physics Teachers meeting about your results.
Questions
- What steps do you need to take in order to ensure the privacy of the students is adequately protected?
- Do you need Human Research Approval in order to give the talk?
- If you receive permission to give the talk, what additional steps do you have to take to protect the privacy of your students?
- Are there consequences to giving the talk without asking about Human Research Approval?
- Does this violate any ethical guidelines?
Issues of Bias Case Study: Bias in Hiring
You are a female physicist applying for a position you want very much at a prestigious, albeit relatively conservative, university. During the interview process, you are asked about whether you have a husband or significant other in the same field.
Questions
- Should you answer this question?
- What implications might your answer have on the search committee's attitude toward you? (consider both the positive and negative answer)
Issues of Bias Case Study: Reaction to Bias
The graduate students, post-docs, and professor in your research group have spent the past week brainstorming ideas for a major new proposal to submit to the National Science Foundation. After much discussion, the professor selects Sally's idea to be the core of the proposal, and invites John to be Co-PI with him, and to take the lead in coordinating preparation of the proposal. Both Sally and John are senior post-docs in the lab. It is a real honor and a career advantage to be a PI early in one's career. By offering one of his post-docs the opportunity to be Co-PI and work with him on preparing the grant, the professor is helping launch the postdoc's career. The issue is, why didn't the professor offer this opportunity to Sally, since the core idea in the proposal was hers?
Questions
- In considering this scenario, how should the different students and post-docs respond to this decision by the professor?
- What should Sally do?
- What are John's responsibilities?
- Is it unrealistic to suggest to John that he express his concern to the professor?
Mentoring Case Study: Mentoring Scenario 1
You enter graduate school with two full years of support from a fellowship awarded by your undergraduate institution. You easily find a faculty member to work with. At the end of the second year, the faculty member tells you that she will not be your thesis advisor. Consider having students role-play this scenario:
Student: I've been so lucky! I've had two full years of support to work on this research topic. Do you think I've reached the half-way mark for my thesis work? When do you think I should start writing up my thesis?
Professor: Hmmm. You've done a lot of work on this topic and certainly have progressed well, but I think there has been a misunderstanding. I am not going to be your thesis advisor.
Questions
- What should you do?
- Was the behavior of this faculty member ethical? Why or why not?
- How is the behavior of this professor different from the assistant professor in Scenario 6?
- Can you design a faculty scenario for this situation that would make her behavior ethical?
- What should be the response of the department to this situation?
Mentoring Case Study: Mentoring Scenario 2
You are a third-year graduate student working in theory. Your research professor has not provided you with a problem, and seems uninterested in the work you are doing on your own.
Consider having students create a role-play this scenario. An example follows. Student: I've been working on this problem for a year now. What do you think of my calculations? Professor: (In a flat tone) They're fine. Student: Do you think I should work on a different problem? Do you think working on this problem will be sufficient to produce a thesis?
Professor: I don't know if this problem will be sufficient to produce a thesis. Have you looked into similar work on it?
Student: Yes, I have looked into similar work. I think it is a good problem. Do you think there is a better problem for me to work on?
Professor: I'll have to get back to you on that. Talk to you in a few weeks.
Student: (Muttering under breath) That's what you said months ago.
Questions
- What should you do?
- What commitments were made to this student when she was accepted as a thesis student?
- What kind of supervision should a graduate student expect from a thesis advisor?
- Should a student expect substantive and appropriate help from an advisor, or are there different supervision styles, all of which are appropriate?
Mentoring Case Study: Mentoring Scenario 4
You are a minority graduate student studying at a good university. You are having trouble with your graduate coursework because your undergraduate institution did not offer intensive courses in some upper level physics areas. Your first term grades were marginal. During the second term, the faculty member in charge of the graduate program asks you to attend a physics meeting aimed at minority scientists to help the department recruit new minority graduate students. You are flattered, but are worried about missing class work.
Question
- What should you do?
- What questions might an outside observer have concerning this situation?
Mentoring Case Study: Mentoring Scenario 5
You are a student from a very small undergraduate institution, accepted for graduate study in a prestigious university. Your first year is covered by a scholarship. When you arrive, your advisors place you in the standard first-year graduate classes. You have doubts about your background.
Questions
- What should you do?
- What are some possible questions an outside observer might ask?
Mentoring Case Study: Mentoring Scenario 6
(From the perspective of an untenured Assistant Professor) In January, a student approached you to be his thesis advisor, and you agreed. During the subsequent semester, you found that he was taking more of your time then you were really able to give. He was not at a point where he could effectively contribute to any of the calculations that you had in hand. He would frequently give you his own calculations for comment and, because of other time constraints, you usually were not able to read them in a timely way. While you would have preferred a student with more independence, you thought that the situation might improve over time. In May, a senior colleague in your group left, and his advanced graduate student opted to stay at your university rather than accompany your colleague. You were pressured by your department to take this student. As the summer progressed, it became clear that you could not effectively deal with both students and do all of the research that was needed in order to present a good tenure profile. Your options seem to be to cut the first student loose or to keep both students.
Questions
- What should you do?
- What points would you consider in your decision making?
- What questions might an outside observer have?
Mentoring Case Study: Responsible Mentoring, Disabilities
A young graduate student in the middle of his thesis research is diagnosed with a debilitating chronic disease.
The recurrence of the condition results in his being absent from the laboratory for extended periods of time.
Ultimately he falls seriously behind in his research. This poses a dilemma for his mentor, who, while wanting to be supportive of the suffering student, has an obligation to his research sponsor to be productive scientifically.
To complicate matters, the student is from another country, and if he loses his student status, he will have to leave the US.
Question
What course of action should the mentor take that might not undermine the student, and yet at the same time carry out his responsibilities?
Attachment:- Ethics Case Studies.rar