TF9050 – Research ethics
Course description
Course content
The course addresses the main norms for scientific work. They encompass the internal norms of science, as well as the external norms related to the involvement of participants in research (like consent, risk assessment, caution) and the responsibility for assessing consequences of the research for the relevant wider community. Regarding internal norms it specifically addresses questions of research integrity, related to commonly known breaches of misconduct, like forgery, fabrication, plagiarism, as well as often contentious issues of research collaboration and academic authorship. The course also includes a critical assessment of research ethics issues in the concrete projects of the PhD candidates.
Learning outcome
The candidates will
- acquire knowledge about the norms of science.
- be acquainted with relevant Acts and regulations
- acknowledge responsibility for conducting research, including possible consequences for a wider community
- know when they need to obtain permission for doing research, and if so, how to handle data correctly
- develop skills to identify ethical issues and be able to reflect and apply norms
- obtain competency to assess and address research ethics issues in their own research project and dissertation
Teaching
The course is offered as a seminar, consisting of three sessions of three hours each.
The course presupposes that candidates have familiarized themselves with the syllabus, and have extracted the reasons for and the formation of the content of research ethics and integrity. Apart from small introductions, there are no lectures.
The course requires active participation and critical reflection. This is facilitated by mandatory assignments for each session. Assignments are to be presented in class. They should be prepared and made available in writing a week before the seminar.
Topics are based on a mix of knowledge of norms, case studies and critical assessment of one’s own research proposal, as well as the proposal of the other participants.
An e-learning course on privacy and data protection (GDPR) is an obligatory part of the course.
Examination
The final examination is a critical assessment of relevant research ethics issues in the PhD candidate's own doctoral project and how they are handled and resolved. The document should not exceed 4000 words.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about the grading system.