Developing a personal ethics statement is important to educators, health fields, and even for management staff. In order to develop an exceptional ethics position, it is essential to read what others say in their personal statements, but even more important to understand how you really feel. Examine the differences in your ethical opinions, based on home or work life. Write it out a few times, and when you are happy with it, add it to your resume. Here is my example.
Ethics are an important development in society, representing cultures, changes in society viewpoints, and in laws that govern a group of people. Personal ethics are often developed in much the same way as intelligence, defined by some combination of genetics and upbringing, and endlessly argued by theorists for nurture versus nature. Individual ethics are more complicated, and my ethics are endlessly more complicated. In specific definition of my personal ethical position, I strive for universal good, the greater good, versus individual need; however, like many others, it is nearly impossible to always value the greater good over individual good. As an individual, my conclusions are often complicated, but I tend to prefer to err on the side of lawful good (law-abiding, good girl).
Ethics can be addressed based on their relationship to life events or the roles they play in life, such as in work groups, professional roles, personal life, and other relationships (Brown, 2007). In situations of research, I place greater concern on ethical procedures and behaviors, considering myself responsible for providing truths that defend the greater good at all costs; however, from a more personal level, I am sometimes forced to accept situations that may not be ideal in order to maintain the household for my children and family. Ethical standards are much like the pyramid built by Maslow – Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs, when we are able to meet or basic needs; we are able to make better choices ethically. However, some life decisions are ethical regardless of risk of being discovered or punishment, and regardless of life issues, these are issues such as under-age drinking, under-age smoking, and drugs. Regardless of right, wrong, or in-between, the law says those things are not allowed, and in my household, they are not allowed ever, regardless of why or who or how.
My opinion is that educational research is a law-based application of ethics. Unlike the decision to work in the adult industry, to drive five miles over the speed limit, or practice SEO word stuffing, unethical educational research can harm others. On average, most people that I speak to will state that they have no use for statistics or studies; however, they are also not aware of how many applications are found in their own life. In this way, it is a huge responsibility for all researchers to be wise and conscientious in their actions and behaviors with research. Similar to medicine, studies in education can influence activities worldwide, making them significantly more important than careless or malicious behavior can support.
As I use a lot of research in my line of work, it is important to note that there can be times when assessments of populations can be developed from information available, but where a study cannot be conducted. The most complicated aspect of this type of study is to understand how to define and utilize the information without devaluing it in a page of limitations. Many people are tempted to gather all the information, develop potential study information, and then sell it as a completed study with fabricated information. This behavior is unethical, and our organization has had to fire many writers for this behavior. Most often, the writers will be confused at how this could be a reason to fire them, when they used reliable information to create the new information; however, it does not change the fact that fabricated information is not permitted in our organizations. We addressed this issue by defining “desk-studies” based on a college research practice from Europe, where the information presented in the document is all information gained from other research, and then conclusions of what a population study would look like (presented with the costs of conducting such a study).
The ease in which researchers can slip into the habit of falsifying research information is very distressing; however, colleges around the world are increasing their ethical courses. This increase is especially important when compared to study results, in small populations, that demonstrate exposure to ethical requirements increases ethical awareness, and may decrease unethical practices. One study found that awareness of ethical awareness included recognizing unethical behaviors in others, but did not find as strong an ethical attachment to authorship of documents (Artino & Brown, 2009. In this way, ethical concerns could include plagiarism, which is a common problem in colleges and schools throughout the world.
In conclusion, ethics may vary in a person’s life, based on where they are in their life, as in Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs, where an individual unable to achieve the basic needs of food and shelter may be willing to bend or even forgo ethical standpoints to achieve this goal. Additionally, ethical decisions may be conditional, related to specific circumstances – it is ok to speed if the road is empty and free of homes (the highway or freeway), but not past a school or church. Specifically, my ethical standpoint is both based on universal good and legal requirements, where legal standpoints outweigh most other standpoints other than where it could harm the greater good if the law was abided. Educational research is important to the greater good; therefore, it is imperative that it is conducted with honesty and integrity – at or above legal standards.
References
Brown, J. (July – August, 2007). Do you have a personal code of ethics? One possible approach to developing a code is using Kohlberg’s development stages.(Best Practice). Journal of Health Care Compliance, 9(4), 41. Retrieved from Gale: Academic OneFile (PowerSearch) database.
Artino Jr., A., & Brown, S. (2009). Ethics in educational research: A comparative analysis of graduate student and faculty beliefs. College Student Journal, 43(2), 599. Retrieved from MasterFILE Premier database.
