Ethical considerations restricting the search for knowledge

Ethics in Scientists' Search for Knowledge through Research

This paper deals with the ethical and moral dilemmas of researchers and scientists when conducting their research on their fellow man. Discussed are certain issues such as blame and responsibility, using key cases such as the Tuskegee Syphilis experiments and the Milgram study: Bibliography cites 11 sources

Ethics in the Search for Knowledge

As Aristotle noted man is a political animal, which means he is complex and predicting actions and reactions to any given circumstances can be seen to vary dependant on many different aspects of booth the situation and the background as well as his ethics and morals. Yet mans action's, reaction's and interaction remains a popular field of study in an attempt to learn and understand the reasons behind normal and abnormal development and behavior. When it comes to understanding human relations this can become even more complex and involved due to the involvement of intangible emotions and the aspects of inaccuracies that any study will contain due to the nature if the subject. One of the problems of this type of research are the ethical implications which may or may not be present in many of the research projects undertaken.

It is obvious that all researchers will wish to be seen as behaving in an ethical manner, but in reality this is a difficult judgement as it is a subjective interpretation of the behavior and actions of the researcher in both their research and their reasoning and purpose behind the research. It is for this reason that the design of research projects should be undertaken not only with the determination of the goals in mind, but also a recognition of the biases, both social and personal that may influence the completion of the project as well as the interpretation of the results (Brown et al., 1999).

In many disciplines there needs to ethics and morals, life teaches us that every human lives by a set code of these ethics and morals to help us survive, grow and co-exist with our fellow ma, however within the field of philosophy, that is the study and the evaluation of how humans' conduct themselves through their own moral codes.

Through man's development ethics have progressed to show how the intent and consequences of man's actions affects developing stages of life. It is through this stage of reflexive attitudes in man that has enabled many studies in the theories of how the human conscience behaves therefore giving rise to ethical thinkers and thinking.

Ethics in its purest form belongs to the area in philosophy that concerns what behavior is acceptable and not acceptable, good and band and right and wrong within the scope of human practice, we can often define ethics in the use of codes of conducts used and followed by those who can be deemed as professional, practitioners and researchers of subjective thought.

It is agreed by scholars that the ethics should be seen to have certain guidelines and rules to enable us to understand the behavior and live by the rules to avoid any confusion and dispute. Therefore to simplify, ethical principles are set out to allow for what is to be considered as honourable, honest and socially acceptable practices (Hayes & Orell PG).

Research may be undertaken in a variety of ways. Usually these will focus on either qualitative or quantitative methodologies. The qualitative research may involve a wide range of techniques including, but not limited to, interviews, group discussions, observations, oral histories and document analysis (Herndl et al., 2000). The results of these types of studies rather than quantitative methods will give a lower number of results, but will have enabled the study of those results in greater depth. It must also be remembered that as an integral part of the study it cannot be avoided that the researcher will also bring a wealth of perceptions and experience to the project as well as experience and transferable values from social activities (Herndl et al., 2000). The researcher themselves are a tool in the study, and as such may introduce an element of bias or the element of a fixed perspective into the study (Herndl et al., 2000).

Before a study is undertaken it is likely a literature review will have been carried out, the reading of this literature in most studies will demonstrate a dichotomy that faces any project. That is the impossible task of objectivity and the political aspect of any social enquiry which itself can be seen as an ethical problem. It is not uncommon for the researcher to also have strong views regarding some aspects of their research, even if they are entering it with an open mind. It is likely that the research is undertaken as a result of the researchers own commitment or belief in the need for specific social action or their own belief in a particular social model (Herndl et al., 2000)

In the study of man, there have been many breaks in the code of ethics one of these concerns the research into humans using human participants, for example in Macon County, Alabama, the region of Tuskegee. This concerns the experiments upon African-Americans who had little in way of wealth many were too poor to even afford proper medical care, so when in 1932 they were offered a free health program and were put under the guidance of physicians and researchers who were representatives of the United States Public Health Service.

The government officials informed the African-Americans that they were on the way to finding treatments for certain diseases of the blood and used the African-Americans in their research, many of the African-Americans readily and eagerly joined the program in the research and study however the true work carried out on them was carried out without their knowledge or consent.

The men from the United States Public Health Service offered various promises to the African-Americans including free medical care, hot meals when they were examined and also fifty dollars towards burial expenses, the African-Americans had to agree to full cooperation even in death which involved the agreement to an autopsy upon their deaths.

It is arguably the most unlikeliest of efforts on the side of the government to help their fellow man yet in this research of the diseases of blood in Tuskegee it was not so much as investigation into finding treatment for these poor souls rather they were cared for lab rats, tested upon for signs of syphilis to further the advance in finding more up-to-date methods for treating the disease.

It has to be noted that even then nearly seventy years ago there were still minor treatments for syphilis, yet these men and women were offered the care for the disease for fear of disrupting the experiments of the untreated disease. Therefore by the experiments and lack of full care treatment of the African-Americans one can easily argue that the simple ethics of the medical world were certainly breached.

The Tuskegee study into untreated syphilis in the male African-American lasted for forty years finally ending in 1972, this was twenty years after the recognition that penicillin was an effective treatment for the disease.

In this Tuskegee case ethics were not regarded and if supposing they were taken into consideration it seems they were ignored, as we have stated above ethical principals are simple honourable, honest and socially acceptable procedures, clearly in the forty years study of the Tuskegee African-Americans there was no ethical consideration.

In the experiment carried out by Milgram, we see illustrated an effect of punishment via electric shock treatment, subjects were designated as either teachers or learners, the teachers would administer an electric shock to the learners if they showed signs of not learning, this electric shock as seen to be used in lab rats, the aim of the shock treatment was to increase a subjects learning behavior (Hayes & Orell PG).

However, unbeknownst to the teachers the learners were actually actors and was only acting the discomfort rather than feeling the pain, however each teacher was actively encouraged to increase the treatment and increase the level of shocks to the learners, of the teachers up to sixty percent obeyed their orders to continue to punish the learner until they reached the highest electric shock mark of four hundred and fifty volts (Hayes & Orell PG).

It is interesting to not that none stopped before reaching the three hundred volts. Even though certain teachers questioned who had overall authority and responsibility as to the treatment each received the same answer that the experimenter was taking full responsibility, which to the teachers was acceptable (Hayes & Orell PG).

Milgram's studies when published caused concern amongst psychologists, many argued that it would have been possible for those who were participating in this form of experiment to discover some rudimentary and advanced feelings about them selves that they had not previously known such as the enjoyment of giving pain (Hayes & Orell PG).

However, Milgram followed through his study by placing checks upon his subjects and confirming that none had suffered from any drawbacks or post traumatic stress and of those participants questioned at a later date only one percent stated that they felt regret at having been part of such an experiment where pain administration had been part of the study (Hayes & Orell PG).

Milgram's study illustrates that many who have had the responsibility taken from them are although not happy but content to continue with a procedure as long as they are not directly held responsible, thereby giving rise to an obedience through social bonding and situations (Hayes & Orell PG).