Ethical research:
This post is standing in for a lecture and class discussion that would be happening today if I knew how to be in two places at once. (Welcome Phil. 133 students! Make yourselves at home in the comments, and feel...
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Posted on May 1, 2008 2:05 PM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Brian reminds us not to mistake the lull in the action in "Aetogate" (the charges of unethical conduct by Spencer Lucas and colleagues) for a resolution to the matter. We're still waiting for the ruling from the Society for Vertebrate...
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Posted on April 12, 2008 6:47 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
One of the key requirements that researchers conducting studies with human subjects must meet is that they obtain the informed consent of the participating subjects (or of a parent or guardian, if the subject is not able to give informed...
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Posted on April 9, 2008 1:04 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Are data from cancer research supposed to help cancer patients or career-minded scientists?
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Posted on March 3, 2008 2:12 PM • 26 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Objectively judging facts? Objectively judging friends?
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Posted on February 23, 2008 4:03 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
What are senior scientists doing to push back against misconduct? (You
are pushing back, aren't you?)
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Posted on February 19, 2008 3:49 PM • 17 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Are there any good options to respond to the wrongdoing of those with way more power than you?
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Posted on February 18, 2008 3:01 PM • 24 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
What is it like to be a scientist while also being a human being?
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Posted on February 16, 2008 3:30 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I'm passing on information about a program sponsored by the National Science Foundation for graduate students. The program, organized by the University of Montana Center for Ethics, is called Debating Science 2008, and here's how it's described on the announcement:...
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Posted on February 11, 2008 12:58 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Are some scientific disciplines more populated with shady characters than others?
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Posted on February 4, 2008 12:42 PM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Revere already flagged this story, but I'm going to try to move beyond the forehead slapping to some analysis of why a journal's confidentiality rules might matter. (I'll leave it to Bill, Bora, Jean-Claude, and their posse to explain how...
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Posted on February 1, 2008 12:48 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A recent news item by Rex Dalton in Nature [1] caught my attention. From the title ("Fossil reptiles mired in controversy") you might think that the aetosaurs were misbehaving. Rather, the issue at hand is whether senior scientists at the...
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Posted on January 31, 2008 12:51 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
In an earlier post, I looked at a research study by Nelson et al. [1] on how the cognitive development of young abandoned children in Romania was affected by being raised in institutional versus foster care conditions. Specifically, I examined...
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Posted on January 11, 2008 2:43 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Could research on abandoned children be ethical? What if it leaves them in an institution?
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Posted on January 10, 2008 12:35 AM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A sermonette on the centrality of ethics to the project of science.
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Posted on January 8, 2008 3:56 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
In the discussion on the earlier post about what policies should govern lab notebooks kept by graduate researchers, the commentariat identified a number of important considerations. At least a few of the commenters were sure that a one-size-fits-all policy wouldn't...
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Posted on July 2, 2007 2:46 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Janet D. Stemwedel (whose nom de blog is Dr. Free-Ride) is an assistant professor of philosophy at San Jose State University. Before becoming a philosopher, she earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry. Email her at dr.freeride@gmail.com.
