Researching with Integrity: The Ethics of Academic Enquiry

207 Pages·2008·1.34 MB·English

by  Bruce Macfarlane

Researching with Integrity
Researching with Integrity breaks new ground by analyzing research
ethics from the perspective of individual character rather than rule-
based codes of practice. It challenges over-dependence on principles
derived from bioethics to produce a book with relevance to a wide
range of academic disciplines. Reflecting on real stories from university
academics to illustrate fine-grained research dilemmas, it identifies a
series of moral virtues for the modern researcher and attendant vices to
be avoided. The virtues of courage, respectfulness, resoluteness, sincer-
ity, humility, and reflexivity are closely related to ethical practice
throughout different phases of research in framing questions, negotiat-
ing access, generating data and ideas, creating results, disseminating
those results, and reflecting on what has been achieved. The book offers
a theoretically grounded yet strongly practical approach to understand-
ing the complexities of research ethics. As such it will be an essential
resource for both serious scholars of research ethics and postgraduate
students.
Bruce Macfarlane is Professor of Higher Education at the University of
Portsmouth (UK) where he is also Head of Academic Development.
His previous books include Teaching with Integrity and The Academic
Citizen. He is a Vice Chair of the Society for Research into Higher
Education.

Researching with Integrity
The Ethics of Academic Enquiry
Bruce Macfarlane
First published 2009
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.
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© 2009 Taylor & Francis
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or
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Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and
are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Macfarlane, Bruce, 1961–
Researching with integrity : the ethics of academic enquiry / Bruce Macfarlane.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Research—Moral and ethical aspects. 2. Scholars—Professional ethics. I. Title.
Q180.55.M67M327 2008
174—dc22
2008022092
ISBN 0-203-88696-8 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0–415–42903–X (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–415–42904–8 (pbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–88696–8 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–42903–0 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–42904–7 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–88696–0 (ebk)
In memory of my father
Derrick Macfarlane (1928–2005)

CONTENTS
List of Figures and Tables ix
List of Narratives xi
Foreword by Stephen Rowland xiii
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction: A Question of Integrity 1
Part One From Principles to Virtue 7
Chapter1 The Legacy of Nuremberg 9
Chapter2 Challenging Principles 21
Chapter3 Developing Integrity 33
Part Two Living the Virtues 47
Chapter4 Courage 49
Chapter5 Respectfulness 63
Chapter6 Resoluteness 79
Chapter7 Sincerity 91
vii
viii (cid:127) Contents
Chapter8 Humility 109
Chapter9 Reflexivity 123
Part Three Integrating Integrity 137
Chapter10 The Performative Culture 139
Chapter11 Learning about Virtue 149
Chapter12 The Good Professor 159
References 169
Index 183
FIGURES AND TABLES
Figures
1.1 The Nuremberg Code (1949) 12
1.2 The Belmont Report Principles (1979) 15
2.1 Dominant Principles in Codes of Research Ethics 28
2.2 General Principles Informing a University Research
Ethics Policy 28
3.1 The Research Cycle 41
9.1 Examples of Opportunities for Reflection 129
Tables
3.1 Research Phases 39
3.2 The Virtues and Vices of Research 42
12.1 The Virtues of Academic Practice 164
ix