Social Science Research Ethics in Africa PDF
Preview Social Science Research Ethics in Africa
Research Ethics Forum 7 Nico Nortjé Retha Visagie J. S. Wessels Editors Social Science Research Ethics in Africa Research Ethics Forum Volume 7 Editors in Chief: David Hunter, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia John McMillan, University of Otago, New Zealand Charles Weijer, The University of Western Ontario, Canada EDITORIAL BOARD: Godfrey B. Tangwa University of Yaounde, Cameroon Andrew Moore University of Otago, New Zealand Jing-Bao Nie University of Otago, New Zealand Ana Borovečki University of Zagreb, Croatia Sarah Edwards University College London, UK Heike Felzmann National University of Ireland, Ireland Annette Rid University of Zurich, Switzerland Mark Sheehan University of Oxford, UK Robert Levine Yale University, USA Alex London Carnegie Mellon University, USA Johnathan Kimmelman McGill University, Canada This Series, Research Ethics Forum, aims to encourage discussion in the field of research ethics and the ethics of research. Volumes included can range from foundational issues to practical issues in research ethics. No disciplinary lines or borders are drawn and submissions are welcome from all disciplines as well as scholars from around the world. We are particularly interested in texts addressing neglected topics in research ethics, as well as those which challenge common practices and beliefs about research ethics. By means of this Series we aim to contribute to the ever important dialogue concerning the ethics of how research is conducted nationally and internationally. Possible topics include: Research Ethics Committees, Clinical trials, International research ethics regulations, Informed consent, Risk-benefit calculations, Conflicts of interest, Industry-funded research, Exploitation, Qualitative research ethics, Social science research ethics, Ghostwriting, Bias, Animal research, Research participants. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10602 Nico Nortjé • Retha Visagie • J. S. Wessels Editors Social Science Research Ethics in Africa Editors Nico Nortjé Retha Visagie The University of Texas MD Anderson University of South Africa Cancer Center Pretoria, South Africa Houston, TX, USA J. S. Wessels University of South Africa Pretoria, South Africa ISSN 2212-9529 ISSN 2212-9537 (electronic) Research Ethics Forum ISBN 978-3-030-15401-1 ISBN 978-3-030-15402-8 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15402-8 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Preface Social science is the scientific study and research of human society at large, as well as the relationships and interactions among different groups and individuals in spe- cific. Modern social science is a relatively new form of science which has its formal origins in the period following the enlightenment in the late seventeenth and eigh- teenth centuries (Heyck 2015). However, the importance of social roles and respon- sibilities predates the formal proclamation of this academic field. Regardless of the birthdate of formal social science, the fact exists that compared to other sciences, it is a relatively young field of study with unique attributes and challenges in a tech- nologically advancing world. To some extent, the natural sciences, with more pre- dictable variables, can be easily codified and controlled through various protocols and guidelines (i.e. good clinical practice guidelines, US Food and Drug Administration codes, research protocols). The same cannot be said for the social sciences, as one of the main focal areas is the study of human behaviour and rela- tionships, which can easily be influenced by researcher bias and other contextual factors. The primary purpose of science is to understand the world we live in and how it works; this is closely linked to the secondary aim, namely, to apply this knowledge (Heyck 2015). Assuming that knowledge will be applied, it will consequently influ- ence the environment of living organisms. This in turn leads one to the question “what is good science” since the hypothesis can be posed that good science will lead to good outcomes for living organisms. As a potential outcome to this hypothesis, it could be postulated that good science needs to be built on the values of trust and integrity in as much that society at large needs to trust scientists to present the results of their research with integrity (Horn 2013). The scientific community has endeavoured to build this trust and conduct research with integrity by virtue of codi- fying specific behaviours and attitudes in the form of research ethics principles. General human rights atrocities and scientific misconduct of scientists during the Second World War (i.e. German Nazi doctors’ research and Japanese researchers at Unit 731 in China (Tsuzuki 2000)) gave rise to formal codes of ethics. Certainly one v vi Preface of the most well-known initial guiding documents of research involving human sub- jects is the Nuremberg Code of 1947 (Bauman 1993). This code has consequently been followed by many other widely recognised codes, such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations, the Declaration of Helsinki (first version in 1964) by the World Medical Association, the 1978 Belmont Report by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioural Research in the United States in response to atrocities of the Tuskegee syphilis study and the code by the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS), to mention but a few (Callahan 1995). On the African continent, research on human participants has largely been guided by the codes and guidelines developed by various Medical Research Councils which were established towards the middle of the previous century, in particular South Africa (1969), Egypt (1971), Zimbabwe (1974), Nigeria (1977), Tanzania (1979), Kenya (1979) and Uganda (1988) (ASRT n.d.; MRC/UVRI Uganda Research Unit n.d.; Ndebele et al. 2014; NIMR n.d.). Although the work done by all these national organisations over the last almost half a century is commendable, especially in the fields of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB), there is still a gap at large regarding the capacity, policies and guidelines governing social science research on the African continent (Mutenherwa and Wassenaar 2014). It is not difficult to appreciate the significant need to address the issue of social science and integrity in Africa when reflecting on the social questionability of various studies conducted in developed countries over the years. The most well-known of these studies include the follow- ing: Stanley Milgram’s 1963 study on obedience to authority (Milgram 1974), Robert Humphreys’ 1970 “Tea Room Trade” study looking at homosexual behav- iour of men in the United States (Allen 1997), Philip Zimbardo’s 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment (Carnahan and McFarland 2007), Dutch social psychologist Diederik Stapel’s work on race and stereotyping (Bhattacharjee 2013) and the 2006 US Army’s “Human Terrain System” programme where social scientists were used to assist the US Army in warfare matters (McFate and Laurence 2015). To this effect, leading African scholars from different fields have combined their years of research and experience to give insight into research ethical issues faced by social scientists in Africa. The collective experiences from all the authors bring with it an innate understanding of the uniqueness of the African continent and also the challenges posed in the drive to establish the discipline of research ethics and integ- rity across the continent. To give voice to the principle of doing and presenting research of high standards as well as great integrity, all the chapters underwent double-blind peer review, and feedback was sent to the author(s) for each chapter. After the comments were inte- grated into the chapters, they were resubmitted and reviewed again. Upon final sub- mission of the manuscript, the publishing house had the whole manuscript Preface vii peer-reviewed by a panel of external expert reviewers. We are therefore confident that the scholarly work presented here will inform the debate on research ethics in Africa in a positive and constructive manner. Houston, TX, USA Nico Nortjé Pretoria, South Africa Retha Visagie Pretoria, South Africa J. S. Wessels February 2019 References Allen, C. (1997). When Sociologists deceive their subjects. Retrieved on January 6, 2018, from http://linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org/9711/9711.allen.html ASRT (Academy of Scientific Research and Technology). (n.d.). Retrieved on December 23, 2017, from http://www.asrt.sci.eg/index.php/about Bauman, Z. (1993). Postmodern ethics. Oxford: Blackwell. Bhattacharjee, Y. (2013). The mind of a con man. Retrieved on January 6, 2017, from http:// www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/magazine/diederik-stapels-audacious-academic-fraud. html?pagewanted=all Callahan, D. (1995). Bioethics. In S. G. Post (Ed.), Encyclopedia of bioethics (3rd ed.). New York: MacMillan. Carnahan, T., & McFarland, S. (2007). Revisiting the Stanford prison experiment: Could par- ticipant self-selection have led to the cruelty? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 603–614. Heyck, H. (2015). Age of system: Understanding the development of modern social science. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. Horn, L. (2013). Promoting responsible research conduct in a developing world academic context. South African Journal of Bioethics and Law, 6(1), 21–24. McFate, M., & Laurence, J. H. (2015). Social science goes to war: The Human Terrain System in Iraq and Afghanistan. Retrieved on December 23, 2017, fromhttp://www.oxfordscholarship. com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190216726.001.0001/acprof-9780190216726 Milgram, S. (1974). Obedience to authority: An experimental view. New York: Harper. MRC/UVRI Uganda Research Unit. (n.d.). Retrieved on December 23, 2017, from https://www. mrcuganda.org/ Mutenherwa, F., & Wassenaar, D. R. (2014). Ethics review of social and behavioural research in an African context. In M. Kruger, L. Horn, & P. Ndebele (Eds.), Research ethics in Africa: A resource for research ethics committees. Stellenbosch: SunMedia. Ndebele, P., Mwaluko, G., Kruger, M., Oukem-Boyer, O. O. M., & Zimba, M. (2014). History of research ethics in Africa. In M. Kruger, L. Horn, & P. Ndebele (Eds.), Research ethics in Africa: A resource for research ethics committees. Stellenbosch: SunMedia. NIMR (Nigerian Institute of Medical Research). (n.d.). Retrieved on December 23, 2017, from https://nimr.gov.ng/ Tsuzuki, C. (2000). The pursuit of power in modern Japan: 1825–1995. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Contents 1 Research Ethics Governance – An African Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Marelize I. Schoeman 2 A Critical Discussion on the Relevance of Biosocial Science Research Ethics Codes and Principles for Social Science Researchers in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Francis C. L. Rakotsoane and Angelo Nicolaides 3 Considering Africanist Research Ethics Practices in Social Science Research in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Puleng Segalo and Lien Molobela 4 An African Perspective of Benefits in Social Science Research . . . . . 47 Beatrice K. Amugune and Lillian Otieno-Omutoko 5 Social Responsibility and Health-Related Social Sciences Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Brenda M. Morrow, Eshetu Bekele Worku, and Johanna M. Mathibe-Neke 6 Risk Assessment of Social Science Research in Africa. . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 J. S. Wessels and Retha Visagie 7 The Macro Ethical Impediments in Academic Research: A View from Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Tennyson Mgutshini and Genevieve James 8 Unethical Authorship Deals: Concepts, Challenges and Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Keshnee Padayachee 9 Research Integrity in the Context of Social Science Research in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Nico Nortjé and Willem A. Hoffmann ix x Contents 10 African Social Sciences Research Ethics – Africa as a Conversation and Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Leon Roets and Matsheliso Palesa Molapo 11 Promoting Research Integrity and Avoiding Misconduct – Perspectives on and from Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Christa Van Zyl, Francis Kombe, Patrick Okonta, and Theresa Rossouw 12 Informed Consent in Africa – Integrating Individual and Collective Autonomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Retha Visagie, Soné Beyers, and J. S. Wessels 13 Equity, Equality and Justice in Social Science Research in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 Melany L. Hendricks and Gordon M. Donnir 14 Human Dignity Protection in Social Science Research: Perspectives from Selected African Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Jane Wathuta and Muriel Fikile Mnisi 15 The Vulnerability of Children and Prisoners in Social Science Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Janeen Prinsloo, Madaleen Claassens, Kalima Kalima, and Mbongiseni Mdakane 16 Ethics Review Framework and Guidelines for Social Science Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 Willem A. Hoffmann and Nico Nortjé Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
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