Research Ethics

The quote from our Magic: the Gathering card for today sounds satirical and tells more beyond what is said. Conducting ethical practice should, at the very least, be guided by principles as basic as the Golden Rule or the Law of Karma. For more rational people, actions have consequences, and today, we explore them regarding a research career. All researchers are expected to know ethical research practices, and I won't iterate those lessons, but I'll explore their practicalities.

Respect your resources.

A funded researcher had two research assistants. This researcher overlooked all the errors and laziness of one of the assistants, thus causing more burdens for the other assistant. Eventually, the other assistant stopped pointing out the errors of the lazy one since if he did, the researcher would just lump the task back to him. The project resulted in a manuscript that has just seen positive remarks from any journal. 

Funding is not the only research resource. Research requires several resources. Data, these come from our primary sources - the people whom we interview. For collection and management, this includes the research staff and even third-party consultants. Respect and politeness, or what Filipinos call delicadeza, will go a long way because most of the resources in the social sciences come from our social networks.

What about if you are just a student, without even any funding? You still need to treat your research with respect. And no matter the funding, you will also need to engage with different members of society to collect your data.

What's an ethics certification for?

An ethics certification is needed if you study vulnerable subjects. I.e. children, and marginalized people whose stories, when published, can touch on certain social sensitivities. Hence, you polish all aspects of ethical practice as mentioned in your methodology, then submit your manuscript for evaluation BEFORE data gathering. 

You can't be certified after data has already been collected.

You can only get published in a reputable journal if you have certification.

Refrain from blabbing about your stuff to everyone.

Your ideas are only really yours once you have made your stamp on them. That means you need to publish. The least you can do is present at an international professional conference. This is not a publication but tells the world you have declared this idea yours. So also make sure you have pored through all relevant literature to proudly say that your argument is yours. Other than that, if you keep blabbing about any researchable idea, some carrion feeder might be listening and stealing your idea and even end up publishing before you.

So, make sure that you conduct research ethically; karma will get you.

Tune in next week when we discuss the ethical strategy of branching from another person's ideas.

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Perspectives

This entire post is riddled with perspectives. Get ready.

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It was the pandemic, and I was shocked when an advocacy group wanted to hold a seminar promoting a particular cause to students, and the event was around four hours long. I was shocked and told them that audiences wouldn't have the attention span for four hours for such an activity. I was dumbfounded when I was aggressively told that if the audience wanted to advocate for that cause, then they would stay. 

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A highly respected journal publishes research articles that are but a few pages long compared to the usual periodicals. The articles here have highly technical writing; only experts can read and understand them at first glance. The practice works because it was meant for a specific audience, and the journal's authority is highly sought.

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All new faculty at my university receive employee orientation and some training. I always cherish an essential lesson from one of the speakers. In fact, I quoted this same luminary a post back. Dr. Allan De Guzman reminded us to know our place. Such a statement can sound rude in most conversations, but the way the esteemed professor delivered it was smooth and polite. It was good advice.

I recall seeing a meme yesterday commenting about how the world of education can foster an elevated sense of self such that one will tend to look down on others. This has relevance in research writing and publication because it is easy to get lost in this part of the academic wilderness.

The best way to keep one on the right path is to remember two perspectives.

1. Your perspective as a writer.
2. The perspective of your would-be reader.

You need to remember the first perspective to ensure that you keep the argument ppr advocacy that you are trying to relay.

You have to enforce the second perspective to deliver your message clearly.

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Why you can't proofread your own work?

You can proofread your work to ensure that what you are trying to say is in the text. You proofread to make sure you remembered something.

But you always need someone else to reread your work because there are mistakes that we commit simply because we do not know that what we did was wrong. So, swallow that pride and let someone else who knows more look at your work and let them comment most harshly. Be thankful that they beat your work up because now, you can correct it.

Jargon and digestibility 

Jargon is words that have technical uses in different academic programs. They are the language of the discipline where you belong or where you are trying to prove that you belong (i.e., if you are a would-be Bachelor, Master, or Doctor). The use of specific keywords shows that you and your work are acceptable. There's something worth remembering here, too.

Use the jargon; don't just put it on the manuscript.

That means that as you write, the jargon appears, but your subsequent statements also show that you understand what it is. 

Sometimes, you must also include an explanatory statement to help readers understand the jargon. This is because there will be interested people who may want to read your work, yet they may need to be more experts in the niche that you have written on. You don't need a definition of terms, but you can find ways to converse with your reader and add explanations without intruding on the text. How you strategize this also shows other experts that you understand what you are saying. This, in particular, is necessary for those trying to defend a proposal. Whan you forget to put the rest of perspective in your writing, your panel will tend to get lost in what you write, they will get pissed, and they will add unnecessary suggestions because you did not clearly convey what yu needed to deliver.

Remember, not everyone shares our own vision of the same thing, just as the quote says on our Magic: The Gathering card for today.

Tune in next week when we talk about ethics.

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Why are you doing this?

Metrobank Foundation recognized Teacher of the Year - Dr. Allan De Guzman has a principle that "when the why is clear, the how is easy." 

It's important to remember when navigating the academic wilderness, especially when you have already entered the writing phase - be it a term paper or your opus of a thesis or dissertation.

Papers for one. These come in many forms: term paper, weekly paper, weekly response, and issue paper. They are often used as major grading outputs. Hence, hitting the mark when writing something like this is crucial. Again - know why you are here, and as a corollary, why are you writing this.

Several students fail or get low grades on a paper simply because the professor has already laid out the goals for that writing assignment, and the student just writes anything on that topic. Sloppy.

For today, let's put the perspective of writing a thesis or a dissertation and go through some general points to answer the question Why are you doing this?

To graduate

You may not graduate if this is your only purpose. Of course, all students intend to graduate. But for now, we are at a phase of writing your great work/accomplishment, which serves as proof that you do merit (not I did not say deserve) to graduate. This is one of the reasons why a certain school task can be tedious, boring, irritating, or simply difficult to do. It;s because the student may have entered a perspective that divorces the task from the goal of graduation. The next two are better general perspectives.

To advocate

Particularly within the social sciences and humanities, advocacy is part of life. Something that we fight for. When you write to advocate, the data you produce can help push forward the advocacy. Take, for example, me; I advocate for the environment and for the welfare and rights of LGBT. 

An essential caution is that advocacy can be biased, preachy, or both. In addressing this, first, resolve if your paper is intended to be normative or scientific. Scientific papers require freedom from biases, though they can get preachy. 

Also, make sure you detail any steps you take in your methods to make your data as unbiased as possible. 

And, of course, tone down the preaching. Get off the high horse, get off the podium/pedestal, and talk to your reader instead of giving them a sermon.

To argue

Of course, we argue when we advocate. Still, I distinguish this from the previous section by pointing out that in this perspective, we argue because we are trying to establish newly discovered information or fact and prove its veracity.

For example, St. Thomas argued that there is a God. This saint also argued that theft is sometimes allowable. Charles Darwin argued that living beings evolved and were not created in the way the Bible says. Galileo and his peers also argued that the Earth revolves around the sun as opposed to the reverse argument.

Remembering that you are trying to prove undiscovered or unrecognized information will structure your thinking and research attitude to sequence, organize, and logically prove your argument. Instead of simply wanting to graduate, you may pick convenient methods and data that are not the right ones to fit the job.

Below is a simple quote from today's Magic: The Gathering card. Tune in next week when we further talk about perspectives in writing.

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Jack of All Trades, Master of One, or Master of None

Of Hares and Brains

One of my inspirations for graduate studies is the Numb3rs TV series. Each episode explores practical uses of mathematical and theoretical ideas. More so, how the main character explained theory through analogy is an excellent way of translating academic jargon into layman's explanation. Their episode on AI (see IMDB info here), which aired in March more than a decade ago, says that there are circumstances where we can only really multitask or, to be more precise, spread our attention in an arc. 

The example in the series was about a scientist who was working on both AI and Cybernetics. Yes, both disciplines may seem at first glance to belong under one umbrella, but each of these disciplines requires opposite modes of thinking. To pursue both hares is like spending research resources such as time, money, and even mechanical usage of computers in a scatterbrained manner. In a way, this behavior is a perfect example of the expression "harebrained." It implies making foolish or flighty plans. 

Academia and Profession

Political Science is one of those disciplines that is categorized under the category of "Jack-of-All-Trades, Master of None." There are numerous sub-disciplines within the field and also several career options. The need for specialization for an initiative from such a discipline can spell potential danger when already exploring a place within the professional world. Not everyone is blessed with a clear-cut path when they enter higher education; however, specialization or having a space where one belongs in the future should be something worth thinking about when choosing any of the following:

1. A college or post-graduate degree
2. The thesis to write
3. The electives to choose

I first bulleted the above list and then decided to sequence it in numbers because they have a relevant sequence. In particular, numbers 3 and 4. There are required courses and elective courses, sometimes called cognates. Whether called elective or cognate, we get to choose which path we should take given a particular budget of units. This choice is crucial because the courses we take will help shape the thesis that we write. Thus, we don't need a clear-cut thesis argument or proposal by the time we have to make our elective choices, but at least have a general topic where we would like to situate our place in the future.

The Bachelor, the Master, the Doctor

To say that one is a bachelor of a particular field of study, i.e., arts or sciences, means that one has had ample preparation to become familiar with all the needed knowledgein that specific field. The proof of this is usually the college degree thesis. These researches generally explore the field and the writing, which shows the gatekeepers of the discipline (the panel) that the student does have enough study to merit becoming a bachelor. Masters engage a specific theory. Their research supports or contradicts a particular existing theory based on scientific research. Doctors propose their own theories and sometimes even set out to establish a new law. That's why these individuals are considered scientists.

The above configurations are basic. Some institutions have unique ways of approaching these. Sometimes, college students are required to prove or disprove a theory. Sometimes, masters are already expected to propose their own theories. What's common, however, in this basic configuration is that there's a trajectory in the linear process from one to the next. These are steps toward proving that one has a degree of adeptness in a particular topic or field.

Trajectories and Tangents

As I end today's post, I want to iterate. There are structural ways to help discipline oneself. If not, then at least plot a course toward a direction while living in the wilderness of higher education.  

First is the linear and future thinking perspective mentioned above. Another is to avoid the pitfall of tangents. Going on a tangent means taking a path not within one's trajectory. We can encounter these when we find something interesting in the academic wilderness, and we can get pulled by social factors, i.e., bandwagoning, peer pressure, fanboy/fangirling towards a particular topic, course, book, teaching, or professor's ideas. When this happens, be sure to take note of your academic progress. Is it better to shift plans? Are you abandoning resources that you've already accumulated? Sometimes making a jump is better, sometimes it's just being harebrained.

For our Magic: The Gathering card, check out the quote on the sphinx below. Don't let yourself get distracted.

P.S. Tune in next week where we talk about what the heck you are doing in this academic wilderness.

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