Transcript Document

2008-2009
Responsible Conduct of Research
Workshop Program
Responsible Decision-making in Academic
Research: Ethical and Moral Perspectives
- September 25, 2008 -
RESPONSE SLIDES – Which of the following
describes best your disciplinary academic affiliation?
You will know that your response is received by the 3second long green light signal on your ResponseCard®
Radio Frequency Keypad (can rest or be held anywhere).
Please return ResponseCards at the end of the
Workshop. Thank You!
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Arts & Humanities
Clinical Programs
Education
Engineering & other Technical Disciplines
Life Sciences
Physical Sciences
Social Sciences
Professional Programs
Other
Choose Now
Please indicate the number of courses you have
taken either as an undergraduate of graduate
student that emphasized aspects of moral or ethical
reasoning OR professional ethics.
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Doing the sham surgery (and exposing patients to some small
risk of infection or the risks of general anesthesia) is morally
permissible in order to achieve as high a degree of certainty as possible
with regard to the efficacy of the real surgery; the placebo effect is real
and can otherwise distort our understanding of the effectiveness of the
intervention.
Strongly Agree
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Strongly Disagree
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Scenario
 Juries are a vital part of protecting justice within our
criminal justice system. People can spend decades in
prison as a result of what those juries decide. But those
deliberations are largely hidden from public scientific
scrutiny, which means that if there are substantial flaws
in their deliberations those flaws will go undetected and
uncorrected.
I would endorse a social science research project that
would secretly videotape jury deliberations with the goal of
improving the quality of that deliberative process through careful
scientific analysis of those deliberations.
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If you were a third year graduate student in sociology or psychology, and
if your research assistantship involved reviewing the videotapes of jury
deliberations described above (coding the language and behavior of the
jurors), then even if you have some ethical concerns about this
research, it would still be morally permissible for you to continue
since you would otherwise lose your graduate assistantship.
Strongly Agree
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Scenario
 Jacob Sontag is 18 months old and has Canavan’s
disease, a degenerative brain disorder. Such children
lack a key enzyme needed to break down an acid in the
brain known as NAA. This is because of a genetic defect.
Such children will die before age ten. Autopsy will reveal
a spongy brain full of tiny holes. Two bright new
researchers at Yale had proposed doing gene therapy
for Canavan’s. They had tested their methods on 300
rats, 4 monkeys, and 2 children in New Zealand. They
wanted the opportunity to shoot a syringe full of healthy
genes into Jacob’s brain, but three university research
oversight committees were reluctant to approve the
research.
These are desperate parents trying to save the life of a child they
love. From a moral point of view there is no justification for
a delay by the IRB (and the other university committees)
and their vague concerns about safety since this child has
a terminal prognosis and no alternative therapy options.
Strongly Agree
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From a moral point of view there is no justification for
using vertebrate animals (rats, mice, rabbits, etc.) as
research subjects.
Strongly Agree
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From a moral point of view there is no justification for
using vertebrate animals (rats, mice, rabbits, etc.) as
research subjects to study chronic pain without`
medication.
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MIT Computer Engineering students identified ways to hack into
and avoid paying required MTA rider fees because of a glitch in
the MTA’s computer system. From a moral point of view there
is nothing wrong with publishing these findings in a
computer journal.
Strongly Agree
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The Grand Canyon National Park has funded a project to map and
interpret “Rock Art” within the Park. From a moral point of
view there is nothing wrong with publishing the locations
of this art in a computer journal.
Strongly Agree
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If the courts are going to allow exclusive patents for a broad range of
genetic tests, then universities need to jump on this bandwagon and
obtain these patents themselves in order to realize the potential
revenues available. This is what Miami Children’s Hospital did with a
genetic test for Canavan’s disease, earning them $12 in royalties each
time that test is used. There is nothing unethical about such
ordinary business behavior.
Strongly Agree
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