Why study ethics?

You may ask why ethics education is important as part of your professional graduate student training if you’re not planning on becoming an ethicist? Well, ethical issues arise very frequently in academia, in all kinds of ways: what topics to teach and how to teach them; hiring practices; accommodations for staff and students; intellectual property; controversial practices, research or theories; alterations to research to receive funding; privately or corporately funded research; research on humans, animals, and the environment; academic scandals; the list goes on and on. Knowing then that you cannot avoid the ‘big E’ if you plan on working in academia, you are wise to embrace learning about it. Take a life-long learning approach too, because ethical notions and principles are forever in flux. Ethics, like many other ways of thinking, change over time.

Make the most of your opportunity as a student in a training environment to learn about:

• The research-/scholarship-/scientific-based ideologies and values of your discipline, beyond that of your advisor
• How and why practices and principles evolved the way they did.
• What is the ethical foundation for the rote rules and research protocols?
• What are some common ethical issues, and some less common ones, that others in your department or field have had to resolve or at least consider?
• How did they resolve or balance the issues? 
• What were the outcomes – positive and negative?
• What are the significant controversial issues in your field?
• Why did they emerge?
• How many sides are there to a particular controversy and what is the reasoning behind the arguments?
• How do researchers engage in the debate?
• Facing an ethical dilemma, and what you should do.
• With whom can you speak about it?
• Whose opinions do you trust?
• The consequences of breaching an ethical principle.
• What are the consequences based upon?
• Who can you trust to help you if you are in trouble?

Case studies are an excellent way of learning about ethics in your discipline of study, and many are freely available online. On the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics' website for instance, there are several good case studies, ranging from the fields of business to technology. Click here to access these case studies.

Question your thoughts and feelings in response to what you learn, and work to really understand your viewpoint on issues, not just whether you think something is good or bad, right or wrong. The development of an ethical foundation is part of your professional growth. As an emerging researcher you have a duty to learn how to engage in and produce ethical research and ethically represent your findings. And if one day you are bestowed with the privileged title of “Professor”, then you’ve become a teacher and role-model for others; hopefully, this also means you engage in ethical research and adhere to ethical standards within your discipline.