Reasearch ethics in university teaching
Materials on research ethics, good scientific practice, and RDM in university teaching
Research ethics aim at researchers reflecting upon the ethics of their own conduct. It is crucial to reflect on the risks that can arise from preparing and conducting a research project, the results of research, and the re-use of data, and how they can be avoided, or at least minimised. To be able to reflect in this way, research ethics-related issues must already be addressed in university teaching. The following pages list teaching and training resources on research ethics and good scientific practice as well as case studies that can be used as examples in teaching.
Recommendation of the RatSWD on research ethics in teaching
RatSWD recommendation (excerpt)
“A central component of ethical reflection in research is to anchor issues of research ethics in university training and teaching. Researchers will only be able to identify ethical issues in research practice and deal with them appropriately on the basis of appropriate training. Issues of data protection and research ethics should therefore be incorporated into relevant curricula. While these can be addressed in short order in bachelor’s programmes as part of methodology courses, issues of data protection and research ethics should be compulsory in research-based master’s programmes and PhD programmes. However, not merely as explicitly taught and formalised knowledge but also – as done before – in the form of practical knowledge learned “on the job”. Issues of research ethics should be on par with the teaching and application of research methods to underscore their relevance in the research process. The protection of study participants has become all the more important at a time when students, who typically conduct empirical studies as part of their training, are accustomed to disclosing personal data more than ever and thus not always have an awareness for issues of data protection, informed consent, and possible damage from surveys:* For this reason, students must be taught to keep research ethics and the requirements of data protection in mind as part of the curricula. Given the high relevance ascribed to acquiring qualitative and quantitative methodological skills in empirical social research and the generally increasing relevance of ‘research-based teaching’ in university training, it is imperative to confront students involved in their respective student research projects with issues of research ethics early on and give them the opportunity to develop competencies in ethical reflexivity. In seminar papers or final theses in empirical research, it is the responsibility of reviewers to appropriately promote active engagement with issues of research ethics.”
*”Extensive explanations requiring approval in online media are, in fact, counterproductive to this because it leads to users ignoring them (clicking OK without reading).”
Excerpt taken from: Rat für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsdaten. (2017). Forschungsethische Grundsätze und Prüfverfahren in den Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften (Output Series, 5. Berufungsperiode Nr. 9). Berlin. doi: 10.17620/02671.1 , p. 24-25. Link
Materials for teaching
Cross-dicipline materials
- Nationale Forschungsdateninfrastruktur (NFDI). (2022). Gemeinsam zum Ziel: Zusammenarbeit in Sektionen: Konzepte der NFDI-Sektionen “Common Infrastructures“, “Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects”, “(Meta)daten, Terminologie und Provenienz”, “Training & Education“. Link
- Ombudsman für die Wissenschaft. Lehrmaterialien zur GWP. Link
- Ombudsman für die Wissenschaft. (2021, 23. August). Curriculum für Lehrveranstaltungen zur GWP. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). Link
- Rakebrand, T. (2020). Wissenschafts- und Forschungsethik als Schlüsselkompetenz Studierender Herausforderungen und Potenziale für den systematischen Einbezug als Ausbildungsinhalt. HDS.Journal(1), 12–18. Link
- Rat für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsdaten. (2019). Lehr- und Übungsmaterialien für die akademische Lehre. Grundlagen der Forschungsethik in den Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften. Link
- Rat für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsdaten. (2023). Forschungsdatenmanagement für kleine Projekte in den Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften: RatSWD Lehrfolien zur eigenen Verwendung in Forschung und Lehre. Output der AG “FDM Services für kleiner Forschungsprojekte” (Lehrfoliensatz). Link
Case studies and tutorials
- American Anthropological Association. (2022, 7. January). Ethical Currents Case Studies. Link
- British Educational Research Association. (2019). BERA Research Ethics Case Studies: 1. Twitter, data collection & informed consent. London. Link
- British Educational Research Association. (2019). BERA Research Ethics Case Studies: 2. Researcher wellbeing & international fieldwork. London. Link
- British Educational Research Association. (2019). BERA Research Ethics Case Studies: 3. Anticipating the application & unintended consequences of practitioner research. London. Link
- European Commission – Science Polixy, Advice & Ethics Unit. (2021, 9. July). Horizon Europe: Key Changes to the Ethics Appraisal Process: Key changes to the Ethics Appraisal Process, identifying Serious complex issues, and addressing ethics of Artificial Intelligence. Link
- Forschungsdatenmanagement Bayern. (n.d.). Tutorials für FDM. Link
- Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (2021). Gewissensbits: Fallbeispiele zu Informatik und Ethik. Link
- Rat für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsdaten. (2019). Lehr- und Übungsmaterialien für die akademische Lehre. Grundlagen der Forschungsethik in den Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften. Link