Ethics and research with undergraduates

Abstract

Ethicists, researchers and policy makers have paid increasing attention to the ethical conduct of research, especially research involving human beings. Research performed with and by undergraduates poses a specific set of ethical challenges. These challenges are often overlooked by the research community because it is assumed that undergraduate student researchers do not have a significant impact on the research community and that their projects are not host to research posing important ethical issues. This paper identifies several features characteristic of research in undergraduate environments. The paper pays special attention to selective small liberal arts colleges, an important segment of higher education in the US, and advocates integrating instruction in research ethics wherever undergraduates are engaged in research.

Keywords:

• Research
• Ethics
• Undergraduates
• Mentoring
• Liberal arts

Notes

Notes

1.  Although nearly all of the small liberal arts colleges that regularly receive high rankings in the press are CLASP member institutions, the members are not listed here because it would be inappropriate to suggest that the ethical issues identified here are in any way linked with CLASP membership.

2.  Research assistance provided by Dr Nona Smith, Bryn Mawr College.

3.  Cf. Doyle (2002), which considers numbers in all sciences and argues to different effect.