Macquarie University

Ethical Issues in Research - FOHS710

The conduct of research requires a high level of understanding in what constitutes ethical practice. All researchers need knowledge about what is ethical practice within their discipline and more generally, skills to recognise ethical dilemmas, analyse them and reach sound decisions about good practice. This unit focuses on The Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research. It uses a case study methodology to develop understanding of good research practice and systematic skills to evaluate ethical aspects of research. The unit will cover topics such as Human Ethics: consent and confidentiality; Research with special populations e.g. people with mental illness, those incarcerated or unable to consent or end-of-life participants; children; High risk to participant research e.g. medical devices, surgical techniques; Research with non-human animals; Ethics in academic life including authorship and intellectual property; Commercialising research; and misconduct in research. A core element of the unit is to make students aware of their own attitudes and values and to evaluate them with respect to legislative requirements.