Research Ethics Testi2023

Course structure and assessment deadlines

In this section, you will find all the course tasks in the following subpages:

• Assessments 1 and 2: Essay and peer review
• Assessment 3: Group Discussion based on Case Studies
• Assessment 4: Final Essay
• Assessment 5: Mandatory Quizzes and Reflective Activities 
• Optional Reflective activities

Assessment tasks

Assessment 1 - Ethical issues and challenges in my own research

Write a description of ethical issues that have emerged or may emerge in your own research, and reflect on their implications for your research. 

For example, you may reflect on how ethical issues could influence the research plan or the way the research is carried out. Whom do the ethical issues concern? In what stages of your research do you need to address these ethical issues? How do you plan/ how have you solved the ethical issues? Could there be alternative ways to handle ethical issues?

The first assessment (first essay) should be done no later than 10 March. The Moodle system distributes essays automatically to other course participants and does not accept late returns. So be sure to return the essay on time. When submitting your essays, make sure you have selected the same language you have written your essay (if in Finnish, then select Finnish so that you peer reviewers can read your essay).

Please note that your first essay will be evaluated by other course students. So if you don't want your name or other personal information to be seen by other students, don't put your name in the essay or its filename.

The length of the paper is approx. 2 pages.

DL to submit your paper is March 10!

Assessment 2 - Peer Review 

You will receive an essay of the ethical challenges by two of your fellow students. The other one is from a student from the campus of your own discipline and the other from a student from any other campus. 

The Moodle system will treat you anonymously - you will not be told whose work you are reading and you as the commentator will also remain anonymous. If you are happy to share who you are, you are welcome to include your name in your submissions. 

You are asked to comment and reflect on the following aspects: have ethical challenges been recognized well considering the research context? Can you think of additional research ethical issues that have not been recognized in this submission? Would you find ways to improve it? Or challenges that have not yet been recognized? Include any examples you are aware of how other people have approached similar challenges in the past (maybe your own research experience). 

The purpose of commenting and reflecting is to support each other to create ethically strong research. When writing your review, please be as constructive as possible. 

The deadline is March 19. As with assessment 1, the evaluation should also be done on time as the system does not accept late returns.

The Peer Review should be approximately 1 page.

Assessment 3 - Discussion board group activity on Case Studies

This is a compulsory group activity for the course. You will be allocated into groups of 4-6 students. Each group will be assigned one of the Case Studies at the end of each learning section.

Each member posts first their own proposal which includes answers to the questions of the Case Study. Your submission should be at least half page long (approx. 250words).

Then you are expected to comment on the proposals of at least two of your group members. Typically a response is a similar length to the proposals originally discussed i.e. half a page at least. The emphasis is on collective problem-solving and support, and the aim of the group is to find a shared outcome and solution to the case in hand.

Group discussion will be open March 17–31!

Assessment 4 - Reflection and solutions to ethical issues 

For this assignment, you are asked to submit approx. 2 page essay reflect again the ethical challenges of your research and  the ways of solving them. The DL for this essay is March 31.  In this reflection you are expected to show: 

• how your thinking has developed during the course
• how you respond to comments and suggestions of your peer review (in case your first essay was overtly too short (e.g less than one page) you need to compensate that).
  
• that you can broadly recognize ethical questions around your research work, in each phases (planning, conducting, publishing and sharing results)
  
•  that you are aware of key research ethical principles and responsibilities for researchers, and you are able to apply them to your own research work by answering at least following questions:

• Who is responsible in the end that your research (project) is ethical? Which other parties have some responsibility? 
• What are the main research ethical principle(s) that you apply in your research? How do they relate to the law , on the one hand and ethical guidelines and practices applied in Finland, on the other?
• How does the research context effect to your research (choices)? Are there any ethical questions (subjectivity, conflict of interest etc.) you need to playa attention?
• Do your research require an ethical review? How does ethical review and responsible conduct of research relate to each other? How about permission to carry out research, do you need a one? In case you need a statement from the ethics committee, when must it  be received?
• What should be included in the authorship agreement of your publications?

DL for these final papers is March 31!

Assessment 5 - Mandatory Quizzes and Reflective Activities

Each topic has either mandatory Quizzes or Reflective activities. You can attempt each quiz 3 times. You are expected to study the material before attempting the quiz. 

In Reflective Activities, participants reflect on their own work from an ethical point of view, deepening the understanding of the ethical aspects of their research.

Optional reflective activities are voluntary tasks as their name suggests. We hope that the participants will do these, but as mentioned they are not mandatory.