Ethical Implications of Research Misconduct- Case Study of a Recent Retraction

Ethical Implications of Research Misconduct- Case Study of a Recent Retraction

The responsibility of researchers does not end once they have published their findings. Researchers need to be held accountable for the manner in which their research affects individuals, organizations, and policies, among other things. They need to account for how they conducted the research, particularly when there were issues such as ethical violations like data fabrication.

One retracted article is “COVID-19, suicide, and femicide: Rapid Research using Google search phrases” by Standish (2021). This article was retracted because there were inaccuracies in the methodology that was used. The report is said to have been founded on questionable use as well as interpretation of search entries and results in order to draw conclusions about the availability of psychological stress in searches that are based online. This has a direct impact on the validity of the reported results as well as the conclusions made. The problem that can be linked to this is that factors such as femicide and suicide might be wrongly attributed to the presence of COVID-19, leaving out other potential and more important factors that are likely to trigger these incidences. Furthermore, in an attempt to replicate the results and conclusions made by the author, future researchers might base their assumptions and conclusions on a wrong or weak foundation. This will only lead to more errors made in the future. With the wrong methodology used, the results and findings will also be inaccurate.

There is no clear indication of any severe consequences the author faces except that her research has been retracted. However, the study remains online so as to retain a scholarly record, but there will be a “retracted” digital watermark on every page.

Reference

Standish, K. (2021). COVID-19, Suicide, and Femicide: rapid research using Google Search Phrases (Retraction of January, 10.1080/00221309.2021. 1874863, 2021).

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ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS

Let’s start this discussion with your opinion. If publishing research results is a form of advertising, as mentioned in the video, does researchers’ responsibility end once they have published their findings?

Using the Reaction Watch database, identify a study that has been retracted within your discipline recently. Summarize the ethical misconduct – in other words, why the study was retracted. What was the potential harm that the findings could have resulted in?  Did the author(s) face any consequences?

When responding to your peers, discuss your concerns with their studies and the potential implications. Discuss how we can prevent faulty studies from being published, or should we not interfere and leave it up to the consumers who are potentially going to utilize those findings? Who is at fault, the researcher or the consumer?