Dear Sigmunda: Eager to Be Ethical

Dear Sigmunda,

I am concerned that the some of the projects my advisor has me working on are bordering on unethical. For instance, my advisor recently removed another graduate student from the authorship of a paper, even though the student clearly wrote parts of the paper and deserved authorship. Also, although we haven't gotten approval from the IRB yet, my advisor believes one of the surveys will be exempt, and wants me to go ahead and start surveying participants. I am not sure what to do, as I don't want to get my advisor or myself into trouble. Do you have any suggestions for how I can handle this?

          --Eager to Be Ethical

	Dear "Eager to Be Ethical": This type of issue is one of the many slippery slopes of navigating grad school. If you truly feel actions are "bordering" on unethical there are] ways to bring your concerns to your advisor's attention without putting him or her on the defensive (never good!). You could ask questions about protocol, etc., to "help" your advisor think through the research process a bit more responsibly. However, if behavior is overtly unethical, I'm not sure how you could address the situation without costs. Do you have another faculty confidante whom you could trust to advise you and protect your confidentiality? I would also keep records so that you can backup that you did as you were directed and these were not errors on your part. These records would be for your own protection as blame may be cast on the low end of the academic food chain -- you! I have also witnessed some "borderline" and "poor" ethics. One faculty member is submitting research for publication that an ex-faculty initiated and not including that name. There are also names "forced" onto publications/presentations that do not deserve to be there (zero contributed!). These situations are good motivators to (1) conduct your own independent research and better control the process, and (2) finish grad school. Good luck!

	Dear "Eager to Be Ethical": What you describe is bordering on unethical, but it is not uncommon. First, my advice is that you should avoid making the other student's problem your own problem and stick to the issue as it concerns you. Why the student's authorship was omitted from the publication is not clear -- there may be some reason behind it, and it's up to that student to address the issue. In your case, and in my experience, in research there is always the notion of how things "should be done" versus how things "are actually done," and your advisor may be more savvy in terms of how things are actually done than how they should be done. My advice re: IRB is to send an email to your advisor highlighting your concerns -- that way you will have written documentation regarding the issue. It is your advisor's duty to provide you with sound, ethical advice on the entire research process ... If she or he still claims that it is fine to use the survey, then explain that you are not comfortable doing this and that unless you have ethics clearance, or some kind of IRB approval, you will not do it. If your advisor tries to pressure you, then I think it is a good time to evaluate your professional relationship.

	Dear "Eager to Be Ethical": Sorry to hear of your concern. It sounds like you are experiencing a professional identity conflict -- you value being ethical, but you suspect your advisor doesn't because of his or her behaviors. What often happens in such situations is that both people actually feel the same way (i.e., they want to be ethical), but because of status or other issues, one person doesn't communicate concerns to the other. Such misunderstandings could be dealt with simply by discussing them. Maybe your advisor felt there was good reason to remove the other student from the paper. When we are dealing with ethics, we are dealing with gray areas that necessitate discussion. Now, it could well be that your advisor is an "unethical person" (an internal attribution). If this is the case, you can benefit from this stressful situation by clearly defining who you are as a professional to your advisor, and then taking the appropriate steps to being a better professional. Since worst case scenarios (e.g., your career is "destroyed") almost never happen, the most you'd have to do is switch advisors. Remember, you may be a junior professional, but you ARE a professional. Such events define who we are as professionals. Talk to your advisor and go from there.

	Dear "Eager to Be Ethical": Though I only know as much about the situation as you have divulged, if this truly is the case, then it is unethical. I would suggest talking about the situation with the student who was dropped from the paper you mentioned, and start looking for a new advisor. Recently, I was involved in a somewhat similar circumstance in a clinical setting. A fellow staff member used undue force to subdue an autistic client, and I was forced to speak out. I think you should do the same, because much like my recent experience, if you help run the study without IRB approval, even if you have your advisor's go-ahead, you might be held liable and face serious consequences yourself. What your advisor is doing is not ethical, and if you have doubt as to that fact you should contact the IRB immediately as well as the department chair for guidance. Cover your own behind and uphold the ethical practices of our discipline. Good luck.

	Dear "Eager to Be Ethical": In terms of the IRB concern, running a study or collecting data without prior IRB approval is a serious issue. There are serious legal ramifications for doing that, and the university could lose the ability to run studies altogether, get heavy fines, etc. I would speak to your advisor and state that you do not want to be responsible for such a possibility, and if you are not given support, I would take it to another professor or your chairperson or dean.