Responsible Conduct—The Ethics of It All

The purpose of this section is to discuss the meaning of “responsible conduct” in an autonomous society and develop a meaningful set of tools to help the researcher answer the difficult real world problems of research in a rules bound society. It is one thing to say, “Do the right thing,” and another to ask, “Do you know what the right thing is?” Unfortunately, if ethical research is correct the majority of the population including the educated is unclear as to “what the right thing is.” This session will focus on what it means to do the right thing, and to discuss that in relationship to the differences between rules, laws, ethics, morals, and mandates. One of the problems in our society is that stated rules and regulations sometimes are not easily understood in relation to the actual application in real, lived world experiences. Why then do rules exist? Should they always be followed? And a corollary and important question is: What if you don't agree with the rules, or laws, or even the ethical code? Just because a law or regulation exists does not necessarily mean “it is right.” This session will focus on the very difficult task of ferreting out the meaning behind the construction of ethics in a research perspective, why the laws are written focused on this ethical perspective, and the duties and obligations of the research. After the above, the session will focus on the real lived problems of researchers in the classroom and laboratory.