Ethics and Characteristics of Research

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the ethics, characteristics, and classifications of research, along with specific formatting guidelines for APA, MLA, and Chicago styles.

Ethics

The moral principles that a person must follow, irrespective of the place or time; involves doing the right thing at the right time.

Research Ethics

Moral principles that researchers must follow in their respective fields of research.

Honesty

Ensuring integrity in all forms of scientific communication with colleagues, sponsors, or the general public.

Objectivity

The principle of avoiding bias in all aspects of research; findings should be logically based on real-life situations.

Integrity

Maintaining consistency of thought and action.

Carefulness

Avoiding errors or negligence at all times.

Openness

Sharing information about your research and being open to criticism and new ideas.

Transparency

Disclosing all the necessary information needed to evaluate research.

Accountability

Being responsible for all concerns related to your research.

Intellectual Property

An ethical principle that requires avoiding plagiarism.

Confidentiality

Protecting and safeguarding all confidential information recorded in research.

Responsible Mentoring

Helping and mentoring other researchers and promoting their welfare.

Respect for Colleagues

Treating and respecting all colleagues fairly.

Social Responsibility

Aiming to promote social good through research.

Non-Discrimination

Avoiding discrimination in all forms against colleagues.

Competence

Improving personal competence and promoting the competence of science as a whole.

Legality

Obeying all relevant laws and policies.

Human Subjects Protection

Respecting human dignity and taking special precautions wherever needed.

Empirical

A characteristic of research based on observations and experiments of theories.

Systematic

A characteristic of research that follows orderly and sequential procedures based on valid principles.

Controlled

A characteristic where all variables are kept constant except those being tested or experimented on.

Employs Hypothesis

Refers to a search for facts, answers to questions, and solutions to problems.

Analytical

The use of specific procedures in gathering data, whether historical, descriptive, or case study.

Original Work

Research that requires its own examination and produces the data needed to complete the study.

Qualitative Research (Objective)

Fact-finding research used to gain understanding of individual differences in terms of feelings and experiences; aims to create new theory.

Quantitative Research (Objective)

Research whose purpose is to test a hypothesis or theory; measures problems using rating scales and group similarities.

Open ended questions

Freeform survey questions that allow a participant to answer in open-text format with unlimited responses.

Closed ended questions

Questions that can only be answered by selecting from a limited number of options, such as multiple-choice, yes or no, or a rating scale.

APA

Stands for American Psychological Association format.

MLA

Stands for Modern Language Association format.

Chicago style

Also known as Turabian style.

APA Font Guidelines

Standard fonts like $12$ pt Times New Roman or $11$ pt Arial.

APA Page Margins

Setting page margins to $1$ inch.

Running head

An identifier inserted on every page of an APA paper if it is being submitted for publication.

APA Paragraph Indentation

Every new paragraph should be indented $\frac{1}{2}$ inch.

APA In-text Citations

Requires author-date citations throughout the text, such as (Smith, $2020$).

Hanging Indent

A reference page format where the second and subsequent lines of a citation are indented $0.5$ inches.

MLA Page Header

A header appearing at the top of each page including the author's surname and the page number.

Chicago Page Numbers

Page numbers placed in the top right or bottom center of the paper.