Question

If Dr. Scott publishes a paper on intelligence in monkeys that demonstrates that they are smarter than most fifth graders, which factor would NOT be an ethical problem?a. if she never actually conducted the study
b. if others are unable to replicate her findings
c. if she omitted data that indicated that the fifth graders were smarter than the monkeys
d. if she made up data that supported her theory

Answer 1

Answer:

The factor that would not be an ethical problem is:

b. if others are unable to replicate her findings.

Explanation:

We must keep in mind we were asked to find what is NOT an ethical problem.

Ethics is a system of moral principles. It is what provides us with a sort of moral map, a guide concerning right and wrong, appropriate and inappropriate. When it comes to publishing papers, ethics concerns aspects such as plagiarism, fraudulent publication, authorship etc. In simpler words, an ethical paper should be faithful to the truth.

Options a, c, and d violate ethics in the sense that Dr. Scott would be making up data. She would be lying if she said she conducted a study when she didn't, when she omitted data that contradicted the results she presented, and when she came up with untrue data to support her theory. On the other hand, if she truly conducted the study and truly obtained the results presented, there would be nothing against ethics in her paper. Even if other researches couldn't replicate her findings for some reason, Dr. Scott's paper wouldn't have an ethical problem.