Information technology ethical issues in graduate student research

Author

al-Hulays, Ala Mustafa

Source

المؤتمر العلمي : الدراسات العليا و دورها في خدمة المجتمع 19-20 نيسان / إبريل 2011 م.

Publisher

The Islamic University-Gaza Deanship of Research and Graduate Affairs

Publication Date

2011-04-30

Country of Publication

Palestine (Gaza Strip)

No. of Pages

9

Main Subjects

Social Sciences (Multidisciplinary)

English Abstract

Graduate students have been experiencing extensive use of information technology (IT) in their research.

Nowadays, there are few graduate students do not use information or rely upon information technology tools.

IT has a great potential for improving research productivity to graduate students.

For example they use tools such as : Word processors and graphical tools, databases, statistical and qualitative data analysis programs, Emails, Internet Communities, E-learning facilities, library search, Internet search engines, conference facilities, simulation and modeling and many others.

Given the importance of applying these tools, it is also essential to consider the ethics of using them.

The ethics of using IT tools could be part of research ethics which refers to the moral principles guiding graduate student research, from its inception through to completion of thesis and / or publication of results.

Achieving ethical practice in research with graduate students is a complex process requiring clear direction given by all parties involved in the research : student, supervisor(s), university, funding organizations and any individual or organization participated in the research.

The ethics of using IT by graduate student is an important aspect to be considered in this process.

This paper discusses the following four important ethical dilemmas for graduate students to be aware of when using IT tools : 1) Intellectual property associated with information technology including Copyright, Software Patent and Trademark policies for using and producing software ; 2) Data Privacy where research should protect the access, control and dissemination of personal data ; 3) Modeling and Simulation which is the ethics of using computational models used by researchers to solve real problems; and 4) Internet Research which is the ethics of using Internet communities (such as mailing lists, chat rooms, newsgroups, or discussion boards on websites) as source of data.

Data Type

Conference Papers

Record ID

BIM-775265

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