Other Approaches in Ethics Context

The approaches discussed in this workshop are only selected examples that may be useful for you and your research environment. However there are many other approaches that might be worth considering. Some of these include the following:

1. Review of research plans or protocols:
   Depending on the nature of your research, it may be that existing documents outline methods, approaches, and/or plans for the conduct of your research. A careful review of those plans can be a useful exercise to identify ethical or values issues intrinsic to your research.
2. Guest speakers:
   Inviting others with appropriate expertise is an opportunity to gain helpful perspectives on topics that might be a good match for your area of research. Some possibilities might be a campus ombudsperson to talk about how to handle difficult questions, someone from internal audit services to discuss recordkeeping, or a representative from an office that has oversight responsibility for research with animal subjects, human subjects, or stem cells.
3. Illinois Two-Minute Challenge (2MC) Approach:
   Originally developed for teaching ethics and professional responsibility at the University of Illinois by C.K. Gunsalus, Director of the National Center for Professional and Research Ethics, two minute challenges are designed to present realistic dilemmas that arise concerning research ethics, along with a structured decision-making framework for assessing how to respond. Given the brief time commitment, this is a good option for use in the research environment. The National Center for Professional and Research Ethics (NCPRE) [http://ethicscenter.csl.illinois.edu] hosts a library of 2MCs that connect to other resources including teaching materials, bibliographies, videos, etc.