Ethical Issues In Mentor's Research

This chapter will introduce the reader to a wide variety of ethical problems and issues that can arise within the laboratory environment. Sometimes mentors refuse to give mentees proper credit for their contributions. Something like this probably happened when Millikan failed to give Fletcher credit for suggesting that he perform his experiment with oil drops. Sometimes a mentor may try to put excessive blame on his mentees when his research is found to be in error. A graduate student might “take the fall” for erroneous or dishonest research. A mentor may also use his or her position to obtain personal or even sexual favors from mentees. Mentors may require mentees to spend so much time working on the mentor’s research that the mentees have little time left for their own research. Many graduate students report abuses relating to work conditions and expectations (PSRCR 1992). One reason why mentors may exploit their mentees is that this relationship is unbalanced: mentors have more status, knowledge, expertise, training, and

Mentoring of all underrepresented groups can be improved by recruiting and hiring more people from those groups. Harassment although we tend to think of scientists as civil, respectful, and courteous, various forms of harassment can occur in a laboratory setting. Types of harassment that have been reported include insults, verbal or physical intimidation, vandalism, theft, physical assaults, and sexual harassment (PSRCR 1992; Eisenberg 1994). It almost goes without saying that all of these actions are unethical; they

Sexual harassment can be loosely defined as any type of conduct that uses sex to demean, exploit, or offend people. Beyond this vague definition, there has not been a broad consensus concerning the types of conduct that might be considered sexual harassment. Behaviors that have been viewed as sexual harassment include rape and unwanted sexual advances, requests for dates, quid pro quo arrangements, dirty jokes, sexual teasing, and lewd looks (Webb 1995). We lack consensus on this issue, in part, because men and women have different perspectives on sexual harassment. This issue has become a battleground for opposing viewpoints and attitudes on the relations between the sexes. Sexual harassment should be avoided in science because it violates science’s principle of mutual respect, it can interfere with scientific education and cooperation, and it can make it difficult for victims of harassment to advance in science. Sexual harassment in employment and education is also legal in the United States and other