Project Summary: Discussion 1: Ethics and the Role of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) As graduate students at Walden University, you are responsible for designing and conducting research that is ethical in all aspects. Your course text, Surviving Your Dissertation describes the critical norms for conducting ethical research: (a) Validity of the research, (b) competency of the researcher, (c) beneficence of the research, (d) special populations, and (e) informed consent (pp. 275276). Some of these norms arose from the scrutiny of well-known controversial, unethical studies. Your course text Research Methods for Public Administrators describes three illustrative cases in Chapter 8: (a) The Tuskegee Syphilis Study is a classic example of the violation of the Nuremberg principles. (b) Another well-known example of deceptive research and a lack of protection of subjects privacy is Humphreys study on gay men. (c) The final example of deception in research is the Milgram study on participants level of obedience in harming others. You may wish to investigate all three of these studies more thoroughly. In this Discussion, you will examine the role of the IRB, your responsibilities for ensuring that you design an ethical study, and the ways in which you can reduce or eliminate ethical challenges. To prepare for this Discussion, review the Dissertation and Ethics resources listed for the week. QUESTION: Post in the following ways: Explain the role of the IRB Explain ethical problems you might experience if you were to conduct research on your identified topic of research. Analyze the impact of these potential ethical challenges. How might participants be affected, for example? Devise ways you might address these ethical challenges to the IRB to ensure integrity in the research process. Analyze the ethical values you hold that underlie your response. Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources. Discussion 2: Implications for Social Change and the Significance of the Study, and Ethics of Social Change Your Prospectus requires that you write about the significance of the researchthe so what? question. What original contribution will this study make? How will it affect professional practice or other practical application, and how can findings lead to positive social change? Research results often have social change implications and make a difference in the world. Choosing to conduct research on an area or topic that can do so suggests that you are attempting to be the kind of researcher whose intellectual pursuits are altruistic. Note that one of the required sections of your Dissertation is the implications of your research findings for fostering positive social change. As you design your research plan, identifying implications for social change, it is critical that you examine any related ethical considerations to these social change efforts. Majchrzak and Markus (2014) write of positive social change resulting from systemic policy research findings, in the sense that it involves both evidence and meaning to create outcomes that help to change the world (p. 2). In order to do this, it requires people to take actions, observe the consequences of those actions, and then change their actions based on feedback (pp. 23), or learn by doing. Of course, policy analysis is only one type of research in public policy and administration. Even so, Majchrzak and Markus continue, We know that it takes passion to change the world, but it takes more than passion to make the world a better place. It takes critical thinking, evidence, meaning, and careful value judgments (p. 9). Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry. (Bill Drayton, CEO, chair and founder of Ashoka) The factors described by Majchrzak and Markus characterize social entrepreneurship as a means to positive social change. Social entrepreneurs maintain a vision of how to improve a given social condition, transforming systems to create lasting, systemic, and sustainable social impact. Their focus is on the social mission of creating transformative change for complex social problems, such as poverty, illiteracy, lack of affordable housing, economic disparities, human rights abuses, challenges to peace and security, and environmental destruction, to name a few. Given this vision, they create and apply ideas, strategies, and actions to promote the worth, dignity, and development of individuals, family systems, neighborhoods, communities, organizations, institutions, cultures, and societieslocally, nationally, and globally. As a route to social innovation and social justice, social entrepreneurship is a form of leadership that maximizes the social return on efforts to change the world, while fundamentally and permanently changing the way problems are addressed on a global scale. Social entrepreneurs employ a wide variety of creative approaches and practices from diverse academic disciplines and professional sectors. These methods allow social entrepreneurs to develop and implement pattern-breaking solutions for previously intractable social problems. Social transformation is within the reach of all communities, through citizen engagement and action, in the belief that people have the inherent capacity to own and solve their own problems, through partnership, commitment to inclusion and impact, and innovation. Social entrepreneurship may encompass social enterprise, service learning, community service, and social activism. Social innovation may emerge from these approaches, with the opportunity to provide widespread system change. Social justice work is done on many levels: Funding, direct service, education, and long-term public policy reform, typically in partnership and coalitions with other organizations. This link takes you to an archived webinar on the private Career Services Center YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/dbUSAQaJEqA This March 12, 2015 student webinar, entitled Developing Social Entrepreneurs, in this Week's resources was developed by SPPA, in conjunction with Career Services, to introduce social entrepreneurship and innovation as vehicles for social change, describe what successful entrepreneurship looks like, and identify trends in employment sectors. The webinar features a SPPA Ph.D. student and two SPPA alumni panelists who discuss their use of their social entrepreneurship skills in their career paths. These aspects of deliberate scientific research, conducted with integrity, together with the passion for social transformation, are expected of Walden Ph.D. students. The following commitments to social change illustrate the importance of addressing this issue in your Premise, Prospectus, Proposal, and Dissertation. Walden University Vision, Mission, and Goals Vision: Walden University envisions a distinctively different 21st-century learning community where knowledge is judged worthy to the degree that it can be applied by its graduates to the immediate solutions of critical societal challenges, thereby advancing the greater global good. Mission: Walden University provides a diverse community of career professionals with the opportunity to transform themselves as scholar-practitioners so that they can effect positive social change (Vision, Mission, and Goals, 20132014 Walden University Catalog, March 2014). The Walden University Commitment to Social Change: Students, alumni, faculty, and staff at Walden University are committed to transforming themselves through the scholar-practitioner learning model, built on the belief that knowledge is most valuable when put to use in the interest of the greater good. Effecting positive social change is defined by a commitment to improving the human and social condition by creating and applying ideas, strategies, and actions to promote the worth, dignity, and development of individuals, communities, organizations, and society as a whole (Introduction, About Walden University, 20132014 Walden University Catalog, March 2014). The Walden community helps to bring the universitys mission to life by participating in and leading research, speaker series, conferences, and service initiatives and projects that are making a difference in communities around the world in their focus on justice, sustainability, and peace. Mission of the Ph.D. Program in the School of Public Policy & Administration (SPPA): In order to create and maintain thriving communities, leaders and managers must have the vision and skill to plan, develop policies, implement programs and services, and manage resources effectively. Leaders in public service and all sectors of society should be grounded in scientific inquiry and scholarship. The program prepares students to meet the challenges of creating and providing programs and services in an increasingly complex and collaborative environment. The program educates students on critical public policy issues and the latest best practices to promote social change through effective, forward-thinking leadership and management. In this Discussion, you will explain the significance of your study, to include positive social change. To prepare for this Discussion, review the Social Change resources listed for the week. QUESTION: Post a description of the anticipated significance of your study, to include the implications for positive social change. In your post, incorporate and reference Expanding Our Understanding of Social Change and use the Preparing Walden Learners for Social Change matrix. Explain why your research is important to the public policy and administration field. What implications do you anticipate your research will have for the social and change components of the matrix, e.g., community and collaboration? Be specific about who might benefit and in what way. Analyze ways this area of interest may lend itself to research-based solutions. Explain one or more of these questions related to ethics and social change: o In what ways does your proposed research empower the people it is intended for, vs. strengthening the idea that they are victims in need of your charity? o To what extent or in what ways will you invite the recipients to participate in the design because you value their perspectives? o In what ways might the results of the research lead to social change for some but not for others? o How might the results be used to make decisions that harm specific groups of people? Ethics and Social Change Introduction As mentioned earlier in the course, the process of designing Dissertation research is not linear. You will find that you circle around to all the components. As you determine one component, you will need to refine another. Similarly, there is no perfect order for introducing the topics in this course. Before you move to the research questions, nature of the study, and possible types and sources of information, it is valuable to stop and examine the ethics of research and the role of the Institutional Review Board (IRB). These topics relate to the implications for social change and the significance of the study, which constitute the second part of your work this week. In the Application Assignment, you will examine ethics related to social change, as well. In the early 1930s, a clinical experiment was conducted on nearly 400 impoverished African-American men with syphilis in Tuskegee, AL. This study documented the progression of the untreated disease in these men for nearly 40 years. Despite the common use of penicillin for treatment of syphilis in the 1940s, this treatment was withheld from the men engaged in the research. The disastrous results included men dying of syphilis and the infection of numerous women and children (Reverby, 2009). This atrocity led to new guidelines regarding ethical standards for the treatment of those involved in research. It also led to the creation of Institutional Review Boards (IRB) for the protection of human subjects in research for all academic institutions. This is why your application for IRB review is so important. Understanding the level of review required for your research and why it is vital to be approved prior to beginning your Dissertation research will protect you, the University, and the individuals who participate in your research. This week, you will examine ethical research practices and your responsibility with respect to the IRB review, and the significance of your proposed study, including implications for social change. Finally, you will create a draft of your Prospectus with all sections you have completed to date. Objectives Students will: Explain the role and processes of the Institutional Review Board Analyze ethical challenges and solutions in the research process Analyze the impact of ethical values on research Analyze the significance and implications of research for social change Develop Prospectus outline ____________________________________________________________________________________ Required Resources Readings Public Policy and Administration OSullivan, E., Rassel, G. R., & Berner, M. (2008). Research methods for public administrators (5th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson, Longman. o Chapter 8, "Protection of Human Research Subjects and Other Ethical Issues" (pp. 248269) Dissertation Rudestam, K. E., & Newton, R. R. (2015). Surviving your dissertation: A comprehensive guide to content and process (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN: 978-1-4522-6097-6 o In Chapter 5, "The Method Chapter: Describing Your Research Plan, Procedures: Describing how you did or will do it, pp. 115116 o In Chapter 5, The Method Chapter: Describing Your Research Plan, Validity and reliability in qualitative dissertation, pp. 131135 o Chapter 13, Informed Consent and Other Ethical Concerns, pp. 313332 Document: Walden University, Institutional Review Board. (2013). When to seek IRB guidance earlyJune 2013: Studies with sensitive topics and vulnerable populations benefit from early ethics consultation. Walden University Institutional Review Board. (n.d.) IRB guidance for conducting doctoral research in your own professional setting: Research ethics FAQs for doctoral students conducting research in their own work setting. Retrieved from http://researchcenter.waldenu.edu/Institutional-Review-Board-for-Ethical-Standards-in-Research.htm Walden University, Center for Research Quality. (2012). Ph.D. dissertation process and documents.Retrieved from http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/researchcenter/osra/phd o Dissertation Prospectus Guide o Dissertation Student Process Worksheet Social Change Callahan, D., Wilson, E., Birdsall, I., Estabrook-Fishinghawk, B., Carson, G., Ford, S. Yob, I. (2012).Expanding our understanding of social change: A report from the Definition Task Force of the HLC Special Emphasis Project (2012). Minneapolis, MN: Walden University. Yob , I., Lao, T., Uldall, B., Crum, M. B., Clay, O., Brock, N.,Dixon-Saxon, S. (2014). Matrix: Preparing Walden learners for social change. Minneapolis, MN: Walden University. Ethics Walden University, Center for Research Quality. (n.d.-d). Institutional Review Board for Ethical Standards in Research. Retrieved from http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/researchcenter/orec Walden University, Center for Research Quality. (n.d.-a) Application and General Materials. Retrieved from http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/researchcenter/orec/application o Research Ethics Planning Worksheet Media Endicott, L. (2010a). IRB FAQ Tutorial [Online tutorial]. Retrieved fromhttp://academicguides.waldenu.edu/researchcenter/orec A self-paced tutorial on the IRBs Ethics Review at Walden is available at the bottom of the webpage. Walden University, Career Services Center and the School of Public Policy and Administration. (March 12, 2015.). Webinar: Developing social entrepreneurs. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/dbUSAQaJEqA Optional Resources Barreiro, T. D., & Stone, M. M. (2013). Social entrepreneurship: From issue to viable plan. New York, NY: Business Expert. Bornstein, D., & Davis, S. (2010). Social entrepreneurship: What everyone needs to know. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Brooks, A. C. (2009). Social entrepreneurship: A modern approach to social value creation. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Box, R. C. (2015). Public service values. London: M. E. Sharpe/Routledge. Dees, J. G. (2001). The meaning of social entrepreneurship. Retrieved fromhttp://www.caseatduke.org/documents/dees_sedef.pdf Dees, J. G., Emerson, J., & Economy, P. (2002). Strategic tools for social entrepreneurs: Enhancing the performance of your enterprising nonprofit. New York, NY: Wiley. Elkington, J., & Hartigan, P. (2008). The power of unreasonable people: How social entrepreneurs create markets that change the world. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing. Heegaard, P. (2008). Heroes among us: Social entrepreneurs strengthening families and building communities. Minneapolis, MN:Nordin Press. Nicholls, A. (Ed.). (2008). Social entrepreneurship: New models of sustainable social change. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Poon Tip, B. (2013). Looptail: How one company changed the world by reinventing business. Toronto: Collins. Wei-Skillern, J., Austin, J., Leonard, H., & Stevenson, H. (2007). Entrepreneurship in the social sector.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Walden University. (n.d.-b). The Journal of Social Change. Retrieved fromhttp://www.publishing.waldenu.edu/jsc/ Yob, I. M. (2012). Review of social change at Walden University. Minneapolis, MN: Walden University. Ashoka. (n.d.). What is a social entrepreneur? Retrieved from http://www.ashoka.org/social_entrepreneur B Corporation. (n.d.). What are B corps? [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.bcorporation.net/what-are-b-corps Walden University, Scholars of Change. (2013). Courtney Skiera, Ph.D. in psychology [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.waldenu.edu/about/multimedia/walden-community/scholars-of-change/2013-winners/courtney-skiera#walLightbox/1/