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STUDENT REPLIES

Reply to classmates’ threads, each reply must be 200 words. Use references to support your assertions, using citations in current APA format.

Student Reply 1 (Staci)

It is a Christian’s responsibility to conduct research in an ethical manner on all levels and points of topic.  In Proverbs 14:15 it states that “The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps” (Bible, English Standard Version). This is where it is most important that you are making sure that your relationship with God is strong and you are allowing him to guide through decision making. It is a researcher’s responsibility to explore all avenues in which the research may take you while avoiding bias on your position on the topic.

Educators and leaders must make sound decisions that reflect that they are ethical and always ethical. In educational leadership, ultimately doing what is right for students is considered moral and responsible.  This area includes the research and development to solve educational issues on our current world. We have a duty to model morality, honesty and integrity in terms of leadership and education.  We as researchers and leaders should represent our faith by seeking out and providing good pliable research.  This includes the literature in which you use to support our position.  It is also applicable in the gathering of your data in interviews and surveys. Taking an ethical stance is vital to our research, our students, our cohorts, and our organizations.  The understanding that as an educational leader, you are watched mimicked and looked upon as a mentor.  Behavior of leader should always be one of accountability, understanding, collaborative and above all ethical. Blackaby and Blackaby state that “Integrity demands consistency under every circumstance, including unguarded moments” (Blackaby & Blackaby, 2011). True leaders will live honestly and ethically in their public or private lives. This includes in their relationship with God.   They also say that for a leader to be immoral in your private life lacks just as much integrity (Blackaby& Blackaby, 2011). Using the guidance that God gives us to do what is right, exploring options and creating an understanding help to lead us in good ethical decisions. “How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding rather than silver” Proverbs 16:16 (Bible, King James Version). All people have a moral obligation to treat others with dignity and respect; this includes many of the peers and research authors that a research student, as us, may encounter.

Our job as a Christian is to correct the path if we are misguided or if we falter.  As leaders it is always important to find out why we were led astray, correct our actions and make it a teachable moment. As Christian’s we should avoid circumstances that will cause others to question our ethics as much as possible.  We should always take the ethical responsibly to correct our actions and learn from it.

Reference

Blackaby, H. T., & Blackaby, R. (2011). Spiritual leadership: moving people on to Gods agenda. Pretoria: Heart Cry.

Student Reply 2 (Shawn)

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12, New International Version). Conduct is the part I am going to focus on when it comes to 1 Timothy 4:12. The conduct of performing research should be ethical. What does ethics mean? Ethics is “a set of moral principles, a theory or system of moral values” (Ethic, 2021). In our case, our moral value system comes from the bible. As Christians, we get our standard of ethics from God’s word. As Christians, I believe we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard. We can see what happens every day when we turn on the television and see a Christian who has not held themselves to a higher standard. Recently, our own university was caught with its pants down when a leader made an unethical choice. That choice led to us as a Christian organization under scrutiny. The same can happen to our work as researchers if we do not conduct ourselves ethically.

I believe what makes applied research different is when it comes to conducting the process. We have time to reflect, think, and pray about our choices we are going to make before we conduct our research. One of the sections in applied research is the ethical considerations section. At first, I flew over this section as we completed other parts but now that I reflect on it, it is probably the most important section. This is the section where we write about our ethical treatment of human subjects (Claxton & Michael, 2020). The section mentions how we can protect those subjects which are often young children. As a Christian educator, it is my job to protect children and keep them safe. “The 

professional educator

 is aware that trust in the profession depends upon a level of professional conduct and responsibility that may be higher than required by law.  This entails holding one and other educators to the same ethical standards” (Model Code of Ethics for Educators, 2015). As Christians that same ethical standard is God’s word to conduct ourselves in love, faith, and purity.

References

Claxton, B. L., & Michael, K. Y. (2020). Conducting applied research in education. Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.

Ethic. (2021) Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethic

Model code of ethics for educators (2015) National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification. Retrieved from https://www.nasdtec.net/page/MCEE_Doc#PrinI

New International Version Bible. (2011). The NIV Bible. https://www.thenivbible.com