Virtue Ethics in the Conduct and Governance of Social Science Research

Nathan Emmerich is a Research Fellow in the Institute of Ethics, Dublin City University and a Visiting Research Fellow in the School of History, Anthropology, Politics and Philosophy at Queen’s University Belfast.

• Introduction: Virtue and the Ethics of Social Research; Nathan Emmerich Section 1: Virtue and Integrity in Social Science Research 1. From Research Integrity to Researcher Integrity: Issues of Conduct, Competence and Commitment; Sarah Banks  2. Questioning the Virtue of Virtue Ethics: Slowing the Rush to Virtue in Research Ethics; Richard Kwiatkowski 3. Research Ethics Training: Using a Virtue Ethics Approach to Training to Support Development of Researcher Integrity; Nicole Palmer and Rachel Forrester-Jones4. The Professional Integrity of Social Researchers - Can Virtue Ethics Help?; Kath Melia Section 2: Virtue and the Review/Governance of Social Science Research 5. Virtue Ethics in the Practice and Review of Social Science Research:The Virtuous Ethics Committee; David Carpenter 6. Relating to Carpenter’s Virtuous Research Ethics committee; Helen Brown Coverdale 7. A Response to David Carpenter’s ‘Virtue Ethics in the Practice and Review of Social Science Research; John Elliott 8. Commentary On: Virtue Ethics in the Practice and Review of Social Science Research: The Virtuous Ethics Committee; David Carpenter, Jason Z. Morris and Marilyn C. MorrisSection 3: Phrónēsis in the Practice/Conduct and Review/ Governance of Social Scientific Research  9. Ethical Regulation of Social Research Versus The Cultivation of Phrónēsis; Anna Traianou 10. Is Phrónēsis Necessarily Virtuous?; Martyn Hammersley 11. From Phrónēsis to Habitus: Synderesis and the Practice(s) of Ethics and Social Research; Nathan Emmerich

Social scientists explore issues around ethics in social science research, pivoting on the virtue ethics that the West has inherited from ancient Greece in general and Aristotle in particular. They cover virtue and integrity, virtue and the review/governance of research, and phrónesis in its practice/conduct and review/governance. The topics include cultivating researcher integrity: virtue-based approaches to research ethics, whether virtue ethics can help the professional integrity of social science researchers, virtue ethics in the practice and review of social science research: the virtuous ethics committee, and the ethical regulation of social research versus the cultivation of phrónesis.