Academically speaking it is rather obvious that the integrity of our research and development facilities, academic institutions and University research departments be maintained at all costs. Yet we are seeing a paradigm shift in that it is amazing the lack of oversight in the research, which is produced. There are many reasons for this of course. The biggest being that funding of such research may come from the private sector with a profit motivation, which is predicated on the research reaching a specific conclusion to validate the use of their product, service or drugs. Another huge issue is politically motivated research, which so often funded thru grants made possible by political favoritism to research results. We must be able to trust our academic research and it cannot be compromised for a political cause or a pure profit motive. If we use skewed data sets, selective information or conditional circumstances, we will make poor decision based on the; garbage in, garbage out principle. No one in the end wins when academic research is compromised or we are fed corrupt research, because in the end the corruption is uncovered and the plot found out thus hurting the politician, corporation involved or the University willing to play along. Everyone loses. Currently it may look enticing to cheat for short term gains, increased research budgets or political momentum, but trust is something you cannot buy back once you are caught cheating. So, we must consider this in 2006. |
