Balancing between the conflicting interests of different stakeholders in research

• We in academia produce a lot of research in the form of papers, technologies, methods, medicines and so on. All those outcomes are of great importance for society and people. On the other hand, there are many stakeholders in the process of producing research outcomes nowadays. Researchers themselves are of course the main stakeholders because their career is dependent on research. However, when research projects are connected to various political goals or affect profits for industries, many other stakeholders like politicians and business people get involved to research activities as well. Especially industries offer a lot of research funds to academic projects, and actually today many collaborative research projects between industry and academia are in progress. Thus, research environments are very complex and morally challenging since many different and conflicting interests interfere. Many academic researchers believe that what they produce belongs to society, and that their work is there mainly to satisfy the interests and needs of society and people. But, at the same time, they need to fulfill the demands coming from research supporters who offer funds and research opportunities. In producing research of good quality, it is unavoidable and very important for researchers to make a fair choice between the quality of scientific research and the satisfaction of stakeholders’ demands. This paper explores how researchers make justice between these conflicting interests, what kind of ethical dilemmas and problems they face in their daily research activities, and how they solve the ethical problems. This study is the first step of a research project that focuses on how scientific research activities and outcomes become 'social' and 'valuable'.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Etik (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- Ethics (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

research

stakeholders

science

ethics

decision-making

Människa-dator interaktion

Human-Computer Interaction

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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