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Publication Ethics Statement

Machi & McEvoy (2016) believe ethical researchers should:

1. not take data out of context to defend a preferred outcome;
2. do their own research;
3. present facts to argue a case and not use fallacious arguments;
4. present all sides of a research question;
5. search for truth and do not just try to support a personal opinion;
6. write their own literature review;
7. not use an author's words without citing them;
8. not use an author’s ideas without citing them.

Professor Manisha Paliwal, an Indian researcher from Sri Balaji University wrote, “Ethics is thus said to be the science of conduct. As a matter of fact, it deals with certain standards of human conduct and morals." (2016, p. 79) With this idea in mind, I pledge that I (we) followed Cohen et al.’s (2017) Seven Ethical Guidelines for Researchers when I(we) planned and executed my(our) research. I(we) pledge that I(we) …

1. did not coerce my(our) participants into participating;
2. obtained informed consent from each participant;
3. provided the right to withdraw from my(our) study and made it explicit;
4. explained the benefits and/or “degree of harm” that may come to my(our) participants;
5. guaranteed confidentiality, anonymity, and non-traceability of the collected data;
6. recognized and controlled my(our) bias; and most importantly,
7. did not promote an agenda.