What are some of the ethical issues that you are grappling with in your research? What are some of the ways in which you are responding to these questions?
The primary ethical issue right now is to delineate which ideas belong to the existing literature and which are my own thoughts. I think this is particularly important for my research topic because I started my research with a hypothesis in mind. As it turns out, however, some of the literature has already covered parts of my idea. So, the ethical concern here is to make sure I'm not accidentally plagiarizing or making facts up at the same time (which is easier said than done). Right now, I've been attempting to keep two tabs in the master document—one records my original thoughts and the other records the literature review—so as to prevent confusion.
As you continue your research, have you considered alternative viewpoints in your investigation? If so, how have these alternative viewpoints enriched or changed your project?
The entire point of the literature review section is to find alternative viewpoints! (Of course, supportive viewpoints are also appreciated). One thing that has changed my perception is realizing that corruption's effectiveness is not a threshold—as in, passing a certain point where corruption becomes productive or counter-productive—but rather, it functions like a Laffer Curve. In other words, one can find examples of how things like centralization (where only one person can be bribed) versus de-centralization (where too many people can be bribed) are counter-productive. Yet, in some rare instances where the number is "right," corruption actually correlates with productivity. This helps enrich the model because it is no longer binary, but now a spectrum.
Where does your research take place? Take a photo of the place where your ideas and investigations are taking place, and post it to the Network!
(Me at Central Park walking around and seeing the most beautiful sky ever...)