2- Business Ethics

please read each ethical question and answer the associated questions*(each section of questions should be answered in about 250-275 words)

Ethical Question: Is it ever permissible to make up data?
Crystal really wants to go to graduate school for Psychology. She knows her grades are adequate for admittance; however, because of the competitive nature of getting into a graduate program in Psychology she knew she needed some research experience. She sought out Dr. Cleary in the Psychology department to begin gaining some research experience. Dr. Cleary was studying maze learning in rats and it was Crystal’s job to measure the time it took to get through the maze and also how many errors were made in finishing the maze. Rats were either given a drug or a placebo. Crystal is supposed to collect data Tuesday through Saturday. She collects the data each day through Friday, but on Saturday she oversleeps because she was out at a party with her friends until 5:00 that morning. She isn’t feeling too well and just decides not to collect the data that day. She’s heard Dr. Cleary mention many times how expensive the study is to run and the cost of the rats alone in the thousands of dollars. Crystal also knows that if she tells Dr. Cleary that she missed a day of data collection, Dr. Cleary will be really upset and probably not allow her to continue on with the study and therefore won’t write her a good letter of recommendation for graduate school. She considers making up the data just for Saturday based on the averages of the data she collected earlier in the week. She knows that Dr. Cleary would never have to find out about what happened.
Reflection Questions:
1. Even if Dr. Cleary never finds out about Crystal falsifying the data what are some negative consequences of Crystal’s behavior?
2. Why would it be considered risky for Crystal to make up the data?
3. Put yourself in Crystal’s shoes, what decision would you make and why?

Ethical Question: Is it ethical to do a study where the results might be trivial?
Mr. Quallaby is a well-known businessman in the area. He has a lot of money and has in the past donated some of it to the university. Mr. Quallaby can be eccentric at times and has requested that the Psychology Department run a study looking into the relationship between someone’s head size and their intelligence level. He talks to the administration of the university and says that he would be willing to make a sizeable donation to the school if Dr. McCafferty, in the Psychology Department, would do this research study in a group of local elementary schools. Mr. Quallaby is willing to make the donation regardless of how the study turns out; however, he is convinced Dr. McCafferty will find a positive relationship between head size and intelligence level.
Reflection Questions:
1. What are some of the ethical arguments Dr. McCafferty should have in favor of conducting the experiment?
2. What are some of the ethical arguments Dr. McCafferty should have against conducting the experiment?
3. Put yourself in Dr. McCafferty’s shoes. What would you do? Explain.