Ethical Conduct and Systematic Literature Review

Ethical Conduct

Use your new skills as a researcher and find the San Code of Ethics using Google. Read it. Now write a declaration wherein you declare that you will act in an ethical manner during this year.

Copyright is an important issue for any user of the internet or the Web. Because the technology allows documents, graphics and other resources to be captured from the Web with little more than a mouse click, this makes it easy for web users to copy and use whatever they want. In addition, because so much of the information is available from foreign sources, users often feel that the original owners of the information are so far away that they are unlikely to incur the expense and time necessary to take legal action against possible copyright perpetrators. The legal complexities and distances involved make copyright enforcement very difficult.

Not with standing the ease of capturing information from the Web, this information essentially still belongs to the person or organisation that created it. In other words, copyright can be safely presumed to be vested in the creator of the original information resource.

Copy right on the internet is a problematic issue both in South Africa and abroad, and there is little clarity on its regulation. Some internet users argue that people and organisations that make original work available on the internet deserve some protection. If this protection is not provided, the authors or creators of the work in question may decide not to make their work available on the internet. If this scenario were to become pervasive, the internet would quickly lose its attraction. Therefore, they argue that copyright protection is essential for the long-term survival and growth of the internet.

Other users argue differently: They say that anything that is made available on the internet is in the public domain. They also argue that if the creator of the resource did not want to give other people free access to their work, they should not have made it available on the internet in the first place.

The answer is, perhaps, somewhere in the middle. So, as a user of the internet, it is important that you acknowledge your sources. Do not simply copy and use everything you find; use only small, relevant segments from web documents/web resources. Try to rework the information instead of just copying it or using it as your own. Acknowledge the information you have used and always let your moral judgement guide you. Remember that information originating from databases is also copyrighted.

From a provider’s point of view, you should always be aware that the work that you make available on the internet can easily be copied and used by others. Therefore, make sure that your work has been previously registered or publicly acknowledged as your own (e.g. by publishing
the material in a journal or magazine article). Always add a copyright clause at the bottom of all your work. Do not make sensitive or valuable information, or information that has never been used elsewhere before, available on the internet.

The following are some links dealing with plagiarism (this is the biggest problem we experience with our students, so make sure that you study this information carefully):

http://www.unisa.ac.za/contents/colleges/col_grad_studies/docs/Policy_copyright_infringement_p lagiarism_16November2005.pdf

http://www.unisa.ac.za/Default.asp?Cmd=ViewContent&ContentID=27715

http://www.unisa.ac.za/contents/library/docs/Plagiarism.pdf

Please write your ethical conduct declaration (not more than one (1) page long – we deduct 2 marks for each page you exceed the page limit). This declaration should include

• your name, surname and student number
• all five legs of the San Code of Ethics
• no plagiarism
• your signature

Write a one-page methodology on how to conduct a systematic literature review.

You must access the Management Review Quarterly (this is a journal: Management Review Quarterly|Home (springer.com)), look at how they write the methods section of a systematic literature review and then write a one-page methodology that your team could use to conduct a
systematic review of literature for your proposal. Remember that you will be doing research in Africa, so you will use the Sabinet database in conjunction with Web of Science.

There are a few recommended readings aimed specifically at systematic literature reviews. You can also access the following articles in the Unisa Library:

• Alexander, PA. 2020. Methodological guidance paper: The art and science of quality systematic reviews. Review of Educational Research 90(1):6-23.
• Munn, Z, Peters, MD, Stern, C, Tufanaru, C, McArthur, A & Aromataris, E. 2018. Systematic review or scoping review? Guidance for authors when choosing between a systematic or scoping review approach. BMC Medical Research Methodology 18(1):1-7.
• Xiao, Y & Watson, M. 2019. Guidance on conducting a systematic literature review. Journal of Planning Education and Research 39(1):93-112.

Use the following headings to structure your answer:

Method Of Literature Search

A. Research process
B. Search strategy
C. Databases included
D. Keywords
E. Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Please note that you must cite within the text, using the Harvard referencing technique presented in TL301, and that everything you include in this paper must be justified with an academic reference.