Research Ethics & Integrity: An Islamic Perspective

This talk, "Research Ethics and Integrity: An Islamic Perspective," addresses the critical need for ethical standards in academic research, integrating Islamic moral and spiritual values. It begins by emphasizing the importance of clarifying the purpose behind academic supervision, transforming it from a routine task to a passion for lifelong learning, aligned with Islamic principles.

Current academic culture, driven by a "publish or perish" mindset and survival of the fittest, undermines ethical behavior. This issue is traced back to historical shifts in Europe, where religious conflicts led to the exclusion of religion from public life and the adoption of external norms enforced by powerful states, as argued by thinkers like Thomas Hobbes. This context laid the foundation for logical positivism, which prioritizes observable knowledge and dismisses moral and internal insights.

The critique of positivism highlights its flawed maxim, "you can only manage what you can measure," leading to meaningless performance metrics and unethical practices like fake journals. Honest data analysis is impossible within this framework, as it ignores the narrative's influence on data interpretation.

The talk contrasts external ethics—rules aimed at avoiding punishment—with internal ethics driven by personal integrity and spiritual values, emphasizing the latter. Drawing on Islamic teachings, it advocates for transformative teaching methods that inspire students and impart practical knowledge related to life experiences.

Practical steps for supervisors include nurturing students' strengths, recognizing good research, and adopting a collaborative "fellow traveler" model. The importance of useful knowledge is highlighted, drawing from the Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺ teachings, which stress knowledge that transforms lives over useless information.

In conclusion, the talk argues that ethics and integrity are by-products of a sincere search for truth, with the highest knowledge being that of God. Integrating Islamic principles into academic practices helps resist materialistic knowledge's allure, striving for higher purposes in academic and personal lives.

The talk also includes links to related materials that offer deeper insights into various aspects, such as Islamic epistemology, transformative teaching methods, and critiques of modern academic practices, supporting the call for a spiritually grounded approach to research and teaching.

1. Research Ethics and Integrity Date: 27-28/06/2024 - 2:00-5:30pm Venue: Ibne Rushd Block NUML Dr. Asad Zaman Slides: bit.ly/ AZreai Writeup: bit.ly/ AZWrei

2. إِنَّمَا الأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ When we supervise a Ph.D. student, what is our intention? Department has assigned me a student, so I must … I must carry a fair share of the load (ethically) HEC offers a decent amount as a renumeration for supervision Both Quran and Hadeeth are full of exhortations to pursue knowledge – How can I become a lifetime learner, and how can I teach the student the excitement of discovery, so that he/she too can become a lifetime learner? See: Purpose: The Heart of Islamic Epistemology bit.ly/RSRAb02B

3. What is the basis for ethics and integrity? Academic culture does not teach ethics and integrity Publish or Perish, combined with survival of the fittest, leaves no room for ethics/integrity. Transformation of Europe was caused by extremely violent religious wars which persisted for a century. One of the lessons for European was that internal norms are useless – one must build external framework: The Leviathan of Hobbes This is the WRONG lesson, and we are seeing consequences today.

4. Contemporary Academic Culture in Pakistan: No Room for Ethics or Integrity HEC rules ensure low quality, paid, co-authored, publications. Capitalist Ethics: The Only Business of Business is Profits. Dirty Politics Govern nearly all institutions. WHY should I be ethical, when no one else is, and when it will cause me substantial harm?

5. In this Harsh and Hostile Environment, How can we strive for Ethics and Integrity? Why are we here? HEC mandates this lecture. QEC ensures attendance. No one is really interested, because everyone understands this is harmful for promotions and salaries. EXTERNAL Ethics: Rules and Regulations we must follow, to avoid punishments and prosecution.

6. The ink of the scholars will weigh more than the blood of the martyrs Internal Ethics: Driven by Hearts

7. He created life and death, to see who can do the best of deeds ! Life is a competition, and the winners will be the ones with the greatest deeds, most pleasing to Allah. The greatness of deeds relates to harshness and hostility of environment. The more difficult it is, the greater the reward. Teachers have the potential to change the lives of their students. This brings the greatest rewards on the day of Judgement, and also the greatest satisfaction in this life. Ethics and Integrity (Islamic style) are the guidelines to the greatest rewards.

8. Humans are Amazing Learning Machines! Transformative Teaching: Changing the Lives of Our Students https://bit.ly/AZtran How to Inspire and Motivate Our Students? https://bit.ly/AZhims My Lectures on How to Write a Thesis Proposal: IIIE Student Guide bit.ly/ AZiiie

9. Our Teachings Methods Stifle Creativity, and Poison their Minds Instead of guiding them towards the greatest success, we guide them towards failure in this world and the next. This is because we are imitating the West – in subject matter, methodology, and motivations for study. Very important: Julie Reuben: The Making of the Modern University, Intellectual Transformation and the Marginalization of Morality See: https://bit.ly/AZmme

10. Central Point of Julie Reuben Logical Positivism changed the definition of knowledge: Only “science” was knowledge – all else was meaningless noise. Universities abandoned teaching character, values, meanings. See: Our Meaningless Modern Lives: http://bit.ly/AZomml Technical: LP Knowledge must be verifiable by empirical observations and logic. For more details, see The Emergence of Logical Positivism. http://bit.ly/AZelp

11. Direct Conflict Between LP and Islam Islam: (The Quran contains guidance) for those who believe in the unseen: [ الذين يؤمنون بالغيب ] LP: Knowledge is ONLY about observables: [ الذين ينكرون بالغيب ] Superficially, this seems acceptable/plausible. But, LP rules out subjective knowledge of my own internal world. All important questions I face in my life relate to my internal world. See: Our Meaningless Modern Lives: http://bit.ly/AZomml See: Learn Who You Are: http://bit.ly/AZwya

12. Consequences of Logical Positivism Knowledge is only about Observables (external reality) What can be seen, can be measured. All knowledge can be reduced to numbers. Data Analysis will lead to complete knowledge about world. Morality is meaningless noise – we cannot measure honesty and integrity (as internal qualities of the heart) All of these are FALSE – and EASILY PROVEN to be wrong. Nonetheless, these concepts are built into Western Education.

13. You cannot manage what you cannot measure This leads to attempts to quantify performance. Disastrous results everywhere! Goodhart’s Law: If a measurable outcome is turned into a performance measure, it becomes unusable and meaningless Specifically, measures of Academic Performance have led to massive problems in Academia. Alternative: Subjective evaluations of EFFECT on real world. Goodhart’s Law: bit.ly/DSIA02D

14. References to Mis-Measurements Corruption Rankings: Measuring the Unmeasurable: bit.ly/DSIA02F What do College Rankings Measure? bit.ly/dsia02c Kelvin’s Blunder: Measure Everything bit.ly/ AZKelvin Beyond Numbers and Material Rewards bit.ly/ AZbnmr Critical Insight: Rankings are ARBITRARY. They APPEAR to be objective, but are actually extremely subjective. Implication for Research: It is possible to create serious challenges to any data analysis based on rankings!

15. Positivism makes honest data analysis IMPOSSIBLE LP says that ALL the information is in the data. This is absolutely false. All data analyses incorporate huge amounts of subjective knowledge. The NARRATIVE controls the analysis. Due to influence of LP, we are UNAWARE of the subjective aspects and present them as objective, leading to dishonest analysis.

16. Two critical non-positivist concepts, essential for data analysis Probability: If I flip a coin, Heads occur with 50% probability. This is a statement about the possibility of an alternative state of the world, where Tails would have occurred. Impossible to observe. Causality: Variable X is exogenous, and the cause of Y. Causation is impossible to observe. We can only observe correlations.

17. A New Definition of Probability: bit.ly/rsia08a Frequency Theory, Subjective Probability, Logical Probability – all FAILED attempts to define Positivist Probability. Probability is one-directional in time: Future events have probability, past events do not. This is the (unknown) difference between confidence intervals and probability. This is also why Bayes Theorem is WRONG. Probability is always conditional. What is the probability of a recession? Look at past 100 years and count recession years? But what about conditioning on various kinds of past events, like wars, IMF conditions, etc , etc ?

18. Causality: Unobservable Y= a + b X + error :Assumptions: X is exogenous and causes Y. Because Causality cannot be understood by positivists, no one really understands what these mean. Only correlations are observable, causation is not. It is a statement about a necessary connection, valid in many different unobservable states of the world. See: Causality as Child’s Play: http://bit.ly/RSRA11B  ​

19. One Example to Illustrate. Supply Side Economic Model: K,L => Y => C C = a + b Y Demand Side Keynesian Model: C d is demand for consumer goods Y = C d + I d , Economy produces according to perceived demand. Y f is forecast of income. This determines C d and I d . This determines actual production, which determines actual Consumption and Income. Failure to distinguish between exogenous, endogenous, and causality leads to massive confusion.

20. What are implications for Research Ethics? External Ethics lead to methods to get around penalties. No basis exists for internal ethics within the Positivist Theories of Knowledge.

21. Internal Ethics for Research Ethics is only possible using internal motivation: for Akhira , and for betterment of soul. But how is this possible? What are we teaching them currently? Economics: Life is about pursuit of Pleasure. Management: Life is about pursuit of Profits. Public Policy: Policy choices should maximize Wealth. All dramatically wrong lessons. Strongly in conflict with Islam!

22. Golden Opportunity Dominant Theories and Research are so bad that it is very easy to make valuable contributions. One Reason for Plagiarism and Dishonesty is: the feeling that we cannot make valuable contributions. This arises from two reasons The Dazzle of Western Knowledge: It seems awesome and impossible to master with sufficient expertise to make significant contributions. Lack of Self-Confidence: We have slave mentalities arising from the experience of colonization. This creates an inferiority complex.

23. That man can have nothing but what he strives for. Strong – invisible – determinants of success: Our Ambitions, and Teachers Expectations from Students. Expect all to be Al-Ghazali! STUDENTS: Your lives are more precious than the entire planet full of gold. Do not sell yourselves cheap! The Way of the Eagles: bit.ly/42CCjTp Reaching Beyond the Stars: bit.ly/ azRBS Learn Who You Are: bit.ly/ Azwya Three Mega Events Which Shape Our Thoughts: bit.ly/AZbgt4

24. The Dazzle of Western Knowledge: bit.ly/AZdazzle The Modern Mu’tazila: bit.ly/Aztmm The Ghazalian Webinars: bit.ly/Azwebinars Tahafat al Falasafa: The Incoherence of the Philosphers

25. How to Supervise Significant Research: Pragmatic Steps for Supervisors Nurturing Prosperity: What Development Economists Can Learn from Mothers: bit.ly/ AZmother Progress comes from building on strengths, not from catching, criticizing and preventing weaknesses. If we recognize and reward good research, this is the best way to prevent bad research. Adding to useful knowledge is intrinsically rewarding, even if extrinsic recognition and rewards are insufficient.

26. Shift from Ustad/ Mureed to Fellow Traveler Model: bit.ly/AZ2FT Let us learn about reality together. Epistemic Humility is characteristic of Islamic Approach to Knowledge. See: Islamic Pedagogy: bit.ly/4c13knZ Unless we have tasted the excitement of production of knowledge, we cannot impart it to our students.

27. Distinguish: Useful & Useless Knowledge bit.ly/ LKuauk Our Prophet ﷺ prayed for useful knowledge and sought protection from useless knowledge. Most of what we teach our students is useless and harmful knowledge. Useful knowledge enters the heart – it relates to life-experiences and changes lives.

28. Dramatic Conflict between Islam and LP Useful Knowledge Enters the Heart – Our knowledge of our internal world LP: Knowledge is only of external reality. “Knowledge” of our internal world is subjective; does not count as knowledge. LP: All valuable knowledge is objective (external reality) Islam: The most valuable kind of knowledge is subjective: of our internal lives RESULT: Hopelessly bad models of human behavior. Human behavior is the foundation of all social science!

29. Wrong Methodology: “Science” does not apply to Human Societies. Errors of Western Epistemology, and consequent building of Social Sciences on the wrong foundations:

30. Effects of Toxic Models of Human Behavior The toxic effects of the Harvard Business school education are well-recognized. Shoshanna Zuboff, who taught at Harvard for 25 years, says “I have come to believe that much of what my colleagues and I taught has caused real suffering, suppressed wealth creation, destabilized the world economy, and accelerated the demise of the 20th century capitalism in which the U.S. played the leading role.” Alternatives have been created. We will borrow from several such sources

31. Foundation of All Social Science: Human Psychology https://iou.edu.gm/ International Open University https://www.cambridgemuslimcollege.ac.uk/programmes/ipd/ Diploma in Islamic Psychology at Cambridge Muslim College Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology https://www.hbku.edu.qa/en/cis/macp DIPLOMA IN ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY Cambridge Muslim College

32. (Internal) Ethics & Integrity: Excitement of Knowledge Power = Knowledge (Foucault) bit.ly/Azknow Tiny Minorities control the world by “consent”. This consent is created by controlling our “knowledge”. Learning to see through falsehoods is the key to liberation. The excitement of real knowledge is the source of the search for truth. Bible: Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free !

33. Western Social Science are built on LP! Wrong axioms for human behavior and firm behavior. Wrong methodology for data analysis Wrong understanding of sources of human well-being. The Puzzle of Western Social Science: bit.ly/ AZpss The Origins of Western Social Science: bit.ly/IR3owss We can confidently assume that the best papers in the field present wrong results. OR – these papers are not aligned with dominant views.

34. Top Three Most Highly Cited Articles (Econ) Autor, D. H., Dorn, D., & Hanson, G. H. (2016). The China shock: Learning from labor-market adjustment to large changes in trade. Annual Review of Economics, 8, 205-240. Bartik , A. W., Bertrand, M., Cullen, Z., Glaeser , E. L., Luca, M., & Stanton, C. T. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on small business outcomes and expectations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(30), 17656-17666. Case, A., & Deaton, A. (2015). Rising morbidity and mortality in midlife among white non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st century. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(49), 15078-15083.

35. Goal of Supervision: Student’s Expertise Expertise is something simple: Have complete knowledge of the literature related to topic over the past decade. Achieving Expertise: Study 100 to 300 articles. Chat GPT makes this immensely easier. Study subjects together with students, and guide them. This will lead to the lifelong learning model at heart of Islam: Seek knowledge from cradle to grave ! See: The Search for Knowledge: bit.ly/AZs4k

36. Critical Distinction: Internal Knowledge vs. External Recognition We have been trained to work for scores/recognition. Retraining to work for knowledge is hard. Go for quick wins. Students: Daily schedule of reading one article at least. Use Chat GPT to achieve Understanding of article. Ask it to simplify. Learn a small amount every day. Learning consists of steady small steps. Learn the Forest and Tree Principle bit.ly/ AZtree

37. Learning to See Through Deceptions Models are just stories we make up about the data. Mathematical Data Analysis is a collection of FALSE assumptions imposed upon the data. We can make up better stories by thinking about how the real world works, and how humans behave. We can do better data analysis by using modern techniques, not available earlier. Economic Theories of the Top 1%: Learning to See Through Blindfolds Created by Economics : bit.ly/AZet1p

38. Critical Insight: Wrong Mathematics Mathematical Modeling currently in use within economics is NOT adapted to human behavior. These models are used because they can be computed by hand, and formulas can be written down. The most advanced Macroeconomic model, currently in use around the globe for monetary policy, is DSGE: Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model. It has only ONE agent.

39. Counter-Strategy: Agent Based Models These are revolutionary – computers can now compute heterogenous models with thousands of agents. This was impossible earlier. These were very fashionable in Economics, but have been confined to sidelines, because they produce results in conflict with mainstream ideas. Evolutionary ABM models provide a new paradigm.

40. Humans with Hearts and Souls Including Heart and Soul also provides a new paradigm. Islam’s Gift: An Economy of Spiritual Development: bit.ly/Azgift Game Theory for Humans with Hearts: bit.ly/WEAGTHH

41. Concluding Remarks Ethics and Integrity are by-products of sincere search for Truth. The highest truth is God, and the highest form of knowledge is that of God: M’aarifat . We can seek knowledge to serve mankind. The creation of God is the family of God, and those who serve God’s family are the most beloved of God. The Shaitan threatens us with poverty, when we seek to serve God Truth is very powerful instrument of change. God promises to protect us, if we seek to serve him.

42. References These Slides are available from: bit.ly/ Azreai (google drive) Slides with audio & images from: bit.ly/ Azethics (SlideShare) A writeup of this talk will be available from bit.ly/ AZWrei (Blog Post)