Research Methods: Godly and Ungodly

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Statement 1: “Research methods are ungodly” For this statement, I wanted to present the research method I viewed as ungodly. The first method I believe would be ruled ungodly would be the clinical research method. In clinical research, there is a method of research design called placebos. Placebos are used in experiment as a counterfeit substance that has no real value or effect, and is not evident to the independent variable. The placebo effect is the change in dependent variables, in which participants believe a change will occur without a given treatment (Crawford, 2019). The placebo has no direct effect and is only used in clinical research to determine whether the treatment is effective or not. “Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of truth.” (New International Bible,1978/2011, 2 Timothy 3:7) In this Scripture, we are always learning and attempting to grasp new conclusions in the world of research. We are always searching for a result and striving to complete experiments to get to the result we want. However, we are never able to come to the truth because we are using a fake substance in a specific research design, including the placebo. We have to consider, as researchers, did the placebo cause this change, or do the participants just believe this change occurred? Is there another variable impacting the placebo, not the placebo itself? I believe a placebo can harm more than help in an experiment due to the difficulty distinguishing from the actual effects versus the control groups effects. Moving onto the ethical standpoints of research I view as ungodly, would be any research experiment done prior to 1974. I say this because in 1974 was when the National Research Act became a law. In the textbook Introduction to Research: less fright, more insight we learn about the research conducted by Stanley Milgram in 1963. This was unethical, because the participants were led to believe they were administering voltage shocks to real people. Participants were unaware that the learner was Milgram’s associate, and faking the administrative shocks. This was considered unbiased and ungodly, because God wants us to be truthful and not to administer the wrong forms of knowledge. Introduction to Research: less fright, more insight we learn about the research conducted by Stanley Milgram in 1963. This was unethical, because the participants were led to believe they were administering voltage shocks to real people. Participants were unaware that the learner was Milgram’s associate, and faking the administrative shocks. This was considered unbiased and ungodly, because God wants us to be truthful and not to administer the wrong forms of knowledge. Statement 2: “Research methods are godly” For this statement, regarding research methods are godly, I wanted to connect it first with Scripture. “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of Kings is to search out that matter.” (New International Bible, 1978/2011, Proverbs 25:2) This chapter in The Bible states how God wants his people to search to gain knowledge and wisdom for everything, not just given problems. In the world of research, we have a ton of different methods we used to come to conclusions based on research topics that turn into specific research questions. We go from a broad topic to a narrow question. (Crawford, 2019). A research method I would view as godly would be non-experimental research. I say this because we are not forcing any experiments or using treatments or placebos. We are using non-experimental methods, including naturalistic observation. With naturalistic observation, we are simply observing people or objects in their natural settings. We are not messing with variables around us, but gathering insight into behavioral methods and interactions. There are many advantages with this type of research methodology, as participants behave as they would in their normal everyday lives, and the behavior being obtained is natural (Crawford, 2019). We as researchers can gain a lot of insight from this by gaining knowledge from everyday behavior and using that to test against our original hypothesis. God wants us to create healthier conclusions based on the information we gather, and not obtain this information in an unbiased or harmful manner. To have research information that is unbiased and of excellent quality, we can use this information we have conducted to have better informed decisions in following God’s word.

References:

Crawford, A.R. (2019). Introduction to research: Less fright, more insight (Custom 3rd ed.). https://libertyonline.vitalsource.com/books/9781524965457

New International Bible. (2011). The NIV Bible. https://www.thenivbible.com/ (Original work published 1978)