Christian Ethics in Research

I've been working on my master's research project over the last few months and have, at times, lost sight of the bigger picture. But one thing I hope is that my Christian faith will be apparent by the quality of research I do, both scientifically and ethically. You see, as a Christian, I believe that I am not only called to follow ethical rules (like respecting confidentiality, not fudging my results, etc.) but also that I should work as if working for the Lord (Col. 3:23). For research that means researching topics that are beneficial to practitioners and researchers, having sound methodology, and doing a proper literature review. Thankfully I'm being supervised in such a way that these should not be an issue.

As my research develops, I will certainly update you on my progress. Thankfully I'm working on a topic that I am excited about. Perhaps this post can be a reminder to you to consider how you can better honor God in your work. From tent-makers to cupbearers, the Bible is full of hard working individuals whose work habits flow from their relationship with God. Hopefully, more Christians might find joy in doing the work that is before them.

Knowledge without Deeds is Dead

As my research project develops, one of the issues that comes to the forefront is that there is a divide between theoretical research and actual practice. Tens of thousands of psychological articles are published every year but perhaps only about 1 in 100 actually impact practice in some shape or form. It seems that researchers in psychology are spending all their time delving deeper and deeper into understanding an issue without every taking the time to work out how it could affect actual practice. Although we can get into trouble by making recommendations without proper theory to base it on, psychologists simply can't neglect this part of research.