PrintIPDS Guide - Reflection
Reflecting on ethical issues
Throughout your reflections on experiences, consider whether you feel that any ethical issues have arisen. Ethical issues are those which challenge your behaviour or question your professionalism. They may relate to how you have been asked to complete a task, the way in which an activity has been completed, or the behaviour of individuals during an activity.
Examples could include such areas as:
- Being offered gifts or inducements
- Being asked to record a transaction in a way you feel is inappropriate
- Being asked to observe or undertake an act or report in a manner which made you question the motives
- Being in or observing a position in which there was a real or perceived conflict of interest
- Being treated or observing treatment which you felt was unfair or subjective
In reflecting on any ethical issue, you should follow the same simple steps as for any reflection: revisit the experience, attend to your feelings, and then re-evaluate the experience identifying what you have learnt. Feelings are of especial importance with ethical issues, as it is often a feeling of being uncomfortable that brings any ethical issues specifically to our attention.