RCR Needs Assessment Survey

1. RCR Needs Assessment Survey 02/04/2011

2. Core areas of RCR • Data Management • Mentor / Trainee Relationships • Publication Practices & Responsible Authorship • Peer Review • Collaboration • Human Subjects • Research Involving Animals • Research Misconduct • Conflict of Interest & Commitment

3. Purpose • Survey developed based on RC discussions last year on assessing and gathering information on teaching and training efforts related to research ethics and integrity and Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) • Distributed to department chairs/directors via the Vice President for Research and the Research Council in Fall 2010

4. Questions • What and how is RCR related information presented? • How is learning assessed? • Lines of inquiry that asked: • Importance of providing research ethics training • Modes of effective training

5. Results • Of the 43 department chair/directors or center directors identified, 19 completed the survey CAHSS - Political Science, GES, Gerontology Doctoral Program, Education, Emergency Health Services, PUBL and MIPAR, EHS, CUERE, Gender and Women's Studies, History, Psychology, Honors College, MLL, Visual Arts, Sociology and Anthropology CEIT - Information Systems, Chemical and Biochemical Engineering CNMS - Physics, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Center for Space Science Technology

6. Material presentation • Occurs in a module within a course, seminar or lecture or in sections of courses supplemented by faculty mentorship, guest lectures and online modules • Undergrad and grad student participation requirements vary • Topics include: • integrity in the research process • plagiarism • responsible authorship • confidentiality • proper citations • ethics in working with human subjects • intellectual property issues

7. Assessment • Materials used for enhancing learning include textbooks, on-line tutorials, research papers • Assessment is done through • midterm exams • evaluation of research papers and written assignments • completion of available on-line training

8. absolutely essential to instruction and conduct of research • many international students need a second dose of it before the material really takes hold; the sense of ethics is not universal • challenge to integrate what is being taught & communicated to undergraduates & graduate students • Have awareness of current university initiatives for RCR training– CITI online modules, HARPO presentations

9. Mentorship is an important, ongoing part of training, particularly with graduate students • Seminar sessions in a semester with an expert will produce discussion of great value • Lecture type is important that incorporates student research projects • One time workshops would be effective if students had reading assignments to do in advance • Some utility to online method, but online environment is, for the most part, asynchronous, and therefore not very friendly to real-time discussions

10. Discussion • The survey indicates that there is an awareness throughout the disciplines of the need to incorporate discussion of RCR and research ethics.   • However, as departments are left to their own devices in terms of how they present this material or introduce it into their curricula, the dissemination of this information is uneven. • We also noted that students (and educators) need to hear this more than once.  Case studies in the on-line training modules are effective because they offer concrete examples that bring these points home.  Reading assignments (for example on the Tuskegee syphilis experiments) are helpful in promoting awareness of ethical issues in research. Participation in discussions reiterates information and helps understanding so as to apply to practice.

11. Ideas • Who are the best experts? Identify faculty especially if they are willing to share their own stories of ethical dilemmas they have had to face during different points in their scientific careers • Ask department chairs to remind all instructors to include an academic integrity component on their syllabi • Use Faculty Development Center as a means to educate new professors on the importance of integrating some discussion of research ethics in their pedagogy • Suggest learning objectives for undergraduate and graduate level courses, which can be tied to the self-assessment efforts of departments  • University of New Hampshire (http://www.unh.edu/osr/compliance/rcr.html#program) • University of Missouri (http://gradschool.missouri.edu/programs/responsible-conduct-research/grad-courses.php) • Loyola University Chicago (http://www.luc.edu/ors/RCRHome.shtml) • UW-Madison (http://www.grad.wisc.edu/research/wkshop/ethicscourses.pdf) • University of Idaho (http://www.uidaho.edu/cogs/currentstudents/rcr) • Promote the need for RCR awareness and education, via the Office for Research Administration, at faculty meetings and other department/discipline venues

12. Question for the RC • Is the Research Council interested in developing a policy on research ethics that can be implemented in all disciplines and departments?