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Enhancing a Culture of Research Integrity

Enhancing a Culture of Research Integrity. Susan Porter Faculty of Graduate Studies University of British Columbia. Main messages: It is essential that our graduates understand and practice what it means to do research with integrity.

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Enhancing a Culture of Research Integrity

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  1. Enhancing a Culture of Research Integrity Susan PorterFaculty of Graduate StudiesUniversity of British Columbia

  2. Main messages: • It is essential that our graduates understand and practice what it means to do research with integrity. • An RCR (Responsible Conduct of Research) course can positively change thinking and practice • These changes can spread to others • An RCR course by itself isn’t sufficient (and if not done properly, may be ineffective or harmful) • “It takes a village” (humans, in culture) to nurture the next generation of ethical researchers

  3. UBC • 10,00 graduate students • 3500 Doctoral students • 6500 Masters students • 38,000 undergraduate students • 2700 faculty • $0.5B / yr research funds

  4. Integrity in the Practice of Research What it’s not… • Keeping a sloppy notebook; guessing at precise procedure when repeating or publishing • Excluding data because they don’t confirm hypothesis • Designing a study to yield desired results • Enhancing image to exclude information • Inappropriately including/excluding authors • Using words or ideas of others without acknowledgment • Delaying peer review to allow completion of own competing work • Keeping students on beyond what is in their best interests

  5. What influences our moral choices? Knowledge of responsible practices Sufficient? Rules, penalties NO Rewards See TED Talk: Barry Schwartz on our loss of wisdom

  6. Disposition to care Awareness Recognize that it’s an ethical situation Reflect, “feel the weight”, learn Experience Reasoning Insight Desire to do the right thing Commitment Courage Do the right thing Formulate options - consult with others; think creatively Communicative competence Intuition Reasoning Reasoning Imagination Assess options from ethical, scholarly, pragmatic and regulatory viewpoints - know rules and norms Experience Recognitionof own biases Empathy

  7. Student: “Telling people what to do won’t really affect their true character. Most of this is actually influenced by the lab supervisor, colleagues and friends.”

  8. Ethical behaviour is positively associated with: • Frequent, open and group discussion • Mentoring in ethics, research, personal development • Contextualized exposure • Environment that is transparent, fair, caring, ethical • Organization that values ethical behaviour and traits of moral identity (fairness, compassion, honesty, trustworthiness) • Role models • Sharing of stories • Well-developed moral judgment • (RCR course + integrated coursework)

  9. Ethical behaviour is negatively associated with: • Competitive environment • Only valuing “success” or bottom-line • “Survival” mentoring • Overlooking or approving unethical behaviour

  10. Approaches • RCR courses with cases/discussion • Integration of research integrity issues in coursework and professional development program • Integration of research integrity issues/cases in lab meetings • Supervisor/student expectations agreements, evaluation • Supervisor professional development • Mentorship awards • Opportunities to hear/speak with role models (eg RCR courses, “Leaders’ Dialogue” series)

  11. Faculty of Medicine RCR course • Mandatory for 2nd year biomedical science graduate students, 100/yr • (2 x 3.5 hrs) x 3 annually • Faculty + postdocs (5-10 each/yr) attend, facilitate case discussions • Combined lecture, case discussion, video • Why responsible conduct? • Ethics and ethical reasoning (30 min) • Pressures, conflicts in research • Responsible practices in: • Experimental design; obtaining data; recording, presenting, analyzing, interpreting & sharing data • Publication (writing, authorship, peer review, quantity, etc) • Human subjects • Conflicts of interest • (Mentoring, Research misconduct, Use of funds)

  12. Students Will this course affect the way you think about or do your research? n=135 I was already ethical I knew it all before I will -- …be more careful …know better how to prevent problems …keep a better lab book …be more conscious of my biases …communicate more with my supervisor …be more critical towards data analysis …be more aware of my rights and responsibilities …see it as part of a bigger picture It has made me more awareI don’t decide most things

  13. Faculty comments

  14. Culture change… “The process of empowerment involves…discovering and building a network of like-minded allies across the institution, to build energy toward change.” Ferguson et al., 2007

  15. Online CITI RCR course (www.citiprogram.org) • Canadianization: • Edited every module - text - cases - quizzes • Added new module on ethics and ethical decision-making • Added content within modules: - Aboriginal research - international/intercultural issues Disciplines: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Social Sciences, Engineering, Humanities

  16. Main messages: • It is essential that our graduates understand and practice what it means to do research with integrity. • An RCR (Responsible Conduct of Research) course can positively change thinking and practice • These changes can spread to others • An RCR course by itself isn’t sufficient (and if not done properly, may be ineffective or harmful) • “It takes a village” (humans, in culture) to nurture the next generation of ethical researchers

  17. Acknowledgements • Jacqui Brinkman, Graduate Studies, UBC • The UBC James Hogg Research Centre • CIHR IMPACT Strategic Training Program www.impacttraining.ca • Dr. Daniel Vokey, Educational Studies, UBC • Dr. Michael McDonald and the W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics

  18. References Anderson M et al. (2007) What do mentoring and training in the responsible conduct of research have to do with scientists’ misbehavior? Findings from a national survey of NIH-funded scientists. Acad Med 82:853-860 Antes AL et al. (2010) Evaluating the effects that existing instruction on RCR has on ethical decision making. Acad Med 85:519-526 Eastwood S, Derish P, Leash E and Ordway S (1996) Ethical issues in biomedical research: perceptions and practices of postdoctoral research fellows responding to a survey. Sci Eng Ethics 2:89-114 Ferguson K et al. (2007) Enhancing the Culture of Research Ethics on University Campuses. J Acad Ethics 5:189-198 Haidt, J (2001) The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. Psych Rev 108: 814-834 Kohlberg L and Hersh RH (1977) Moral development: a review of the theory. Theory into Practice 16:53-59 Powell ST, Allison MA and Kalichman MW (2007) Effectiveness of a responsible conduct of research course: a preliminary study. Sci Eng Ethics 13:249-264

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