Enhancing a Culture of Research Integrity

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Enhancing a Culture of Research Integrity

• Susan PorterFaculty of Graduate
  StudiesUniversity of British Columbia

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• 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 isnt 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

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

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Integrity in the Practice of Research
What its not

• Keeping a sloppy notebook guessing at precise
  procedure when repeating or publishing
• Excluding data because they dont 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

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What influences our moral choices?
Knowledge of responsible practices
Sufficient?
Rules, penalties
NO
Rewards
See TED Talk Barry Schwartz on our loss of wisdom
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Assess options from ethical, scholarly, pragmatic
and regulatory viewpoints - know rules and norms
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Student Telling people what to do wont really
affect their true character. Most of this is
actually influenced by the lab supervisor,
colleagues and friends.
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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)

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Ethical behaviour is negatively associated with

• Competitive environment
• Only valuing success or bottom-line
• Survival mentoring
• Overlooking or approving unethical behaviour

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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)

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• 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)

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Students Will this course affect the way you
think about or do your research?
n135
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 dont decide most
things
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Faculty comments
Participating as a facilitator opened my eyes as to how students think about what exactly responsible research is, and how I might change the mentorship and guidance I provide
Immediately following the course I had heightened awareness of ethical issues and this prompted me to initiate conversations with my students to discuss several issues that were raised during the course.
I am much more explicit with staff/trainees in explaining why data must be collected in a blinded fashion
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Primary outcomes Changes in Awareness Knowledge Ethical skill Ethical commitment Behaviour
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? ????
Primary outcomes Changes in Awareness Knowledge Ethical skill Ethical commitment Behaviour Secondary outcomes Communication with staff, colleagues, students, peers, family, friends, lab meetings (faculty, postdocs, students) Incorporation of RCR into curricular courses (faculty, postdoc) Poster presentation (faculty) Inclusion of cases in training program (postdoc, students) Inclusion of subject in national conference (student) Case study discussion group (postdoc) Investigation of similar course for residents, fellows (faculty) Intention to recommend similar course for new institution (postdoc)
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? ???? ???
Primary outcomes Changes in Awareness Knowledge Ethical skill Ethical commitment Behaviour Secondary outcomes Communication with staff, colleagues, students, peers, family, friends, lab meetings (faculty, postdocs, students) Incorporation of RCR into curricular courses (faculty, postdoc) Poster presentation (faculty) Inclusion of cases in training program (postdoc, students) Inclusion of subject in national conference (student) Case study discussion group (postdoc) Investigation of similar course for residents, fellows (faculty) Intention to recommend similar course for new institution (postdoc) Tertiary outcomes Use of poster in curricular course (faculty) Unknown
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Culture change
The process of empowerment involvesdiscovering
and building a network of like-minded allies
across the institution, to build energy toward
change. Ferguson et al., 2007
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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
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• 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 isnt 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

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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

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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 82853-860 Antes
AL et al. (2010) Evaluating the effects that
existing instruction on RCR has on ethical
decision making. Acad Med 85519-526 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
289-114 Ferguson K et al. (2007) Enhancing the
Culture of Research Ethics on University
Campuses. J Acad Ethics 5189-198 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 1653-59 Powell ST,
Allison MA and Kalichman MW (2007) Effectiveness
of a responsible conduct of research course a
preliminary study. Sci Eng Ethics 13249-264