Educating for Responsible Conduct of Research in Higher Education (Poster)

In the past decade, an increasing number of cases of research misconduct
were reported in the news, attracting negative publicity to higher education
research institutions worldwide (Kornfeld, 2012; Hwang, et al., 2005; Resnik,
2005). Consequently, many institutions recognized that it is important not
only to amend regulations, but also to educate novice researchers about
responsible conduct of research (RCR) (Kalichman, 2014; Resnik, 2005).
They also recognized the need to incorporate advanced learning technologies
for promoting flexible and active learning among students (Barak, 2012;
Barak, Harward, Kocur & Lerman, 2007). Following this ideas, the goal of
this study was to examine graduate students' expectations about a course on
ethics of research and their initial conceptual understanding of RCR. An
exploratory research was conducted among 214 MSc and PhD students in
science and engineering research tracks, applying semi-structured interviews
and an online questionnaire. Findings indicated that graduate students have
high expectations from an RCR course; however, their initial understanding
of concepts in the realm of research ethics was at a medium level. Although
almost half of the graduate students were able to correctly explain and
provide examples for RCR concepts, there is still a need to progress from
medium to high levels of understanding and to provide indication for suitable
application. The graduate students asserted that researchers should be able to
identify and be aware of the implications of their research actions. They
indicated the importance of learning an RCR course as part of their graduate
studies, and that the course should be delivered online to allow flexibility in
preparation and submission of assignments. On one hand, students have basic
knowledge and high expectations regarding RCR awareness and actions; on
the other hand, there is still a need for deepening RCR understanding and
promoting its implementation in the laboratories. In order to meet the
students' expectations and the academic requirements, we suggest shifting
RCR education from individual content-based training to collaborative,
context- and case-based leaning. In this study we present the C3 model and
its potential to enhance ethical behavior among science and engineering
researchers.