Latest revision as of 15:27, 16 April 2024

Instructions

Introduction to Research Integrity

Instructions for:TraineeTrainer

Related Initiative

Goal

This series of eLearning modules provides an introduction to the main principles of research integrity, describes the guidance outlined in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (ECoC), and asks you to apply the ECoC to your own context.

Requirements

This is one of a four part series. The other three series are: "Introduction of Virtue Ethics to Research Integrity" , "Virtue ethics under current research conditions and "Introduction to responsible supervision, mentoring and role-modeling".

You should have experience of research in practice (e.g. be employed as a researcher) or be a trainer/educator/teacher who has had experience in research in the past.

VIRT2UE Online modules privacy statement

This privacy statement regards the VIRT2UE online modules. The modules are part of the VIRT2UE training program. They are produced by the VIRT2UE consortium and made freely and openly available on the Github platform.

All information of users remains client side

At no point during the use of the VIRT2UE online modules is any personal information collected or saved. Information entered into the modules remains ‘client side’ and is not sent back to servers, nor made available for use by third parties.

Entering personal information in the modules

At some places in the modules the user is invited to type input in open fields. Information entered into these fields is not sent back to any server. None of the entered information can be traced back to the user. It is not obligatory to use these fields. Users can also choose to document their responses elsewhere, for instance on paper.

Contact us if you have any further questions.

Duration (hours)

1

For whom is this important?

Junior researchersResearch integrity trainersResearchersTrainers in training

Method

eLearning

Part of

VIRT2UE

Steps

1What is Research Integrity?

2Three levels of Research Integrity

3Scope of Research Integrity

4Research Integrity in your Context

What is this about?

By taking eLearning modules you will learn about:

The European Code of Conduct for research Integrity (ECoC): You will be introduced to the content of the code while reflecting on the good practices and breaches described in the text.
Responsible conduct of research, research misconduct, and questionable research practice: You will learn about the differences between responsible practices, misconduct and gray areas and reflect on how these are addressed in the ECoC.

The variety of factors that influence research behavior: You will be guided in a reflection about a researcher's responsibilities and the possible reasons for violations of good research conduct at the level of: 1) individual researchers, 2) the research culture, and 3) the research system.

Why is this important?

This series of eLearning modules provide a basic understanding of the concepts used in the training to ensure that trainees start with a common terminology and knowledge.

Practical Tips

There are subtitles available. You may enable them by clicking on "CC" at the lower left corner of the player.

Please note that no information will be saved or stored after you have closed the browser window/tab. This has two major implications: (1) Whenever you close your browser window/tab, your progress will not be saved and you will have to start the module anew. It is not necessary to complete the course in one go, but recommended to leave the browser window/tab open (and the computer/laptop running). (2) In case you aim to save your reflections, you are kindly asked to copy/paste your input in a separate document and save it on your computer, BEFORE you submit your input.

1

What is Research Integrity?

Throughout this module, the ECoC is referenced as importance guidance. A definition of research integrity is provided, as well as the four principles of research integrity outlined in the ECoC. A drag-and-drop exercise aims to familiarize with the document’s structure and introduces some norms outlined in the document.

Open the course

If you want to integrate this module into your institution's learning management system, you may download it as a SCORM Package here

2

Three levels of Research Integrity

This module explores research integrity on three levels, the individual researcher, research culture, as well as the research system. Drawing largely upon the report “What researchers think about the culture they work in” by WELLCOME for Shift Learning (2020)[1], different aspects of research integrity are discussed. This discussion is further complemented by the introduction of the Hong Kong Principles for Assessing Researchers[2].

If you want to integrate this module into your institution's learning management system, you may download it as a SCORM Package here

References

[1] Moran, H., Karlin, L., Lauchlan, E., Rappaport, S. J., Bleasdale, B., Wild, L., & Dorr, J. (2020). Understanding Research Culture: What researchers think about the culture they work in. Wellcome Open Research, 5(201), 201.

[2] Moher, D., Bouter, L., Kleinert, S., Glasziou, P., Sham, M. H., Barbour, V., ... & Dirnagl, U. (2020). The Hong Kong Principles for assessing researchers: Fostering research integrity. PLoS Biology, 18(7), e3000737.

3

Scope of Research Integrity

This module explores the difference between responsible conduct of research, research misconduct, and questionable research practices. Publication pressure, and its implication for the integrity of research is discussed as a major driver of breaches of research integrity. This discussion is complemented by an exercise to foster reflection about the effect of publication pressure.

If you want to integrate this module into your institution's learning management system, you may download it as a SCORM Package here

4

Research Integrity in your Context

This module suggests a contextualized reading of the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (ECoC) using five selected recommendations for Good Research Practices mentioned in the document. The exercise is to identify breaches for each of the norms in the learner’s respective field(s) of research. This way, you are not only invited to reflect on the relevance of the ECoC for your research, you may also detect any breaches of research integrity better in the future.

If you want to integrate this module into your institution's learning management system, you may download it as a SCORM Package here

Remarks

List of contributors:

Armin Schmolmüller, Fenneke Blom.

We thank Rosemarie Bernabe, Birgit Buschbom, Natalie Evans, Nicole Föger, Teodora Konach, Laura Hartman, Ana Marusic, Erika Löfström, Daniel Pizzolato, and Guy Widdershoven for their constructive feedback during the process of developing!

This training has been developed by the VIRT2UE project, which has received funding form the European Union’s H2020 research programme under grant agreement N 741782.

Steps

1What is Research Integrity?

2Three levels of Research Integrity

3Scope of Research Integrity

4Research Integrity in your context

What is this about?

This series of eLearning modules provides an introduction to research integrity. By taking this modules learners will:

Identify the purpose and the content of the ECoC. Throughout the series, the ECoC is introduced and quoted as an important source of guidance for research integrity. A drag-and-drop exercise aims to familiarize the learner with the code’s content, and introduces some guidance outlined in the document. In another exercise, learners are invited to reflect on practices which are described as breaches of research integrity in the ECoC.
Distinguish between responsible conduct of research, research misconduct, and questionable research practices and link these to their description in the ECoC. In the series, the difference between responsible conduct of research, research misconduct, and questionable research practices is described. The prevalence and impact of research misconduct and breaches of responsible research practices are also examined, and which principles and norms from the ECoC are violated in cases of certain research misbehaviours are identified.
Become aware of the variety of factors that influence research behaviour and their own responsibilities related to these factors. In the module, possible reasons for research integrity violations are described at the level of: 1) individual researchers, 2) the research culture, and 3) the research system. Learners link guidance in the ECoC targeted at each of these three areas. Finally, learners reflect on how publication pressure affects their own research practices.

Why is this important?

It is crucial for participants to complete the eLearning modules in advance of the face-to-face training in order to acquire a shared understanding of the program’s core concepts.

Practical Tips

There are subtitles available. You may enable them by clicking on "CC" at the lower left corner of the player.

Please note that no information will be saved or stored after users have closed the browser window/tab. This has two major implications: (1) Whenever users close their browser window/tab, their progress will not be saved and they will have to start the module anew. It is not necessary to complete the course in one go, but recommended to leave the browser window/tab open (and the computer/laptop running). (2) In case users aim to save their reflections, they are kindly asked to copy/paste their input in a separate document and save it on their computer.

1