Introduction to the BEYOND trainer guide
InstructionsIntroduction to the BEYOND trainer guide
What is this about?
The BEYOND Trainer Guide serves as a comprehensive resource for educators seeking to equip and support researchers and research communities with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to conduct research ethically and with integrity. By fostering critical reflection, ethical decision-making, and responsible behaviour, educators play a critical role in training the next generation of researchers who are committed to the highest ethical standards in their work.
The BEYOND Trainer Guide provides a research-based overview of state-of-the art in teaching research ethics and integrity. According to the extant knowledge base, case-based and collaborative teaching and learning activities, which make use of scaffolding techniques are the best ways to support learning in the context of research ethics and integrity.
This guide provides guidance on how to effectively design teaching activities to foster responsible conduct of research to different target groups, such as students, early career researchers, experienced researchers and supervisors. It draws on prior research on teaching and learning research ethics and integrity and makes use of the vast training resources produced through selected EU-funded projects targeting ethics and integrity. It is a comprehensive resource equipped to empower trainers in delivering impactful training sessions. Trainers can adapt and personalize it based on their specific audience, training context, and personal style. But its core purpose remains clear: to equip trainers with the knowledge, strategies, and resources needed to deliver engaging, informative, and ultimately impactful training sessions. by bringing together research-based knowledge about research ethics and integrity teaching and learning, trainings produced in several EU-funded projects, and templates and activities for adapting materials to various target groups.Why is this important?
Learn about the approach of this guide
The BEYOND approach - ‘it’s not the apple, but the orchard’ - reflects the dea that integrity is upheld as a collaborative effort. This is why it is important that training also models the collaborative way. Cases have the capacity to open up discussion space for the complexities of integrity and ethics in research, again, guiding learners to think of the full complexity, not just individuals, but also other systemic levels, including meso and macro levels, that is organisation, research community, and national, international and global context. Scaffolding provides a technique acknowledging where the individual or even a team or research community is at and designing the next steps to facilitate learning and development eventually leading to better alignment with the highest ethical and integrity standards. The point of departure is that there is always room for improvement, even in the strongest of research communities and the work starts with acknowledging status quo and identifying the next goals, which are within reach, irrespective of whether we envision the learning of individuals or communities. With these approaches; case-based and collaborative learning and scaffolding we believe training is well geared towards nurturing the orchard.
The BEYOND Trainer Guide goes beyond simply listing training materials; it adds value by explaining various pedagogical approaches that can be applied to enhance the use of different materials. It shows how learning taxonomies can be applied to create learning-focused training (as opposed to mere information transmission) irrespective of which materials produced in EU-funded projects that are implemented. We have structured the material according to target group, so that trainers can easily identify materials that are suitable for the target group they are training.
Additionally, the content is also structured according to the type of learning activities to support those trainers who wish to work using specific activities but may hesitate whether they are suitable for a particular target group, or simply would like to know more about the activity itself.
To summarise, the BEYOND approach is manifested in the Trainer Guide as:
- A proposal for a research-based approach to an ‘orchard pedagogy’
- Suggestions for measuring training effect to gain an indication of the preparedness of the research community to develop a culture of integrity
Facilitation for using existing RE/RI training resources by providing two alternative structures for trainers, including one, which addresses various actors in ‘the orchard’ through a career-level approach. We wish trainers and other readers, as well as learners taking part in trainings and learning activities utilising the resources referred to in the BEYOND Trainer Guide, a joyful journey through the orchard!Reflect on the goals of RCR education
The ethical conduct of research is crucial for maintaining the integrity of science. Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) advances scientific goals, fosters a collaborative research environment, and builds public trust in scientific advances that benefit society. Conversely, unethical research practices such as data fabrication and falsification lead to the dissemination of false hypotheses and unreliable data, which harms the search for valid knowledge. Similarly, plagiarism and harassment undermine respect and trust among researchers, while fraudulent or socially irresponsible research weakens public trust and support for science. The goals of RCR training include developing a culture of integrity in science and improving knowledge and awareness about the conduct of research.
RCR training and education should be continuous and extend beyond the academic programme throughout a scientist's career. This education can take place in a variety of contexts, such as seminars, workshops, conferences on research ethics and informal mentoring sessions, training courses and laboratory meetings where ethical behaviour and practises are discussed.
As described by van den Hoven and colleagues (2023), multiple factors influence research integrity (RI) training (learning objectives), RI learning (learning outcomes), and changes in RI behaviour (learning outcomes). Through these, it is possible to promote trustworthy science, responsible research practices, and high integrity/ethical standards. "Training effects" Can be conceptualised through the (intended) impacts of RI training on various performance levels, including individual, institutional, and societal levels (van den Hoven et al., 2023). Furthermore, the authors distinguish among intended training effects (for example changes in behaviour); training input and output (that is training focus/content and learners orientating themselves towards this content); outcomes (that is, learners change their behaviour); and training impact (manifestation of the outcome, such as decreases in misconduct).
Effective education in research ethics and integrity aims to achieve several crucial goals. Defining goals for teaching research integrity and research ethics is crucial to promote and foster responsible research practices and a trustworthy research ecosystem. The main goals to achieve in training RE/RI are related to promoting knowledge (in relation to responsible research practices, norms, and guidelines), skills (in relation to ethical decision-making, problem solving and critical thinking), ‘theoretical’ attitude (in relation to what should be done to foster responsible research) and ‘practical’ behaviour (in relation to how researchers behave in their daily practice) (Kalichman & Plemmons, 2007).Reflect on evaluating effectiveness
The BEYOND Trainer Guide introduces effectiveness measures to help trainers assess whether the training provided is impactful and beneficial. The versatile evaluation tools (developed in WP4) are designed to be applicable to various target groups and compatible with a variety of training activities and resources. Such evaluation measures are often absent in training resources, yet they provide trainers with a valuable mechanism to ensure how effectively training supports learning. Understanding how training facilitates learning and development is necessary in the process of fostering and strengthening integrity in the research community. Provision of training is a necessary component of the overall building of a culture of integrity. Yet training, the effects of which are not monitored, falls short of its potential to mirror the change it contributes to the research community. Therefore, in the orchard approach, learning and development provides important information about the readiness of the community to build a culture of integrity. Evaluating training effectiveness to ensure training programs achieve their intended outcomes is crucial because it connects training investments to tangible results, ensuring that the effort put into developing and delivering training is worthwhile, and for pinpointing further development needs.
Effectiveness of research ethics and integrity (REI) training can be viewed through an established effectiveness framework (Kirkpatrick, 1959, Praslova, 2010), which identifies four outcome domains, namely:
1. reactions (participants’ self-assessment),
2. learning (knowledge, content),
3. behaviour (acting in the research community),
4. results (e.g. institutional outcomes).
Evaluating development of ethical competencies should be determined through done as a system to get a more holistic picture. To do this, one can combine different forms of measurement, such as self-assessment and facilitator feedback as well as attitudes and behaviour treats (in tasks that display REI competencies in the research community, like research proposals, ethics sections of theses, articles, etc.). Furthermore, measurement could take place at different time points to gain insight into the learning process, learning outcome, and long-term implications, namely:
• during the training (learning process),
• right after the training – students' and facilitator’s self-reports,
• later as part of another event or course where the display of REI competencies is expected (like RE section in theses and articles, research proposal, evaluation of RE situation in the department, etc.)
It is also important to consider what to do with the results, that is what kind of changes are necessary to improve teaching and/or the environment to build the culture of integrity.
Different tools can be used to collect various learning outputs and analysis instruments can be implemented to analyse the information that has been collected (Table 2) By analysis instruments we mean the taxonomies of learning and application of theoretical models, such as levels of reflection, ethical principles and so on (if data available are mainly in a qualitative format) or statistics and learning analytics (if the data are mainly in quantitative format).
| Tool for collecting learning outputs | Details | Analysis instrument |
|---|---|---|
