Abstract
This article reports on a method of group mentoring to strengthen responsible research conduct. A key feature of this approach is joint exploration of the issues by trainees and their faculty research supervisors. These interactions not only help participants learn about current ethical norms for research practice, but also draw on the accumulated experience of faculty and staff about practical problems of research conduct, and help to make faculty more articulate about responsible research conduct and so better able to guide their trainees. By working with departments or laboratories as a whole the method facilitates the formulation of specific norms appropriate to particular research situations and to strengthen the group’s ability to support appropriate behavior and deal with new issues as they arise. It also gives students more ways to ask questions about research practice and to benefit from the experience of all members of their department or group as well as their own research supervisors.
The method is well tested and has been well received by a wide variety of departments and research groups. It provides the means for a constructive and enjoyable response to the Public Health Service’s (PHS) new Policy on Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) that requires education in the responsible conduct of research for all those funded by PHS funds, including faculty and staff as well as trainees.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alberts, Bruce and Shine, Kenneth (1994) Scientists and the Integrity of Research, Science 266: 1660.
Senge, Peter M. (1990) The Fifth Discipline, The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization. Doubleday, New York.
Committee on Academic Responsibility Appointed by the President and Provost of MIT (1992) Fostering Academic Integrity, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA.
Whitbeck, Caroline (1995) Editorial introduction to the special issue of the journal Science and Engineering Ethics, “Trustworth Research” (vol. 1:4, 322) in which I discuss both the recent history of attention to research ethics and Charles Babbage’s contribution in the Nineteenth Century discussion.
Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine (1995) On Being a Scientist, Second edition, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. 14.
National Research Council Committee on the Funding of Young Investigators in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (1994) The Funding of Young Investigators in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences, National Academy Press, Washington D.C.
Hampshire, Stuart (1949) Fallacies in Moral Philosophy. Mind 58: 466–482. Reprinted in: Hauerwas, Stanley and MacIntrye, Alasdair, eds. (1983) Revisions: Changing Perspectives in Moral Philosophy, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, IN. Section one. Section numbers rather than page numbers are given for this work because the seven sections are brief and many readers will find the essay easier to obtain reprinted in Revisions: Changing Perspectives in Moral Philosophy, which has different pagination from the original article in Mind. The Revisions collection contains other essays, by Bergmann, Fingarette, Murdoch, Pincoffs, and Schneewind that, together with the work of Addelson, Baier, Hauerwas, Ladd, and MacIntyre cited here, contribute to a theoretical perspective for practical ethics that is quite different from that of applied ethics.
Addelson, Kathryn (1991) Impure thoughts: Essays on philosophy, feminism and ethics. Temple University Press, Philadelphia.
Addelson, Kathryn (1994) Moral Passages. Routledge, New York.
Whitbeck, Caroline (1996) “Ethics as Design: Doing Justice to Moral Problems” Hastings Center Report, May/June, 9–16; reprinted as Chapter 1 of Ethics in Engineering Practice and Research, Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Whitbeck, Caroline (1998) Ethics in Engineering Practice and Research Chapter One, Ethics as Design: Doing Justice to Moral Problems, Cambridge University Press, New York.
Whitbeck, Caroline (1995) Teaching Ethics to Scientists and Engineers: Moral Agents and Moral Problems, Science and Engineering Ethics 1(3): 299–308.
Whitbeck, Caroline (1997) Using Problems and Cases in Teaching Professional Ethics: Theory and Practice, in: Kleinig, John and Smith, Margaret (eds.) Teaching Criminal Justice Ethics: Strategic Issues, Anderson Publishing Co.
Macrina, Francis L. et al. “Dynamic Issues in Scientific Integrity: Collaborative Research,” A report from the American Academy for Microbiology, Washington DC.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Whitebeck, C. Group mentoring to foster the responsible conduct of research. SCI ENG ETHICS 7, 541–558 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-001-0012-z
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-001-0012-z