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A Qualitative Approach to Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Training Development: Identification of Metacognitive Strategies

Science and Engineering Ethics volume 14, pages 3–31 (2008)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 31 January 2008

Abstract

Although Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training is common in the sciences, the effectiveness of RCR training is open to question. Three key factors appear to be particularly important in ensuring the effectiveness of ethics education programs: (1) educational efforts should be tied to day-to-day practices in the field, (2) educational efforts should provide strategies for working through the ethical problems people are likely to encounter in day-to-day practice, and (3) educational efforts should be embedded in a broader program of on-going career development efforts. This article discusses a complex qualitative approach to RCR training development, based on a sensemaking model, which strives to address the afore-mentioned training concerns. Ethnographic observations and prior RCR training served the purpose of collecting information specific to a multi-disciplinary and multi-university research center with the goal of identifying metacognitive reasoning strategies that would facilitate ethical decision-making. The extensive qualitative analyses resulted in the identification of nine metacognitive reasoning strategies on which future RCR training will be developed. The implications of the findings for RCR training in the sciences are discussed.

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Fig. 1

Notes

  1. The RCR training materials are available from the authors upon the request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Dean F. Hougen for sharing his expertise in physical sciences which was essential in contextualizing the obtained qualitative information. We also thank Dr. Morris W. Foster for his input on the ethnographic information analyses. This research was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), contract No. SES 0529910.

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  1. Department of Psychology, University of Oklahoma, 455 W. Lindsey Street, Dale Hall Tower, Room 705, Norman, OK, 73019-2007, USA

    Vykinta Kligyte, Richard T. Marcy & Michael D. Mumford

  2. Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma, 455 W. Lindsey Street, Dale Hall Tower, Room 521, Norman, OK, 73019-2007, USA

    Sydney T. Sevier

  3. School of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma, 120 David L. Boren Blvd. Suite 5900, Norman, OK, 73072-7307, USA

    Elaine S. Godfrey

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  1. Vykinta Kligyte
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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11948-007-9050-5

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Kligyte, V., Marcy, R.T., Sevier, S.T. et al. A Qualitative Approach to Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Training Development: Identification of Metacognitive Strategies. Sci Eng Ethics 14, 3–31 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-007-9035-4

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Keywords

  • Integrity
  • Ethics
  • Scientific misconduct
  • Training
  • Sensemaking
  • Qualitative analysis