Title: Does Carelessness Constitute Research Misconduct
Author: Anji Wall
Description: A researcher throws out one-third of his subjects’ data. His trainee claims he falsified data; the university concludes that the researcher was careless.
Keyword(s): Data Integrity, Falsification, Mentor-Trainee Relationship, Reporting Suspected Misconduct
Based On: (Shamoo & Resnik, 2003, p. 117)
Case: A graduate student complained to his university that his mentor, an associate professor, falsified data in a recently published study, saying that it did not actually reflect the data collected. The university inquired about the situation and found that 100 of the 160 reports accurately represented actual subject data. The other 60 subject reports contained various errors, including several that did not support the hypothesis proposed in the paper. The inquiry concluded that although the investigator showed a high level of carelessness in extracting data from subjects’ charts, there was no proof that the data was intentionally falsified.
- Do situations like these where intent is unclear but data is collected in a ‘sloppy’ manner constitute research misconduct?
- Should the student have discussed his concerns with the professor before bringing a complaint to the university?
- Should the published report be rescinded even though the investigator was not found guilty of research misconduct?
Source: Shamoo, A., & Resnik, D. (2003). Responsible Conduct of Research. New York: Oxford University Press.