“For a scientist, integrity embodies above all the individual’s commitment to intellectual honesty and personal responsibility. It is an aspect of moral character and experience. For an institution, it is a commitment to creating an environment that promotes responsible conduct by embracing standards of excellence, trustworthiness, and lawfulness and then assessing whether researchers and administrators perceive that an environment with high levels of integrity has been created.”
- With the relationship between science and major “social, philosophical, economic and social issues” increasing, it necessary that values and other practices, used either by an individual researcher or that used by an institution need to be re-evaluated, to ensure that the research performed is done with integrity.
- The researchers defined integrity based on the individual researcher as well as the institution in which the researcher works. It then further goes onto identify the practices that should be adopted by the individual researcher as well as the practices of the institution, this is in order to ensure that integrity is maintained.
- This report also states that institutions must have policies and procedures, which are clearly stated; this is needed to prevent conflicts or compromises that arise as a result from external pressure.
- This report shows that attention must be given to develop way of ensuring that integrity within research is a culture that is sustained, but that can also be improved.
- Please view the full article – Integrity in Scientific Research: Creating an Environment That Promotes Responsible Conduct.
This is a helpful report, as it lays down practices, specifically for an individual researcher, to ensure that the correct conduct is maintained throughout the research process. I found it insightful and the practises that have been outlined for individual researchers to follow will hopefully be adopted by many. In a field such as physiotherapy, where many of our techniques are based on evidence-based research, one needs to strive for the highest level of integrity in reports and articles that are written. When doing research into different topics within the field of Physiotherapy, we put a lot of trust into the researchers of the various studies that they have complied with all the practices and maintained their integrity throughout the study, as well as trust that they have listed all findings accurately.
References:
National Research Council (US) and Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Assessing Integrity in Research Environments. (2002). Integrity in scientific research (pp. 33-47). Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press. Retrieved on 17/08/2018, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK208712/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK208712.pdf
2 thoughts on “Integrity in Research”
I really enjoyed that you started your piece with a quote. The quote was extremely informative and helped to summarize what integrity meant according to the article you used. It further forced me to think of how an institute would view integrity of research and not only an individual
I agree that it is important to constantly re evaluate the values which individuals or companies use when doing research. on a daily bases technology is changing and if we do not maintain the values or adapt them accordingly we may end up abusing an individuals human right. As the article states that policies and procedures must be put into place at institutes to prevent conflicts and ensure that data is efficient.
I also agree with you when you state how we as physiotherapists place a large amount of practice off of articles that have been published and therefore it of great importance that all results are correctly analysed to ensure no falsified information occurs. Especially as physiotherapy is still a profession in which individuals are constantly trying to prove that certain methods or techniques work.
I feel that over all this was a very strong piece and you made some very good points. However you could possibly improve by in text refereeing.
Here is a link to another journal article which focuses on research integrity within Croatia which may be helpful to back up the article which you have used above.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2660/480fd9bf6681c448f43767fffb3e2c11b9fe.pdf
Hi Robyn
Thank you for sharing your writing piece. I enjoyed reading your post about integrity in research. The quote really encapsulates the importance integrity plays in research not only for the individual, but for the institution they represent. Many researches forget that the consequences is a bad reflection not only on themselves but the institution at large.
You only used one source for information which was written in 2002. It would be more credible if the article was published in the last 10 years and I would have liked to read other people’s views on the matter as well. I also found two grammar errors where “is” was left out in the first bullet point and “way” instead of “ways in the fourth.
Yes, we as physiotherapists, base our treatments on evidence-based practice and thus it is important that integrity in research is adhered to in order to prevent dire consequences for the patient.
As mentioned previously, I really enjoyed your piece. Hope the feedback helps and thank you once again for sharing.