Abstract
The research climate plays a key role in fostering integrity in research. However, little is known about what constitutes a responsible research climate. We investigated academic researchers’ perceptions on this through focus group interviews. We recruited researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Amsterdam University Medical Center to participate in focus group discussions that consisted of researchers from similar academic ranks and disciplinary fields. We asked participants to reflect on the characteristics of a responsible research climate, the barriers they perceived and which interventions they thought fruitful to improve the research climate. Discussions were recorded and transcribed at verbatim. We used inductive content analysis to analyse the focus group transcripts. We conducted 12 focus groups with 61 researchers in total. We identified fair evaluation, openness, sufficient time, integrity, trust and freedom to be mentioned as important characteristics of a responsible research climate. Main perceived barriers were lack of support, unfair evaluation policies, normalization of overwork and insufficient supervision of early career researchers. Possible interventions suggested by the participants centered around improving support, discussing expectations and improving the quality of supervision. Some of the elements of a responsible research climate identified by participants are reflected in national and international codes of conduct, such as trust and openness. Although it may seem hard to change the research climate, we believe that the realisation that the research climate is suboptimal should provide the impetus for change informed by researchers’ experiences and opinions.
Highlights
Breaches of research integrity have inspired studies into what drives researchers to engage in questionable research practices or research misconduct (Levelt Committee et al 2012)
Whereas initial explanations focused on the individual level, it has become increasingly apparent that the organizational research climate plays a key role in fostering integrity in research (Bouter 2015; Casadevall and Fang 2012; Sovacool 2008; Steneck 2002)
We focus on the shared meaning researchers attach to the policies, practices and behaviours they associate with a responsible research climate, reasoning that it is easier to intervene on behaviour or policies, compared to intervening on values and beliefs
Summary
Breaches of research integrity have inspired studies into what drives researchers to engage in questionable research practices or research misconduct (Levelt Committee et al 2012). We define the organizational research climate as: “the shared meaning organisational members attach to the events, policies, practices and procedures they experience and the behaviours they see rewarded, supported, and expected.” (Schneider et al 2013; Wells et al 2014). We focus on the shared meaning researchers attach to the policies, practices and behaviours they associate with a responsible research climate, reasoning that it is easier to intervene on behaviour or policies, compared to intervening on values and beliefs. Interest in researchers’ practices and behaviours in relation to research integrity can be traced back to Robert Merton’s (Merton and Storer 1973) scientific norms of disinterestedness, universalism, communality and organized skepticism and the emergence of the field of science and technology studies (STS). Merton’s norms have been criticised, with some questioning whether they are unique to science (Sismondo 2010), whether we need specific norms to describe scientific good practice (Schmaus 1983), and some contesting the idea of science as pursuing universal goals (Sismondo 2010)
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