2015 AAAS Annual Meeting (12-16 February 2015)

February 12 - 16, 2015

Measuring Research Integrity: Survey of Organizational Research Climate

Ongoing, high-profile scientific misconduct has been joined recently by increased concerns about irreproducible science across multiple fields. The apparent prevalence of irreproducible science is drawing attention to structural and systemic factors in science that may be contributing to undesirable research-related behavior. Efforts to teach responsible conduct of research vary in quality and effectiveness, in part because, in many places, they have come to be seen as a compliance requirement rather than as professional development and enrichment. In a recent call for proposals, the National Science Foundation (NSF) dramatically shifted the emphasis of its Ethics Education in Science and Engineering program, emphasizing the importance of institutional contexts in promoting ethical science and focusing on the cultivation of “cultures” of academic integrity. The Survey of Organizational Research Climate (SORC) is the only validated instrument specifically designed to measure empirically the climate of research integrity in academic organizations. Based on confidential responses of organizational members, SORC yields a snapshot of seven dimensions of research climate that have been shown to correlate with research-related behavior. Session speakers believe that providing researchers and institutional leaders with systematic information about their local organizational climates can inform, motivate, and help to evaluate efforts to improve those climates and to promote responsible research.