Training Ph.D.s: The Views of Faculty on Their Role and Their Institutions' Role in Promoting the Development of Responsible Researchers

The development of skilled and ethical researchers in the United States is a well documented national objective. A core component of this objective is to train and educate new researchers about ethical research standards. The Office of Research Integrity (ORI) “focuses resources, not only evaluating institutional reports of research misconduct but also on preventing misconduct and promoting research integrity through deterrence and education” (Wright et al 2008). The influence of faculty is believed to be critical to promoting research integrity and preventing research misconduct. Faculty who serve as mentors and advisors are in a pivotal position to promote the development of young scientists’ research skills in a responsible and ethical manner. Working with ORI, Mathematica Policy Research designed a study to learn what role faculty advisors and mentors believe they play in educating doctoral students to conduct responsible research. Up to this time, there has been an assertion of the importance of the roles of mentors and advisors, but there have been no focused studies that demonstrate what these faculty members do to promote research integrity.