Abstract
The Survey of Organizational Research Climate (SORC) is a validated tool to facilitate promotion of research integrity and research best practices. This work uses the SORC to assess shared and individual perceptions of the research climate in universities and academic departments and relate these perceptions to desirable and undesirable research practices. An anonymous web- and mail-based survey was administered to randomly selected biomedical and social science faculty and postdoctoral fellows in the United States. Respondents reported their perceptions of the research climates at their universities and primary departments, and the frequency with which they engaged in desirable and undesirable research practices. More positive individual perceptions of the research climate in one’s university or department were associated with higher likelihoods of desirable, and lower likelihoods of undesirable, research practices. Shared perceptions of the research climate tended to be similarly predictive of both desirable and undesirable research practices as individuals’ deviations from these shared perceptions. Study results supported the central prediction that more positive SORC-measured perceptions of the research climate were associated with more positive reports of research practices. There were differences with respect to whether shared or individual climate perceptions were related to desirable or undesirable practices but the general pattern of results provide empirical evidence that the SORC is predictive of self-reported research behavior.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, M. S., Ronning, E. A., De Vries, R., & Martinson, B. C. (2007). The perverse effects of competition on scientists’ work and relationships. Science and Engineering Ethics, 13, 437–461.
Colquitt, J. A. (2001). On the dimensionality of organizational justice: A construct validation of a measure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 386–400.
Colquitt, J. A., Noe, R. A., & Jackson, C. L. (2002). Justice in teams: Antecedents and consequences of procedural justice climate. Personnel Psychology, 55, 83–109.
Committee on Assessing Integrity in Research Environments (U.S.), National Research Council (U.S.), United States, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, & Office of Research Integrity. (2002). Integrity in scientific research: Creating an environment that promotes responsible conduct. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press.
Council of Canadian Academies, & The Expert Panel on Research Integrity. (2010). Honesty, accountability and trust: Fostering research integrity in Canada. Ottawa: Council of Canadian Academies.
Council of Graduate Schools. (2011). Project for scholarly integrity [WWW Document]. http://www.scholarlyintegrity.org/ShowContent.aspx?id=402.
DuBois, J. M., Anderson, E. E., Carroll, K., Gibb, T., Kraus, E., Rubbelke, T., et al. (2012). Environmental factors contributing to wrongdoing in medicine: A criterion-based review of studies and cases. Ethics and Behavior, 22, 163–188.
Fanelli, D. (2009). How many scientists fabricate and falsify research? A systematic review and meta-analysis of survey data. PLoS ONE, 4, e5738.
Groves, R. M. (2006). Nonresponse rates and nonresponse bias in household surveys. Public Opinion Quarterly, 70, 646–675.
Hackett, E. J. (1994). A social control perspective on scientific misconduct. The Journal of Higher Education, 65, 242–260.
Heitman, E., Anestidou, L., Olsen, C., & Bulger, R. E. (2005). Do researchers learn to overlook misbehavior? The Hastings Center Report, 35, 49.
Irish Council for Bioethics, & Rapporteur Group. (2010). Recommendations for promoting research integrity. Dublin: The Irish Council for Bioethics.
Leape, L.L., (2010). Transparency and public reporting are essential for a safe health care system. New York: The Commonwealth Fund. http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Publications/Perspectives-on-Health-Reform-Briefs/2010/Mar/Transparency-and-Public-Reporting-Are-Essential-for-a-Safe-Health-Care-System.aspx#citation.
Martinson, B. C., Anderson, M. S., Crain, A. L., & De Vries, R. (2006). Scientists’ perceptions of organizational justice and self-reported misbehaviors. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics 1, 51–66 http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=16810337.
Martinson, B. C., Anderson, M. S., & De Vries, R. (2005). Scientists behaving badly. Nature, 435, 737–738.
Martinson, B. C., Crain, A. L., Anderson, M. S., & De Vries, R. (2009). Institutions’ expectations for researchers’ self-funding, federal grant holding and private industry involvement: Manifold drivers of self-interest and researcher behavior. Academic Medicine, 84, 1491–1499.
Martinson, B. C., Crain, A. L., De Vries, R., & Anderson, M. S. (2010). The importance of organizational justice in ensuring research integrity. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 5, 67–83.
Martinson, B. C., Thrush, C. R., & Crain, A. L. (2012). Development and validation of the survey of organizational research climate (SORC). Science and Engineering Ethics. doi:10.1007/s11948-012-9410-7.
Mumford, M., & Helton, W.B. (2001). Organizational Influences on Scientific Integrity. In Proceedings of the 2000 ORI conference on research on research integrity, November, Bethesda, MD: Investigating Research Integrity. pp. 73–90.
Office of Science and Technology Policy. (2000). Federal policy on research misconduct. http://www.ostp.gov/cs/federal_policy_on_research_misconduct [WWW Document].
Sovacool, B. (2008). Exploring scientific misconduct: Isolated individuals, impure institutions, or an inevitable idiom of modern science? Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 5, 271–282.
Steneck, N. H. (2004). ORI introduction to the responsible conduct of research. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Steneck, N. H. (2006). Fostering integrity in research: Definitions, current knowledge, and future directions. Science and Engineering Ethics, 12, 53–74.
Steneck, N., & Mayer, T. (2010). Singapore statement on research integrity [WWW Document]. http://www.singaporestatement.org/.
Teitelbaum, M. S. (2008). RESEARCH FUNDING: Structural disequilibria in biomedical research. Science, 321, 644–645.
Titus, S. L., Wells, J. A., & Rhoades, L. J. (2008). Repairing research integrity. Nature, 453, 980–982.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge the excellent work of Shannon Donald in several key aspects contributing to this manuscript including project coordination and sample frame development. This research was supported by Award Number R21-RR025279 from the NIH National Center for Research Resources and the DHHS Office of Research Integrity through the collaborative Research on Research Integrity Program.
Conflict of Interest
The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Research Resources, the National Institutes of Health, or the Office of Research Integrity. There are no conflicts of interest for any of the coauthors of this manuscript.
Ethical Approval
The study protocol was approved by the Regions Hospital Institutional Review Board, the oversight body with responsibility for all research conducted at HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research, and by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Institutional Review Board.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Crain, A.L., Martinson, B.C. & Thrush, C.R. Relationships Between the Survey of Organizational Research Climate (SORC) and Self-Reported Research Practices. Sci Eng Ethics 19, 835–850 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-012-9409-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-012-9409-0