The course addresses scholarly, ethical, and legal aspects of the research process, including research planning, conduct and data management, scholarly communication, but also contextual issues surrounding the research process including incentives that can have negative effects on research integrity.

The main learning objective of the course is to stimulate a critical and reflexive approach to one’s own research as well as the research of others, and the course contributes to the students’ ability to conduct research in accordance with basic principles and guidelines, as well as good practices defined by Aarhus University and upheld by Aarhus BSS.

It is a residential course covering two days including accommodation; there will be bus transport from Aarhus University to and from Kaløvig Center:

                             Day 1: 9.00 – 17.00 [bus departure at 8.00]

                             Day 2: 9.00 – 16.00 [bus departure at 16.15]

Notice, the PhD course is mandatory for 1^st year students. The course will be held twice a year. Full participation is required, otherwise the student will have to re-enrol in the next course.

Course content

The course is structured around the research process and the challenges to RI that one encounters along the way from the idea generation to the reporting of the results.

The course consists of four lectures and four 2-hour workshops. The lectures will present broad introductions, whereas the workshops will focus on specific RI topics aligned to the different phases of the research process.

Lectures

• Fostering Research Integrity
• Legal aspects and the Practice committee at AU
• What causes breaches in Research Integrity?
• Remedies: Open Science?

Workshops

• Workshop 1: Responsible conduct of research
• Workshop 2: Research design and data management
• Workshop 3: Research conduct:
• Workshop 4: Scholarly communication

Course parameters:

Language: English

ECTS credits: The course is mandatory for 1^st year PhD students; no ETCS are given

Level of course: PhD course

Capacity: Up to 35 participants

Course schedule: Twice a year

Register: Contact Jane Frølund Irming via mail cfa@cfa.au.dk 

Please be aware, as all first year PhD-students of an annual cohort must attend the course within their first study year, but only 35 can participate in a particular course, registration will not necessarily equal admission. Students not admitted are automatically enrolled for the next course. 

Teaching:

Lectures, exercises, group work, discussions, individual/group assignment working with the participants own PhD projects

Lecturers:

Course Coordinator & lecturer: Jesper W. Schneider, Professor, Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy, Department of Political Science

Lecturer: Bobby Zachariae, Professor, Department of Psychology; Kaare Aagaard, Senior Researcher, Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy, Department of Political Science; NN

Preparation:

The students must read the assigned literature and prepare a number of reflexive small assignments.

Literature (examples):

• The Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science. The Danish Code of Conduct for Research Integrity: https://ufm.dk/en/publications/2014/the-danish-code-of-conduct-for-research-integrity
• Singapore Statement on Research Integrity: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3954607/
• Steneck, N. H. (2006). Fostering integrity in research: Definitions, current knowledge, and future directions. Science and Engineering Ethics, 12(1), 53-74.
• John, L. K., Loewenstein, G., & Prelec, D. (2012). Measuring the Prevalence of Questionable Research Practices With Incentives for Truth Telling. Psychological Science, 23(5), 524-532.
• Fanelli, D. (2009). How Many Scientists Fabricate and Falsify Research? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Survey Data. PLoS ONE, 4(5), 11. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005738