Psychological Climate, Stress, and Research Integrity Among Research Counselor Educators: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

In this quantitative study, 187 counselor educators at research institutions reported engaging in responsible conduct of research (RCR), with a few individuals reporting deviations from ethical behavior. Tenure-seeking faculty members indicated a greater likelihood of deviating from acceptable research practices than did tenured faculty members. The psychological meaningfulness of one's department and research ethics training positively related to engagement in RCR, explaining 18% of the variance. Implications for training of research ethics are discussed, along with suggestions for environmental needs within counseling departments to potentially increase psychological meaningfulness for faculty members.

The Authorship Determination Process in Student–Faculty Collaborative Research

“…Netting and Nichols-Casebolt (1997) conducted focus groups of social work faculty members and doctoral students and found that faculty and students were unclear about how to determine authorship credit and that doctoral students reported receiving little guidance from faculty on how to negotiate such decisions. In a study of self-reported research conduct among counselor educators, Wester, Willse, and Davis (2010) found that 15% of faculty reported being very or extremely unlikely to have authorship conversations with students and colleagues before beginning a project and that more than 15% of faculty members would be somewhat, very, or extremely likely to insist on being the first author on a student's thesis, dissertation, or other student research project. From these studies of counselor education, psychology, and social work, it seems that authorship practices are at times unclear, unstated, or disputed.…”

Publishing Ethical Research: A Step‐by‐Step Overview

“…The ACA Code of Ethics (ACA, 2005) states, "Counselors do not engage in misleading or fraudulent research, distort data, misrepresent data, or deliberately bias their results" (Standard, G.4.a.). In a study of 187 counselor educators and doctoral students, Wester et al (2010) found 3% reporting the likelihood that they would falsify data to receive a grant and 3% would falsify data to get published. Falsification of data has serious implications for clinical practice and is contrary to publishing ethical research.…”

“…When working with minors, researchers should seek and receive consent from legal guardians before ever talking to minors or asking them to assent to participate in one's study. Wester, Willse, and Davis (2010) found 7% of counseling professionals (13 out of 187 participants) reported that they were unlikely to gain consent from a legal guardian before collecting data from an individual under the age of 18. Mann (2008) suggested researchers should include an oral presentation in addition to the written consent form to ensure all participants have a solid understanding of the procedures, risks, and benefits of any study.…”

“…APA provides a listing of what substantial considerations include. In the Wester et al (2010) study, 15% of the study respondents (n = 28) indicated they insist on being first author on a student's research project (e.g., dissertation), regardless of the student contribution. This goes against the ACA Code of Ethics specific to student research (ACA, 2005; Standard G.5.f.)…”

“…This may be particularly true in qualitative research where identifying a participant by age, gender, and ethnicity could make that person's identity known to other people in that community, given the small number of participants in many qualitative studies. Wester et al (2010) found that 8% of counselor educators and doctoral students (n = 15) were not likely to remove participants' identifying information when sharing data, and 3% (n = 6) were not likely to remove identifying information when presenting or publishing results. A problem that arose in another published report was a lawsuit that originated from a client whose counselor reported information of alleged child sexual abuse in a case study (see Geis & Loftus, 2010, for a discussion of the case Taus v. Loftus, 2003).…”