Survey on Responsible Conduct of Research among Researchers in Malaysia

Yap, Rei Shian (2022) Survey on Responsible Conduct of Research among Researchers in Malaysia. [Project Paper] (Submitted)

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Abstract

Responsible conduct of research (RCR) entails the awareness and application of ethical principles in the performance of all research activities. RCR education and training programmes are established to prepare and train researchers to conduct research with integrity. RCR is a relatively new subject in Malaysia with limited data available. This study aims to research the attitude and perception of RCR in Malaysia with the hope that insights gained can be used to improve RCR education and policies in Malaysia. Objectives: This study aims to analyse the acceptance of researchers in Malaysia towards research misconduct or detrimental research practices (DRP), determine the prevalence of research misconducts and DRP in Malaysia, and evaluate the likeliness of researchers in Malaysia to whistle-blow. Methodology: The National Survey on Responsible Conduct of Research was designed previously and data collection via SurveyMonkey© is still ongoing. 400 responses from May and June 2021 were randomly extracted for analysis. Association analyses were performed using Kruskal Wallis H Test and Mannwhitney U Test. Results: Among 400 respondents, 97 of them are students and the rest are non-students. Majority of the respondents chose unacceptable or strongly unacceptable for most of the research misconduct or DRP. Splitting purchase order and splitting research data have the most diverse responses. Meanwhile, the most commonly encountered research misconduct or DRP are irresponsible collaborator and irresponsible mentorship. Likeliness to whistle-blow varied among respondents in which researchers with research experience of 6 – 15 years are less likely to whistle-blow. Discussion: This research shows that researchers in Malaysia are aware of the inappropriateness of research misconduct or DRP. Since irresponsible collaborator and irresponsible mentorship were encountered the most, this suggests that training in best collaboration and mentorship practices is much needed. Diverse responses on likeliness to whistle-blow suggest that the awareness of whistleblowing among researchers are still low. Conclusion: Although the majority of the researchers deemed research misconduct or DRP as unacceptable, the prevalence of some unethical conducts is still high. Therefore, in addition to creating awareness, accountability and self-regulation should also be promoted.

Item Type:	Project Paper
Faculty:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Science
Depositing User:	Ms. Nor Safa'aton Saidin
Date Deposited:	22 Aug 2023 07:06
Last Modified:	22 Aug 2023 07:06
URI:	http://psaspb.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/1379

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