Ensuring that they are always a panel of researcher involved on data collection and reading. This will minimise the risk of individual researcher to conduct scientific misconduct.  

 

 

2.    What measures will you put in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of data from your dissertation project?

To ensure the confidentiality and security of data of my dissertation project, I need to ensure to adhere to the seven key principles of the GDPR. Being a researcher, I have principles to uphold, and I have to ensure to act upon those principles. Any data I produced will need to be transparent with the evidence for the accuracy and legitimacy of my project.

 

Please read the articles on scientific misconduct and GDPR, and then answer the following questions. Do not forget to have the completed worksheet with you in this week’s live session.

 

1.    What can be done to prevent scientific misconduct?

Other scientific researchers can check over another researchers work to make sure the data is true and honest. By doing things such as reconducting the experiment.

 

 

I will get legal basis and not throw out the rights of the participants in my research study. I would also have to be accurate, legitimate and honest with my results and what my project will involve for the participant.

 

1.    What can be done to prevent scientific misconduct?

 

Being aware of the BPS Data Protection Regulations legal basis for processing along with the extra data concerning ‘special category’ personal data and children. Knowing individual rights and the exemptions for research and keeping up to date with changes made through the BPS. Using the resources available and also having consultations regularly with research colleagues, university leaders and adding further education if/when required.

 

2.    What measures will you put in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of data from your dissertation project?

 

Ensuring data remains confidential and secure would require encryption of files on computer equipment and managing who has access to the computer. 

Managing paper records would require physically securing the files in locked storage, which could be anonymised and coded by using separate storage that holds personal data to de-identify the data.

Diederik Stapel exercised a great amount of autonomy. He also, by his own admission, manipulated others like his PhD. Students and Lab technicians, whereby, he would be the only person dealing with the raw data. It also appeared the University lacked proper oversight and supervision of research staff.  

Ways to address scientific misconduct: 

Better oversight and supervision of researchers. 

Having open and transparent audit systems in place. 

Have unannounced inspections of Data by relevant authorities and parties.  

 

 

Learn both BPS code of ethics and conduct, and data protection regulation and guidelines (GDPR), so they are both second nature to me.  

Follow university guidelines, BPS code of ethics and conduct, and data protection regulations.  

Always operate with openness, transparency and honesty, immediately flag up any concerns regarding the confidentiality and security of data. 

Have regular meetings with my supervisor to discuss any discrepancies, challenges or potential data breaches.   

Supervision and monitoring. Physical evidence, the questionnaires, the collected data, where it is stored and how it can be accessed if required. The explanation of how it was collected and from whom. An internal monitoring process within the university that can check and attest to the validity of what is being done. The actual data collected should fall into probable patterns and be able to be replicated if necessary.

 

 

2.    What measures will you put in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of data from your dissertation project?

Knowing the GDPR Guidance for researchers that I must ensure that I have appropriate security measures in place to protect the personal data I hold. That may be physical questionnaires kept under lock and key or digital questionnaires that are encrypted and the use of strong password protection and instead of a client’s name there is a code so as not to identify the client, but the code and named client can be accessed if required on another list also encrypted and again the use of strong password protection. Ensuring firewalls and anti-virus software is up-to-date and keeping the security and operational patches updated too all ensure an optimal atmosphere for data protection. 

DG

 

Measures can be taken to ensure scientific misconduct is not taken, this can be achieved by making sure your work corresponds with the BPS Code of Ethics and Concerns as well as Data Protection Legislation. 

 

Implementing a framework with internal monitoring can allow the validity of the results to be supported whilst being transparent with other researchers. Having a review process at multiple stages from different people unannounced can ensure that ethics are held to at all times and that the statistics cannot be fabricated. 

 

 

2.    What measures will you put in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of data from your dissertation project?

 

Ensure all researchers taking part have familiarised themselves with the BPS Code of Conduct and Ethics to make sure that work is done within the correct professional framework. 

 

Operate with full cooperation with everyone working and complete transparency throughout the research process. Following the GDPR’s principle will allow me to keep everyone involved protected.

·         Be sure that policies that apply to research and the protection of individuals involved are both in place and followed correctly.

·         Have constant communication with all those involved to prevent mistakes or create miscommunication (The GDPR; The right to be informed, the right of access etc).

·         Ensure supervision of the appropriate level is carried out. 

 

 

2.    What measures will you put in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of data from your dissertation project?

·         Fact check and security check any and all sources used when researching my topic.

·         If carrying out personal studies/ projects involving others, ensure confidentiality within areas such as anonymity as well as taking data protection into account (Data Protection act 2018).

·         Be personally aware of and follow the GDPR within all areas of my dissertation.
-C Morrison 

 

Scientific misconduct can be prevented via peer review, independent observers and analysts watching and checking experiments and their data, boards or interviewers asking questions to the researchers and scrutinising their methods and results. When researchers ask for grants, have them disclose their hypotheses and compare them to previous work to see if they worth investigating, when a piece of research is completed, have another set of neutral researchers do the exact same procedure again to test the accuracy of the results/data. Make sure that their lawful basis for the research is acceptable and not manipulated/ changed during the research. Make sure that the participants’ data is accessible if it needs to be tested, and make sure it meets confidentiality rules and security rules. Have the participants fill out consent forms and report their feelings on their experiences after the experiment is finished.

 

 

2.     What measures will you put in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of data from your dissertation project?

 

I will make sure the data is secure by saving it in a password protected file on a password protected computer. I will also make a secure back-up. I will make the data confidential by assigning anonymous participant numbers or creating an identifying key in the database based upon anonymous details like the participant number and their unique results. I will limit physical access to the data to only the researchers and I will not show or discuss the data with others.

There are no particular ways to prevent scientific misconduct as it is something that does sometimes happen, it would be very difficult to put exact measures in place to stop this. There are a number of things that may help reduce the likelihood of it happening though and these could be:

.Ensuring that policies governing academic research are not just in place but are being followed.

.Reinforcing expectations for the process of scientific rigor.

.Supervision 

.Communication

.Training and education for junior scientists

.Having mentors in place to oversee junior scientists work

What measures will you put in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of data from your dissertation project?

.I would use numbers where possible instead of names or personal information, if I have 100 participants in the study then I would ensure that each participant was numbered 1-100. 

.I would ensure that my study was well planned and that it adhered the GDPR legal standards so that not only one of the principles are being met but that most or all of them are.

.I would ensure that any personal information is in a password protected document so that no one else but me will have access to it. 

.I would use encrypted files to ensure that my data and the personal information of the participants is unreadable to others who don't have permission to access it.

 

To prevent scientific misconduct BPS standards around data protection must be followed by researchers and anyone undertaking studies or experiments. Breaching of these codes of conduct should be dealt with effectively in order to create a culture of safe, honest practice within the BPS. We saw in the articles that a colleague identified the misconduct and approached Stapel – so to practice alongside other people could prevent misconduct as there are others to identify mistakes or misconduct.  

 

 

2.    What measures will you put in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of data from your dissertation project?

 

-       Be transparent/record everything during research and report to tutors/supervisors at every step. 

-       Follow 7 key principles set out by the BPS and GDPR. 

-       Cover 6 legal bases and have all the necessary documents to state all info stored. 

-       Follow all individual rights. 

-       Use initials or code instead of individuals names to protect identity.

-       Use UWS resources with passwords and limited access/ limited chance of a breach of information. 

-       Have consent for any information stored from the individuals/ source. 

Scientific misconduct can be prevented by : having all the researchers scrutinize the write up of the article before being published (peer review), having researchers sign documentation promising to be completely truthful in the research process and with findings, having fixed penalties for deliberate misconduct and finally by Stringent evaluation of information extracted from sources.

2.    What measures will you put in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of data from your dissertation project?

Follow all GDPR protocol, use pseudonyms in all cases, full nconsent from all participants, debrief participants after the research process.

 

Steps should be taken to ensure that no matter the institution/ research organisation, researchers should be carefully monitored to ensure that there is no confirmation bias, inaccurate or manipulated data, and other fraudulent acts that violate the seven key principles of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). For instance, there should be some form of supervision or monitoring when carrying out research, regardless of having a Ph.D., or the status of the researcher. The results of an experiment should be shared with colleagues to ensure that they will not be tampered or manipulated. 

 

2.    What measures will you put in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of data from your dissertation project?

 

The information and identity of participants will not be disclosed. Data gathered from participants would only be gathered by the researcher for the purpose of the results section of the project. Additionally, the identity of the participants, if required for the experiment, would be removed before the results are added to the dissertation.