CRS Research Integrity & Scientific Misconduct 3

Question 1

Which of the following is a core area included in Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) education as outlined by federal guidelines?

Accepted Answer

Research mentoring, conflict of interest, data management, and research misconduct

Answer

Grant budgeting, laboratory safety protocols, and publication formatting only

Answer

Animal care, clinical trials management, and statistical software training

Answer

Participant recruitment, survey design, and literature review skills

Question 2

A financial conflict of interest (COI) in research most commonly arises when:

Accepted Answer

A researcher has financial ties to an entity that could bias research design, conduct, or reporting

Answer

Two investigators disagree about the interpretation of shared findings

Answer

A researcher competes for the same grant as a peer reviewer on the panel

Answer

A researcher receives funding from both NIH and NSF simultaneously

Question 3

Outcome reporting bias (selective reporting) threatens research integrity because it:

Accepted Answer

Distorts the published literature by reporting only significant or favorable outcomes while omitting others

Answer

Increases the statistical power of a study beyond acceptable limits

Answer

Violates participant confidentiality agreements in clinical studies

Answer

Significantly increases the time required for the peer review process

Question 4

Pre-registration of a study (e.g., on ClinicalTrials.gov or the OSF) primarily serves to:

Accepted Answer

Publicly document hypotheses, methods, and outcomes before data collection to prevent post-hoc manipulation

Answer

Ensure IRB approval is automatically granted before data collection begins

Answer

Guarantee acceptance for publication in a peer-reviewed journal

Answer

Establish intellectual property rights over the study design and protocol

Question 5

Which federal body issued the overarching policy definition of research misconduct that applies across all federally funded research in the US?

Accepted Answer

Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)

Answer

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Answer

Office of Research Integrity (ORI)

Answer

National Science Foundation (NSF)

Question 6

Which practice is most consistent with maintaining research integrity when reporting analytical results?

Accepted Answer

Including all pre-specified outcomes and analyses, whether results are significant or not

Answer

Reporting only the statistical tests that yielded significant results to streamline the manuscript

Answer

Adjusting the significance threshold after viewing the data to better fit the findings

Answer

Rounding p-values to the nearest hundredth to simplify presentation

Question 7

A researcher is pressured by a senior colleague to list the department chair as a co-author, despite the chair having no involvement in the study. Accepting this request would constitute:

Accepted Answer

Honorary (gift) authorship, which violates research integrity and ICMJE standards

Answer

Appropriate professional courtesy that is widely accepted in academic settings

Answer

A legitimate acknowledgment of the chair's administrative support for the research

Answer

A conflict of interest that must be disclosed in the manuscript's COI statement