STP Professional Practice & Ethics 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A scientist is asked to provide an expert witness statement for a legal case. What is their primary duty?
- To support the case of the party who instructed them
- To provide an objective, independent opinion to the court (Correct answer)
- To use technical jargon to demonstrate expertise
- To avoid giving a definitive opinion to protect themselves
Correct answer: To provide an objective, independent opinion to the court
Expert witnesses owe their primary duty to the court, not to the instructing party, and must give an honest, objective, and independent opinion.
Question 2: What does 'beneficence' require of a healthcare researcher?
- Ensuring equal distribution of research benefits across all populations
- Actively promoting the wellbeing of participants and maximising benefits of the research (Correct answer)
- Avoiding all risks regardless of potential benefits
- Obtaining financial benefit from research outcomes
Correct answer: Actively promoting the wellbeing of participants and maximising benefits of the research
Beneficence requires researchers to act in the best interests of participants and society by maximising benefits while minimising risks.
Question 3: A scientist working in the NHS wants to share de-identified patient data with an overseas collaborator. What must they consider first?
- Whether the collaborator speaks English
- Whether the destination country has adequate data protection standards under UK GDPR (Correct answer)
- Whether the data set is larger than 1GB
- Whether the collaboration is financially beneficial
Correct answer: Whether the destination country has adequate data protection standards under UK GDPR
UK GDPR restricts international data transfers to countries with adequate protection levels or requires appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses.
Question 4: The Research Governance Framework in the UK requires that all research carried out within the NHS has:
- Approval from the Trust's finance department only
- Appropriate ethics approval and NHS/HSC R&D permission before it commences (Correct answer)
- Peer-reviewed publication funding secured in advance
- A minimum of five co-investigators
Correct answer: Appropriate ethics approval and NHS/HSC R&D permission before it commences
Research in the NHS requires both ethics committee approval and NHS/HSC Research and Development permission before it can begin.
Question 5: A trainee healthcare scientist makes a clinical error that causes minor patient harm. What is the ethical obligation?
- Say nothing and hope the patient does not notice
- Disclose the error to the patient, report it through incident reporting, and reflect on learning (Correct answer)
- Only report if the patient makes a complaint
- Discuss only with close colleagues informally
Correct answer: Disclose the error to the patient, report it through incident reporting, and reflect on learning
Openness and honesty (the 'duty of candour') requires that patients are told about errors that affect them, and incidents are formally reported for learning.
Question 6: Which of the following scenarios represents a 'conflict of commitment' rather than a conflict of interest?
- Receiving payment from a company whose product you are researching
- Holding a directorship in a company while holding a full-time NHS post that demands equivalent time (Correct answer)
- Publishing data that contradicts a funder's preferred conclusions
- Using NHS equipment for personal research outside working hours
Correct answer: Holding a directorship in a company while holding a full-time NHS post that demands equivalent time
A conflict of commitment arises when outside activities compete with the time and effort owed to the primary employer, distinct from financial conflicts of interest.
Question 7: What is the role of the UK Research Integrity Office (UKRIO) in relation to scientific misconduct?
- To prosecute researchers who commit fraud
- To provide advice, guidance, and support to organisations on research integrity matters (Correct answer)
- To conduct all investigations into misconduct itself
- To revoke academic qualifications of those found guilty of misconduct
Correct answer: To provide advice, guidance, and support to organisations on research integrity matters
UKRIO provides independent advice, resources, and guidance to support institutions in maintaining research integrity; investigations remain the responsibility of individual institutions.
STP Professional Practice & Ethics 5
A scientist is asked to provide an expert witness statement for a legal case.
What is their primary duty?