This paper introduces the concept of 'hyper-ambition' in academia as a contributing factor to what has been termed a 'replication crisis' across some sciences. The replication crisis is an umbrella term that covers a range of 'questionable research practices', from sloppy reporting to fraud. There are already many proposals to address questionable…

Introduction: Recruiting undergraduate students to participate in research has long been an established practice within psychology. Although this data source has weaknesses, this involvement in the research process has considerable pedagogical value in teaching students research methodology. Statement of the Problem: Most common software packages…

Unethical research practices are prevalent in China, but little research has focused on the causes of these practices. Drawing on the criminology literature on organisational deviance, as well as the concept of "cengceng jiama," which illustrates the increase of pressure in the process of policy implementation within a top-down…

The higher education sector has been slow to respond to charges of institutional racism, which is reflected in what research is regarded as valid and what is funded. Further, many areas of student provision fall outside of the direct control of higher education institutions, for example, accommodation which may be operated by private landlords.…

This article provides a reflexive account of the authors' experiences of the ethical challenges in conducting a higher degree by research (HDR) supervision project prompted by the ethics review process in a major Australian university. The authors also raise epistemological questions about the specific focus of the study, given the interrelations…

The problem with most commissioned studies is that they are generally anchored on research protocols, guidelines and theoretical underpinnings imposed by research grant makers or the external Principal Investigator's (PI) own research design preferences. Furthermore, the problem is that researchers who are recruited during various phases of…

In the field of educational technology and instructional design, research methods are emerging that aim to curate different forms of knowledge and insights beyond traditional research studies, or what Reigeluth and An (in Reigeluth and Carr-Chellman (eds) Instructional-design theories and models: Building a common knowledge base, Lawrence Erlbaum…

Retractions have traditionally been reserved for correcting the scientific record and discouraging research misconduct. Nonetheless, the potential for actual societal harm resulting from accurately reported published scientific findings, so-called information hazards, has been the subject of several recent article retractions. As these instances…

Hofmann and Holm's (2019) recent survey on issues of research misconduct with PhD graduates culminated with a notable conclusion by the authors: 'Scientific misconduct seems to be an environmental issue as much as a matter of personal integrity'. Here, we re-emphasise the usefulness of an education-based countermeasure against toxic research…

This article explores how researchers adapt to disruptions that cost them access to their field sites, advancing a uniquely sociological perspective on the dynamics of flexibility and adaptation in qualitative methods. Through interviews with 31 ethnographers whose access was preempted or eliminated, I find that adaptation varied systematically…

This paper addresses the issue of how local and global norms and requirements are negotiated in the early stages of development of Social Science research ethics policy in a Global South context. A review of relevant literature followed by analysis of relevant national and institutional policies highlights both tensions and creative potential for…

Background: Research integrity has gained attention in the general public as well as in the research community. We wanted to investigate knowledge, attitudes, and practices amongst researchers that have recently finished their PhD and compare this to their responses during their PhD fellowship. In particular, we wanted to investigate whether their…

Being closely associated with your research subject brings methodological and ethical challenges. This case will discuss these challenges in the context of a study on how university teachers are affected by student feedback, where the researcher was a colleague of the teachers studied. The experiences from the study highlight the importance of…

Participatory research actively engages participants in some or all stages of the research process -- from deciding on scope and problem statement to actively collecting data to disseminating results and effecting change. Considering the shifting roles of participants and researchers in participatory ageing research, to the academic, participatory…

In this paper, we consider the intensifying pressures on critical research and academic integrity in a research policy context that has come to be increasingly dominated by an instrumentalist mind-set. Using sensitising resources drawn from Geoff Whitty's critique of the 'what works' agenda, we reflect on the current conditions of academic labour…