Applying “Place” to Research Ethics and Cultural Competence/Humility Training

Social Justice, Community Engagement, and Undergraduate STEM Education: Participatory Science as a Teaching Tool

Social justice is increasingly being seen as relevant to the science curriculum. We examine the intersection of participatory science, social justice, and higher education in the United States to investigate how instructors can teach about social justice and enhance collaborations to work toward enacting social justice. Participatory science approaches, like those that collect data over large geographic areas, can be particularly useful for teaching students about social justice. Conversely, local-scale approaches that integrate students into community efforts can create powerful collaborations to help facilitate social justice. We suggest a variety of large-scale databases, platforms, and portals that could be used as starting points to address a set of learning objectives about social justice. We also describe local-scale participatory science approaches with a social justice focus, developed through academic and community partnerships. Considerations for implementing participatory science with undergraduates are discussed, including cautions about the necessary time investment, cultural competence, and institutional support. These approaches are not always appropriate but can provide compelling learning experiences in the correct circumstances.

The Research Ethics Policy for the Effective Utilization of Research Equipment

Proposed in this article is a solution and guideline for scientific misconduct prevention through a research ethics policy proposal for the effective utilization of research equipment. First, the scientific misconduct classification system for research equipment utilization is discussed and presented. Then, the results of the survey carried out targeting research equipment scientists for the analysis of the recognition of scientific misconduct in research equipment utilization are presented. For this survey, the non-probability sampling method was utilized for 60 research equipment scientists. The results of the survey conducted among research equipment scientists showed significant correlations among the variables for all the questionnaire items. This paper proposes a research ethics policy for scientific misconduct prevention and for the effective utilization of research equipment through scientific misconduct classification in relation to research equipment utilization, and based on the survey results from the research equipment scientists.

Survey on Using Ethical Principles in Environmental Field Research with Place-Based Communities

Researchers of the Northeast Ethics Education Partnership (NEEP) at Brown University sought to improve an understanding of the ethical challenges of field researchers with place-based communities in environmental studies/sciences and environmental health by disseminating a questionnaire which requested information about their ethical approaches to these researched communities. NEEP faculty sought to gain actual field guidance to improve research ethics and cultural competence training for graduate students and faculty in environmental sciences/studies. Some aspects of the ethical challenges in field studies are not well-covered in the literature. More training and information resources are needed on the bioethical challenges in environmental field research relating to maximizing benefits/reducing risks to local inhabitants and ecosystems from research; appropriate and effective group consent and individual consent processes for many diverse communities in the United States and abroad; and justice considerations of ensuring fair benefits and protections against exploitation through community-based approaches, and cultural appropriateness and competence in researcher relationships.