Question 3- What harm does misconduct lead to
docx
keyboard_arrow_up
School
Arizona State University *
*We aren’t endorsed by this school
Course
416
Subject
Political Science
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
docx
Pages
1
Uploaded by karen4546
Question 3- What harm does misconduct lead to?
Case
In the following case, a principal investigator (PI) committed “research misconduct since he
plagiarized text into a National Science Foundation (NSF) proposal” (National Science
Foundation, 2018). The university concluded that the “principal investigator and the graduate
students were engaging in a trend of self-plagiarism in their published papers” (National Science
Foundation, 2018). According to the NSF definition, “self-plagiarism is not a research
misconduct but can be an ethically questionable practice” (National Science Foundation, 2018).
The university delayed the principal investigator’s application for a year, they assigned him a
faculty mentor, they required him to take a Responsible Conduct of Research Basic (RCR)
course, and for 3 years, he has to submit all proposals and manuscripts to the Office of the
Associate Provost for review before any kind of submissions” (National Science Foundation,
2018). In addition, the NSF, required the PI to complete the RCR training program within 1 year,
he is barred from participating as an NSF peer reviewer, advisor, or consultant for a year, and is
required to provide certification and assurance for each document that he contributed for
submission for a year” (National Science foundation, 2018).
The harms
The actions of the PI to self-plagiarize texts in his proposal to the NSF caused harm to students,
his university, and the NSF. The PI is supposed to mentor his students to value and uphold
integrity and ethical standards for how to conduct research but instead was a bad leader and a
poor mentor by demonstrating and enabling his students to self-plagiarize. He harmed his
students emotionally and psychologically by causing emotional distress and confusion about
how to act on their moral and ethical standards by persuading them to cheat. He harmed his
students financially because they lost their job since there is a delay in the PI’s work. There was
no physical harm but there was reputational harm as they will also be viewed as untrustworthy
for being associated with and conducting self-plagiarism. The university will not experience
physical harm, but his colleagues will feel emotional distress for trusting and believing that the
PI was doing the right thing. The university will face financial harm since they had to pay for the
investigation and with the results of the investigation, there will be a negative reputation
attached to the school. The NSF would not face physical harm but will face financial harm as
they poured their resources to the PI and his work that has now been impounded and deemed
as ineffective due to plagiarism
Discover more documents: Sign up today!
Unlock a world of knowledge! Explore tailored content for a richer learning experience. Here's what you'll get:
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help