A Digital Nudge: Assessing the Impact of an Immutable Records Data Management Platform on Student Researcher Ethics

许多研究项目涉及科学家在几个实验室或大学的多个研究小组工作。项目参与者往往无法获得特定项目的完整数据链和信息链。因此，错误和不当的研究行为无法被项目参与者发现和纠正。即使允许查阅事件链中的数据，人们也可能对数据的真实性存有挥之不去的疑虑，即担心数据可能是捏造的、被不当篡改的，或者遗漏了有关数据获取和处理步骤的重要信息。其后果是，糟糕或误导性的科学研究可能会导致错误的结论。已经颁布了几项建议，以解决政府资助的科学研究的可信度问题，例如国家经济委员会发布的关于可再现性和可复制性的报告。需要提高科学研究的可信度和可复制性，与需要改进学术和其他研究机构遵守道德和负责任的研究标准密切相关。该项目的目标是研究和评估数据管理平台(DMP)的潜力，该平台可用于固定的研究记录，以改善大学实验室环境中围绕科学研究文化和规范的伦理。了解不变研究记录的管理如何影响科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)学生研究人员的表现，是创新挑战成功的关键决定因素。这项考试的一个中间目标是确定DMP知识在多大程度上提高了研究标准。最重要的假设是，DMP不仅将改善对道德和负责任的研究行为的遵守，它还将增强学生研究人员对数据伦理重要性的行为，以及补充他们可能通过其机构接受的伦理培训。该项目将通过两种机制建立保持研究数据透明度的原型：(A)将技术嵌入科学工作流程(“数字推动”)，以创造对道德负责的研究文化；(B)评估强制遵守研究诚信标准的重要性。评估介入DMP的效果将在研究活跃的环境中进行，这样STEM的学生研究人员将能够管理项目的原创性和进展，以及项目数据、想法和发现的时间戳。这项评估将有助于研究动机和社会认知如何影响研究行为行为的理论。研究进展的动态更新和不变的实时记录将通过加密访问和验证来实现。在一种比较的方法中，将部署调查，在使用DMP之前和之后从学生研究人员那里收集数据。研究设计将采用一种新的重复方差分析(ANOVA)方法，对治疗组在两个或两个以上不同的时间段进行DMP干预前后。变革性议程旨在评估一成不变的研究记录对研究创新的影响程度，以及在伦理和负责任的研究行为方面开辟新领域的途径。该项目的一个关键影响将是将伦理注入公平，因为在人-技术界面上没有身份区分不仅提供了一条途径来容纳学生和教师STEM研究人员，而且还为公平的研究责任和进展提供了一个包容的生态系统。因此，这个项目将在研究中招募代表不足的少数族裔和识别女性的学生。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Many research projects involve scientists working in multiple research groups at several laboratories or universities. Quite often, project participants do not have access to the complete chain of data and information for a given project. As a result, mistakes and improper research conduct cannot be discovered and corrected by the project participants. Even if access to the data in the chain of events is provided, there may be lingering doubts about the veracity of the data, i.e., fears regarding the possibility that data was fabricated, improperly altered or that important information about data acquisition and processing steps were omitted. The consequence is that poor or misleading scientific studies can result in erroneous conclusions. Several recommendations have been promulgated to address the credibility of government-funded scientific studies, such as the report regarding reproducibility and replicability issued by the National Economic Council. The need to improve the credibility and replicability of scientific studies is closely related to the need for improving compliance with ethics and responsible research standards in academic and other research institutions. The objective of this project is to study and evaluate the potential of a Data Management Platform (DMP) for immutable research records to improve the ethics surrounding scientific research cultures and norms in university laboratory settings. Understanding how the management of immutable research records impacts the performance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) student researchers is a crucial determinant to the success of the innovation challenge. An intermediate goal of this examination is to determine the extent to which the knowledge of a DMP enhances research standards. The overarching hypothesis is that a DMP will not only improve compliance with ethical and responsible conduct of research, it will also enhance the behaviors of student researchers toward the importance of data ethics as well as supplement ethics training they might receive through their institution. This project will establish a prototype for maintaining the transparency of research data through two mechanisms: (a) embedding technology into the scientific workflow (a ‘digital nudge’) in order to create cultures of ethically responsible research, and (b) evaluating the importance of mandatory compliance with research integrity standards. Evaluating the efficacy of the intervening DMP will be in the context of research-active environments such that STEM student researchers will be able to manage project originality and advances with time stamps on project data, ideas and discoveries. This evaluation will contribute to the theory of how motivation and social cognition influence behaviors toward research conduct. The dynamic updating of research progress with immutable recording in real-time will be with encrypted access and validation. In a comparative approach, surveys will be deployed to collect data from student researchers prior to and after the use of the DMP. The research design will employ a novel repeated analysis of variance (ANOVA) approach on the treatment group before and after the DMP intervention over two or more different time periods. The transformative agenda is the design to evaluate the extent to which immutable research records influence research innovation with pathways to new frontiers on ethics and responsible conduct of research. A key impact of this project will be ethics infused with equity because the absence of identity distinctions at the human-technology interface offers an avenue to not only accommodate student and faculty STEM researchers, but also proffers an inclusive ecosystem for equitable research responsibility and progress. Thus, this project will recruit underrepresented minorities and woman-identifying students in the study.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.