Last updated: May 9, 2012

Kenneth D. Pimple, Ph.D.

Vita | Biographical sketch

Blogs: Ethical Guidance for Pervasive and Autonomous IT (PAIT) | Teaching Research Ethics Workshop-Digital Extension

On this page: Introduction | Papers and presentations | Case studies and other materials for teaching research ethics | Other forms of self-promotion

Introduction

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I am Director of Teaching Research Ethics Programs at the Poynter Center for Study of Ethics and American Institutions at Indiana University Bloomington and Senior Advisor for Ethics CORE. Among other things, I direct the Teaching Research Ethics Workshop; offer workskhops in the responsible conduct of research for postdoctoral researchers; and lead an NSF-funded project on Ethical Guidance for Research and Application of Pervasive and Autonomous Information Technology (PAIT).

Papers and presentations

Some of my recent papers and presentations on ethics, listed from most recent to least recent.

• Fostering Scholarly Integrity: A workshop on developing educational experiences. Presented at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, December 2, 2011.
• Abstract: Working with ethicists: A bestiary - Presented at the Congress on Teaching Social and Ethical Implications of Research, sponsored by Arizona State University and the National Science Foundation, November 11, 2011, Tempe, Arizona.
• How common is bad behavior in science? - A summary of recent empirical studies of the rate of misconduct and other unacceptable behaviors in science, which I use in various presentations.
• A best-case scenario for the organization of university research. Presented at a workshop entitled Building a Research Environment that Promotes Best Practices held at Colorado State University, June 9, 2009, sponsored by CSU's Vice President for Research and Office for Undergraduate Research and Artistry.
• Unintended consequences of RCR education, instruction, and training mandates and Resisting the siren call of behavioral change (with Douglas Adams). Presented at the first biennial conference on Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Education, Instruction, and Training, St. Louis, Missouri, April 17 and 18, 2008, sponsored by the Office of Research Integrity and the Washington University School of Medicine
• "Introduction" to Kenneth D. Pimple, ed. 2008. Research Ethics. Hampshire, UK: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
• RCR Education Reconsidered. Presented at the national meeting of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, Cincinnati, Ohio, February 2007.
• Collaborative Research: Avoiding Pitfalls and Sharing Credit. Prepared for presentation at a workshop sponsored by the Indiana University Office of the Vice President for Research and the Poynter Center, "Collaborative Research: Avoiding Pitfalls and Sharing Credit," April 22, 2005 (see http://www.iupui.edu/~resed/collaborativereswkshp05intro.html). Earlier versions were presented at a Research Symposium on November 12, 2003 (http://www.iupui.edu/~resed/symposiumintrofall03.htm) and a workshop series, "Working Together: Rules, Regulations, and Etiquette of Collaborative Research," in February and March of 2003 (http://poynter.indiana.edu/rugs/).
• The Flaw in the Ointment: What Research on Research Ethics can Learn from Research on Crime. (First author: Douglas Adams, University of Arkansas.) Presented at the ORI Research Conference on Research Integrity, San Diego, California, November 2004.
• Moral sanctions and their limits for non-biomedical research with human subjects. Presented at a national meeting held at Indiana University-Bloomington and entitled Exploring Risks and Rights in Non-Biomedical Research, sponsored by the U.S. Office for Human Research Protections; the Office of the Vice President for Research, Indiana University; and the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions, Indiana University, October 20, 2004. (An earlier version presented at the University of Georgia-Athens, July 28, 2003 is still available.)
• Foundational justifications for human biomedical experimentation. Presented at a national Research Community Forum held in Amherst, New York, July 15, 2004 and entitled "What Investigators and Research Staff Need to Know About Human Research Protections," sponsored by Roswell Park Cancer Institute, the U.S. Office of Human Research Protections, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
• Integrity in scientific research, The Scientist December 15, 2003.
• Three papers prepared for the Institute of Medicine Committee on Assessing Integrity in Research Environments. The papers are available here in PDF format, and can also be obtained from the National Academies Public Access Files, 2101 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington DC 20418; (202) 334-3543.
  • Assessing teaching and learning in the responsible conduct of research.
  • The moral climate of research in the United States today.
  • More paperwork, less research: Reflections on the research environment in the United States.
• Good intentions are not enough: A few examples of the importance of oversight in research involving human subjects. Presented at a workshop entitled People Studying People: Responsible Research with Human Subjects, Sponsored by the Indiana University Office of Research and the University Graduate School, November 2001.
• Ethics of research with human subjects. Presented at the Research Ethics Institute, North Carolina State University, June 2001.
• The limits of review. Presented at a national conference on "Ethics Oversight at the Frontiers of Biomedical Research," sponsored by the University of Illinois-Chicago College of Medicine's Program on Research Ethics in the Clinical, Biomedical and Public Health Sciences, June 2001.
• Six domains of research ethics: A heuristic framework for the responsible conduct of research. 2002. Science and Engineering Ethics 8:191-205.
• Research Ethics. A workshop presented at the the Ninth Annual National Textile Center Forum, Kingston Plantation-Embassy Suites, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, February 2001.
• The Least You Need to Know about the Rules Governing Human Subjects Research at IU. A workshop presented for the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, Indiana University, January 2001, and presented at a number of other venues subsequently. Last updated April 2008.
• Prometheus re-bound: Reflections on the responsible conduct of research. Presented for the Research Ethics Grand Rounds of the Center for the Study of Medical Ethics and Humanities, Duke University, July 2000.
• Research Ethics. A workshop presented at the international conference of the Association for Moral Education, Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 1999.
• Letters on Federal policies. The opinions expressed in these letters are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Poynter Center or Indiana University.
  • 2 Dec 1999: Comment on the " Proposed Federal Policy on Research Misconduct To Protect the Integrity of the Research Record" [Federal Register 64 (October 14, 1999):55722-55725]. (Note:A slightly revised policy was adopted on December 6, 2000.)
  • 21 Sep 2000: Comment on the "Proposed PHS Policy on Instruction in the Responsiblepr Conduct of Research (RCR)." (Note: The final policy was published on December 6, 2000.
• Why all these rules? Part one of a two part presentation on "Following the Rules" prepared for presentation at the University of Minnesota, February 1999.
• An approved protocol with study information sheets and informed consent documents. It is sometimes helpful to researchers to see protocols and consent documents that have already made it through the Human Subjects Committee. I am posting these documents in the hopes that they will prove useful to researchers preparing to undertake similar research, which might be described as participant-observation or qualitative, ethnographic, or naturalistic research.
• Responsible Conduct in Science: Promoting Research Ethics. A workshop for scientists, teachers, and students sponsored by The Ethics Institute, a cooperative venture of Cedar Crest College and Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown, Pennsylvania, October 1998.
• Contexts for teaching research ethics. Presented at a workshop on Research and Environmental Ethical Issues, Institute of Preventive and Clinical Medicine, Bratislava, Slovak Republic, April 1998.
• Ethical issues of human cloning. Presented for the Continuing Studies Program, Indiana University, February 1998; and Trinity Episcopal Church, Bloomington, Indiana, March 1998.
• Defining misconduct in science: Some reflections on the American experience. Presented for the National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and the Humanities, Oslo, Norway, March 1997.
• Preventive ethics. Reprinted from Research Integrity, a semi-annual newsletter from Michigan State University, Spring 1997, 1(3):2-3.
• A few key issues in research ethics. Presented at the Whitaker Foundation Biomedical Engineering Research Conference, August 10, 1996.
• Mixed messages and straight talk: The importance of teaching the responsible conduct of science. Presented at the Northwest Region Annual Conference of the American College of Sports Medicine, February 17, 1996.
• Fieldwork ethics. Presented at a faculty/student colloquium on "Ethics, Folklore, and Critical Research" at Indiana University's Folklore Institute on January 17, 1995.

Case studies and other materials for teaching research ethics

See also Resources for Teaching Research Ethics.

• Adventures in Collaborative Research - 6-page script-style case with questions for discussion. Social science (oral history) and interdisciplinary research. Issues include authorship, mentoring, collaborative research, miscommunication, and human subjects research.
• Adventures in Collaborative Research (abridged version) - 3-page abridgement of "Adventures in Collaborative Research" with fewer issues. No questions for discussion.
• The Alex Saunders Case - 5-page script-style case. Classroom-based research with young children. Issues include honesty and obligations, mentorship, and research with young children.
• The Allan Mathers Case - 2-page abridgement of "The Alex Saunders Case" with fewer issues.
• The Cynthia Lee Case - 2-page script-style case. Classroom-based research with elementary school children. Issues include human subjects research and research by graduate students.
• Exercise: Rules - 1-page, 7 step out-of-class exercise to familiarize graduate students (and others) with the rules governing their research.
• Exercise: Report Reviews - 2-page in-class or out-of-class exercise. Quantitative experimental research. Issues include publication practices, outliers, fabrication, falsification, and research oversight (mentoring).
• Exercise: Two-statement icebreaker - 1-page in-class exercise with comments on my use of the exercise. Any kind of research.
• Faculty Responsibilities and Student Rights - 4-page script-style case. Graduate and undergraduate education. Issues include grading, mentoring, and respect.
• The Least You Need to Know about the Rules Governing Human Subjects Research at IU - 2-page information sheet. Briefly describes the Belmont principles, the definition of human subjects research, the three forms of review, and other useful information.
• An Idiosyncratic Array of Information on Research Ethics - 1-page information sheet. Includes information on reporting suspected research misconduct at IU; what to know before making an allegation; useful Web sites; and a short form of The Ten Most Important Things to Know about Research Ethics.
• The Nexus I Case - 2-page script-style case (unusually heavy on background). Classroom-based research. Issues include collaboration between researchers and elementary schools.
• The Officer Cain Case - 1-page in-class exercise, with suggestions for use. An attempt to highlight differences between consequentialist/utilitarian and deontological/rule-based reasoning.
• The Polly Wells Case - 2-page, script-style case with questions for discussion. Qualitative human subjects research (interviewing). Issues include the differences between gossip, journalism, and sociology; and the rules governing human subjects research.
• Protection of Human Subjects in Non-Biomedical Research: A Tutorial. A 33-page tutorial developed for Indiana University to meet the NIH mandate that human subjects researchers must receive education in the protection of human subjects.
• Prisoner's Dilemma Tournament - An Excel spreadsheet intended to facilitate a Prisoner's Dilemma tournament for classroom teaching, with minimal instructions; use at your own risk.

The ten most important things to know about research ethics

I was half-joking when I wrote the first version of this little list, but it seems to have stood up well. My latest revision is somewhat more extreme than most that went before, so I decided to make previous versions (the ones I still have) available here as well.

• May 5, 2009 (latest verstion)
• October 3, 2007
• August 20, 2007 (not previously posted)
• April 26, 2007
• July 1997 - This is the long-lost first version, consisting only of 6 items, embedded in a longish essay entitled "An Impromptu Session on Research Ethics."

Other forms of self-promotion

I was interviewed for "The Science of Doing It Right," an article in Research & Creative Activity (Spring 2006), a publication of IU's Office of the Provost for Research; and for "Teaching Research Ethics," an article in Teaching & Learning (Fall/Winter 2008), a publication of IU's Office of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculties.

http://mypage.iu.edu/~pimple/