Integrity of the Research Process - Departure from Accepted Practices
In my May 5, 2006 comments, the first finding of research misconduct required under Federal regulations was
“A finding of research misconduct requires that:
There be a significant departure from accepted practices of the relevant research community.”
In my May 12, 2006 comments, I established that educational research is covered by the regulations in footnote 2.
It is my opinion (and remember that I am not an attorney) that many educational researchers are making “a significant departure from accepted practices of the relevant research community.” This is based on my research showing that they are not following the scientific method and the general acknowledgment in the literature that educational research is not reliable.
In the Federal regulations, does “relevant research community” mean the individual fields covered under footnote 2, or does it mean the research communities covered by the regulations?
If it means the individual communities, then what is an act of misconduct in some communities is not in others. However, certainly no community of researchers would approve of widespread ignoring of contrary evidence that I believe exists in the educational field.
Whatever the case, it seems that clarification is needed on what applies and why. For, despite the Federal Regulations on Research Misconduct, there is much evidence and acknowledgment that educational research is not reliable.
From the Federal Register (vol. 65, no. 235, December 6, 2000):
“III. Responsibilities of Federal Agencies and Research Institutions
Agencies and research institutions are partners who share responsibility for the research process. Federal agencies have ultimate oversight authority for Federally funded research, but research institutions bear primary responsibility for prevention and detection of research misconduct and for the inquiry, investigation, and adjudication of research misconduct alleged to have occurred in association with their own institution.”
This places the primary responsibility for the prevention and detection of research misconduct on colleges, universities, and other grantees. Wow! This seems unfair if the Federal agencies have been sanctioning the theory that the scientific method doesn’t exist, isn’t necessary to be used, or ignoring it. The U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation have never made a grant to research what the scientific method consists of.
In several recent acts, Congress has said that scientifically valid or scientifically based research must be done. I have shown that this means research following the scientific method. However, even though I have pointed this out (in a special report) to the U.S. Department of Education and some other agencies, they are not acknowledging it to be so.
Under the requirement that grantees have primary responsibility, they could have the possibility of billions of dollars of liability if a test case establishes that the scientific method should have been used in research and was not used. This doesn’t seem fair, as perpetuation of the Blunder has been primarily by leaders of our government agencies. Universities and other grantees should protect themselves by being sure that on current grants their employees follow the scientific method.
