A cross-institutional survey on research integrity among research postgraduate students in Hong Kong and Taiwan

Abstract

The presentation reports on an anonymous online questionnaire on research integrity (RI) administered to research postgraduates (RPgs) at the University of Hong Kong and National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan from October 2018 to March 2019. The questionnaire, which was put on SurveyCake, aimed at examining the knowledge of and attitude on different aspects of responsible conduct of research (RCR) among RPgs at the two participating universities. The following aspects of RI were thus covered in the questionnaire: general understanding of RI concepts, one’s internal compass/values, responsibility of upholding RI, awareness of measures to uphold RI as taken in the research context, experience in and reaction to research misconduct/questionable research practice, and concerns behind whistleblowing. Other purposes of the study included: (a) facilitating any revamp of RCR education in the two universities; (b) shedding light on the degree of sensitivity to RI among RPgs in two Asian universities; and (c) serving as an exemplar of RCR research for universities which are interested in conducting RCR surveys. In the presentation, we will share the findings of the survey and highlight possible similarities and differences between RPgs of the two universities in terms of their understanding and awareness of RCR. We will end the presentation by discussing the implications of the survey findings from the RCR educational perspective.