Advancing the Use of Professional Decision-Making Strategies in a Culturally Diverse Research Community

Washington University, Saint Louis MO

Investigators

Abstract

Contemporary science is a global enterprise. International research collaborations continue to increase with globalization and as research becomes more complex and specialized. In the United States (U.S.), international researchers, especially from East Asian countries (e.g., China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan), make up a large portion of the research workforce. Researchers from different cultures may take different approaches to problems depending on their cultural upbringing. Decision-making strategies help researchers navigate complex and ambiguous professional and ethical problems they face throughout their careers. Yet, there is little evidence of how cultural upbringing shapes the approaches researchers take when making decisions about ethical problems in research. Educational approaches to fostering responsible conduct of research (RCR) in the U.S. have generally overlooked this issue as well. There is an urgent need to examine cultural differences in decision making and develop RCR training that is more culturally inclusive and effective for researchers from Eastern and Western cultural backgrounds. The goal of the present project is to identify and understand the similarities and differences in decision-making strategies among East Asian and U.S. researchers and use this knowledge to refine and evaluate the effectiveness of a culturally inclusive RCR training curriculum focused on decision-making skills. Data from this project will foster awareness of the perspectives of East Asian researchers. This awareness will contribute to improved communication, problem solving, and conflict resolution skills among researchers. This project addresses three objectives: 1) identify similarities and differences in ethical and professional decision-making strategies among East Asian and U.S. researchers using qualitative think-aloud interviews, 2) refine and deliver a culturally inclusive RCR training curriculum and assess the learning outcomes of decision-making strategies, behavioral indicators of strategy use, and implementation intentions, and 3) evaluate whether participants in the refined RCR training apply decision-making strategies in their daily research activities and test the effect of a monthly learning transfer intervention on strategy use over time. A vignette-based measure of professional decision-making in research will be completed by hundreds of U.S. and East Asian faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students. In-depth interviews will then be conducted with U.S. and East Asian researchers with both low and high scores on the professional-decision making measure to ensure a comprehensive range of perspectives about strategies for approaching decision-making. Data from interviews will then be used to refine, deliver, and evaluate a RCR training program that will be delivered to multiple cohorts of students. Longitudinal data will be collected from RCR training program participants to determine the effects of the refined RCR training and a learning transfer intervention on learning outcomes and behavior. Overall, greater awareness of cultural influences on the workplace perspectives and behaviors of researchers lays the groundwork for open dialogue among the research community and strengthening research, teaching, and community roles that researchers play in society. This proposal was funded through the ER2 program by the SBE Directorate and Office of International Science and Engineering. 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.