From: Subject: Ethics 101: A Course About the Pitfalls Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 12:31:35 -1000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0000_01C39C86.430C0DC0"; type="text/html" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0000_01C39C86.430C0DC0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: file://G:\CEI%20Board\Ethics%20101%20A%20Course%20About%20the%20Pitfalls.htm Ethics 101: A Course About the = Pitfalls
3D"The 3D"In
October 21, 2003

Ethics 101: A Course About the = Pitfalls

By GINA=20 KOLATA

3DR=20ICHMOND, Va. =97 To the = uninitiated, ethics in=20 science can sound as straightforward as the West Point honor code: = a cadet=20 will not lie, cheat, steal or tolerate those who do. Just = substitute=20 "scientist" for "cadet," and that should be it.

But the 50 or so graduate students taking Dr. Francis L. = Macrina's=20 ethics course at Virginia Commonwealth University are getting = quite a=20 different view of research ethics, one that asks troubling = questions about=20 professional relationships and how to draw moral lines in the sand = if=20 their own careers are at stake.

It is a view that reflects a growing realization among = researchers that=20 the real ethics issues in science are not so much the scandals = that rock=20 the field periodically =97 charges of outright fabrications, = invented data,=20 theft of another's research. Instead, they say, they worry about = more=20 insidious problems that can corrupt science from within and push = promising=20 researchers who are uninformed about the rules out the door.

And so, increasingly, scientists, like Dr. Macrina, who is a=20 microbiologist, are formally teaching students the manners and = mores of=20 research today.

His syllabus reflects the issues, which include tricky = questions of=20 data manipulation and conflicts of interest.

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, the subject was the delicate=20 relationship between graduate students and the professors who act = as their=20 mentors. What about the mentor who encourages students to compete = with one=20 another? Or one who insists on being the lead author on a = published=20 article that was based on a student's ideas and a student's = work?

Every year, scientists say, more is at risk. With increasing = corporate=20 funding, there are questions of who owns data and what constitutes = a=20 conflict of interest. With data sharing on the Internet, there are = questions of what is being revealed, and to whom, prior to = publication.=20 With larger and larger collaborations, there are questions of who = is an=20 author.

"This is a new discipline," said Dr. Michael Kalichman, who = teaches a=20 similar course at the University of California at San Diego. "All = of us=20 are in many ways floundering. What should we be teaching about, = and how=20 should we teach it so it is effective?"

The scientists say that there is a reason why they, not = professional=20 ethicists, are doing the teaching.

"We may not know as much as we would like to about ethics, but = by and=20 large people who are ethicists are not going to know much about = the=20 practical issues of doing science," said Dr. Michael Zigmond, a = neurology=20 researcher at the University of Pittsburgh. "They may end up = providing=20 advice that will not work, and they may have a hard time relating = to our=20 students. They are coming from a different place."

He and other scientists said they were largely self-taught in=20 scientific ethics, by necessity. "The truth is that somebody like = me, who=20 runs a lab, we deal with ethical issues several times a day," Dr. = Zigmond=20 said. And they have watched graduate students falter. "Usually, = these kids=20 are good at evaluating research questions," Dr. Zigmond said. "But = when=20 they step outside their field into ethics, it's as though they = think their=20 capacity to logically analyze a situation is suspended."

It is a discipline born, in large part, from a federal mandate. = In=20 1989, the National Institutes of Health began requiring that = graduate=20 students supported by its grants have training in the responsible = conduct=20 of research. No money was provided for such training, and none is = provided=20 now, and many schools took care of it with half-day seminars or = Web sites.=20 But more and more, universities are instituting real courses, like = the one=20 Dr. Macrina teaches, and requiring students to take them.

There are no national data on the number of courses being = offered, but=20 scientists, like Dr. Zigmond, who teaches a seminar on how to = teach them,=20 and Dr. Macrina and Dr. Kalichman, who advise universities that = are=20 setting up courses, say their services are increasingly in = demand.

At the same time, scientists have become more contentious about = ethics=20 issues, like who has the right to be an author on a paper. Not = long ago,=20 journals almost never heard from angry scientists in such = disputes, Dr.=20 Macrina said. But now, he said, editors tell him such arguments = are=20 regular occurrences, and his own experience as a recent editor of = The=20 Journal of the American Society for Microbiology confirms the = problem.

Students may have no idea that they are heading for such a = dispute =97=20 and this is one reason why Dr. Zigmond likes to present students = with a=20 case history that can end up that way. He and others teaching = ethics=20 course rely on stories they collect from their own experiences and = those=20 of other researchers.

This case involves a woman who has just finished her Ph.D. and = has=20 gotten a job. She is packing up her things to go, when her adviser = tells=20 her that she can't take her lab notebooks; they belong to the lab = and, by=20 the way, he has already assigned another student to continue with = some of=20 the experiments she had started.

What should she do? Go off without the notebooks, sneak in over = the=20 weekend and copy them?

Most students think there is nothing to discuss. Some say she = should=20 take the data; most say she should not.

She may feel she has a right to be concerned, Dr. Zigmond says, = because=20 they are her ideas, her work. But suppose she takes the notebooks = and=20 later wants to use some of the data in a paper she is publishing. = Does she=20 tell her former adviser? Does she put his name on the paper? What = if she=20 tells him and he says she cannot use the data? Or does she simply = publish=20 the data without her adviser's name on the paper? "What's the = ethics of=20 that?" Dr. Zigmond asks.

"We try to encourage students to ask what could she have done = to=20 prevent this sort of thing from happening," Dr. Zigmond said. "Why = is this=20 news to the student, that her adviser considers her notebooks to = be the=20 property of the lab? We ask them how many have talked to their = advisers=20 about who owns their data. Almost no one."

It turns out, Dr. Zigmond said, that the one question the = students fail=20 to ask is what the university's regulations say. "Many = universities have=20 as part of their guidelines the right for any student who has a = lab=20 notebook to take a copy," he said.

Both the student and her adviser were at fault, he added. "She = should=20 have learned who the data belonged to," he said, although students = almost=20 never think to ask. And her adviser should have told her the = regulations,=20 although, he concluded, "The truth is that most of us don't."

Dr. Frederick Grinnell, a professor of cell biology at the = University=20 of Texas Southwestern Medical School, says the real world of = science is=20 full of ambiguities that are seldom known to outsiders.

He gives this example compiled by the Poynter Center at Indiana = University that he uses in teaching: A professor agrees to review = a=20 manuscript that is under consideration for publication at a = journal. He=20 has promised to keep the paper and its contents absolutely = confidential.=20 When he reads it, however, he realizes that his student's = experiments will=20 never work; the paper shows that they are futile. Does he keep = mum, or=20 does he break the confidentiality rule and tell his student what = he just=20 learned?

Training, or lack of it, in how to handle these tricky = situations can=20 make or break a scientist, Dr. Zigmond said.

"We play this game: we train students to spend all their time = in the=20 lab but we fail to disclose to them all the other facets of the = job that=20 they need to know how to handle," Dr. Zigmond said. "It's probably = the=20 case that a number of people fail in their careers not because = they are=20 not bright and not because they are not ready to work hard, but = because=20 they don't have these skills."

Dr. Macrina's class got some practice in developing those = skills when=20 they broke up into small groups to discuss a few case histories. = Some=20 considered the story of a graduate student whose prospective new = boss=20 asked him to help fulfill the lab's wish list for equipment. The=20 university supplies new assistant professors with equipment they = need to=20 set up their lab. The lab director asked this student, whom he is = about to=20 hire, to request a few extra items that others need.

One student, Dr. Richard McPherson, a professor of clinical = pathology,=20 began the discussion. Although he already was a full-fledged = scientist, he=20 was required to take the course because he is studying for a = master's=20 degree in biostatistics.

"To me, this points out that you should always look at more = than one=20 job at a time. You can just knock some out right away," he said. = "This=20 relationship is starting out on the wrong track. This is fraud. It = sounds=20 unethical. It might be illegal. You start to worry, Is this the = way it's=20 going to be? Is there another agenda with this guy?"

Daniel Lineberry, a Ph.D. student in pharmacy, saw it = differently. "I=20 think there's a greater good. I think go ahead and put it on = there," he=20 said. "It benefits the whole department. The money's there. Why = not spend=20 it?"

Others said they had encountered situations when equipment was = needed=20 unexpectedly. So maybe the equipment would be useful to the = student,=20 eventually. Maybe it's not so outrageous to ask for it.

Even Dr. McPherson hedged a bit. "Maybe this guy really wants = to be at=20 that university," he said. "There are ways to work with the devil. = It all=20 comes down to a value judgment."


Copy= right=20 2003 The = New York=20 Times Company | Home | Privac= y=20 Policy | Search | Corrections | = Help | Back=20 to Top =
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