The impact of scientific misconduct on nursing knowledge

The impact of scientific misconduct on nursing knowledge

Assignment Description

The impact of scientific misconduct on nursing knowledge: Describe and discuss the impact of scientific misconduct on nursing knowledge. Include any prior experiences or examples of how scientific misconduct would impact nursing knowledge.

Purpose: Scientific misconduct (SMC) is an increasing concern in nursing science. This article discusses the prevalence of SMC, risk factors and correlates of scientific misconduct in nursing science, and highlights interventional approaches to foster good scientific conduct.

Methods: Using the “Fostering Research Integrity in Europe” report of the European Science Foundation as a framework, we reviewed the literature in research integrity promotion.

Findings: Although little empirical data exist regarding prevalence of scientific misconduct in the field of nursing science, available

evidence suggests a similar prevalence as elsewhere. In studies of prospective graduate nurses, 4% to 17% admit data falsification or fabrication, while 8.8% to 26.4% report plagiarizing material. Risk factors for SMC exist at the macro, meso, and micro levels of the research system. Intervention research on preventing scientific misconduct in nursing is limited, yet findings from the wider field of medicine and allied health professions suggest that honor codes, training programs, and clearly communicated misconduct control mechanisms and misconduct consequences improve ethical behavior.

Conclusions: Scientific misconduct is a multilevel phenomenon. Interventions to decrease scientific misconduct must therefore target every level of the nursing research systems.

Clinical relevance: Scientific misconduct not only compromises scientific integrity by distorting empirical evidence, but it might endanger patients. Because nurses are involved in clinical research, raising their awareness of scientifically inappropriate behavior is essential.

Misconduct in research tarnishes the reputation of research institutions and has the potential to diminish the credibility and integrity of research in general. In developed countries, several processes have been put in place in an attempt to protect the credibility of research. Such interventions include regular training in research ethics and responsible conduct of research[1], institutional mechanisms to address research misconduct[2] and the establishment of national bodies that address research misconduct such as the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) in the United States of America[3, 4]. However, the extent to which these interventions have been effective in reducing misconduct has not been documented.

Studies on research or scientific misconduct are still novel in the developing world. Fanelli in his article, ‘How Many Scientists Fabricate and Falsify Research? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Survey Data’, pooled 21 surveys for the systematic review and 18 for the meta-analysis[5]. Fifteen of the studies were from the United States, three from the United Kingdom, two from multi-national samples in developed countries and one study was from Australia. There was no study from Africa; a reflection of the dearth of studies from the region. Similarly, Anah et al., in their literature review of research misconduct in low and medium income countries found no systematic study of research misconduct from these countries[6].

The first study to report on research misconduct and other research wrongdoing in Africa revealed that 68.9% of a group of researchers in Nigeria admitted to having committed at least one of eight listed forms of scientific misconduct[7]. These eight acts of research misconduct were plagiarism; falsifying data; intentional protocol violations related to subject enrolment; intentional protocol violations related to procedures; selective dropping of data from ‘outlier’ cases; falsification of biosketch, resume, or reference list; disagreements about authorship; and pressure from a study sponsor (e.g. pharmaceutical company or device company) to engage in unethical practices. In a later report from the same country, published by Adeleye and Adebamowo, 54.6% of the respondents admitted to at least one form of research wrongdoing[8].

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• The is a great resource