Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal

Editorial: Teaching Research Integrity

Jurij Selan — 2023-09-28

Rethinking Legislation Governing Academic Integrity in the European Context

Miloš Bošković — 2023-09-28

This paper argues that legislative intervention rather than deontological rules could be an adequate tool to address academic integrity concerns, particularly in civil law jurisdictions, which is the case in the majority of European countries. The recently enacted Montenegrin law on academic integrity offers a promising foundation for developing such an intervention in the European context, along with suggested improvements drawing upon four years of the implementation experience. Analysis of the law is also conducted with regard to several provisions of the Council of Europe’s recently adopted Recommendation on Education Fraud. The paper does not offer a ready-made concept, but its deliberation can serve as an inspiration for governments trying to improve existing rules on academic integrity. A legal approach will be taken in examining the problems and the relevant legislation.

Developing and Validating the Competency Profile for Teaching and Learning Research Integrity

Jurij Selan — 2023-09-28

Since research integrity is not external to research but an integral part of it, it should be integrated into research training. However, several hindrances regarding contemporary research integrity education exist. To address them, we have developed a competency profile for teaching and learning research integrity based on four assumptions: 1) to include all levels of study (BA, MA, and PhD); 2) to integrate research integrity into research education itself; 3) to address research integrity issues in context-specific practices; and 4) to pay particular attention to the ‘grey zone’ or questionable research practices. To assess the validity of the content of the competency profile and to determine if some adjustments to the profile are needed, we translated the competencies of the profile into items of a measurement instrument (a questionnaire) and conducted a survey amongst University of Ljubljana students that allowed us to 1) obtain information about students’ attitudes toward issues of integrity in research; 2) analyse differences in these attitudes among BA, MA, and PhD students; and 3) statistically validate the competency profile and suggest possible improvements. The results showed that 1) students are highly aware of research integrity issues, as scores were high on all items assessed. However, there were some deviations to lower scores, especially in relation to questionable research practises, confirming our assumption that the ‘grey zone’ issues are those that should be particularly addressed and given special attention in contemporary research integrity education. 2) The differences in the attitudes of BA, MA, and PhD students showed that higher-level students showed significantly more awareness of integrity issues than lower-level students did, suggesting that research integrity issues should be given special attention at the BA study level. 3) The measurement characteristics showed that the reliability of the questionnaire was very high, suggesting a good overall structure of the competency profile. The principal component analysis also confirmed the four-field structure of the Competency profile (Values and Principles, Research Practise, Publication and Dissemination, and Violations). However, the analysis also showed that the substructure of the four main areas of the profile did not fully match the results of the factor analysis, suggesting that the distribution of competencies in the competency profile could be reconsidered, especially in the area of Research Practice. The most recent developments in the field of research integrity also suggest that the competency profile should be updated with issues regarding the impact of artificial intelligence on research integrity.

Perceptions of Students and Teachers of the University of Montenegro on Academic Integrity

Sanja Čalović Nenezić — 2023-09-28

At the University of Montenegro, increasing emphasis has recently been placed on academic integrity. Academic integrity is based on the principles of honesty, objectivity, openness, freedom in teaching and research, and responsibility to academia and society/the community. One of the basic principles of academic integrity is honesty. The present study is based on examining the perception of students and teachers of the University of Montenegro concerning different segments of academic honesty. The aim of the research was to examine ethical behaviour related to respect for someone else’s work (using and referring to literature) and copying as well as using illicit means in exams. The research was conducted using quantitative research on a sample of 200 students and 50 teachers at the University of Montenegro. For this purpose, the authors used a Likert-type assessment scale. The findings suggest that the respondents understand the importance of academic integrity, that is, honesty as its principle, but that they do not recognise all of the segments that it covers in the same way. For example, different answers were received regarding the claim that students copy papers without paraphrasing, and despite the observed negative attitude towards the disciplinary procedure in both groups, teachers seem to lead in this attitude.

Empowering Supervisors Towards Responsible Research Conduct in Supervision via an Online Course: A Pilot Study

Miriam van Loon — 2023-09-28

Supervision and mentoring are highly relevant aspects of research integrity. Codes of Conduct, such as the ALLEA code of conduct, stipulate the relevance of training researchers how to conduct research well and about the role supervision plays in preventing unacceptable research practices. The Dutch Code of Conduct, for example, explicitly states that universities are responsible for facilitating training about research integrity. We developed a course for supervisors to address their responsibility and role in training early career researchers in research integrity. This contribution describes what evidence base was used to design this course and how the course is experienced by supervisors who participated in its piloting in early 2022. A total of 147 subscribed to the course in the testing phase, and seventeen participants obtained a certificate. The main lessons from the experiences with this course and the literature are 1) to tailor supervisor courses to the small amounts of time that supervisors can schedule to take these courses and to adjust the content and assignments to their needs, 2) to make online courses very attractive, but that need to be combined with
3) a face-to-face meeting to motivate them to finish the course in time and it might help to enable shared reflection by sharing personal experiences.

Academic Writing in Teaching Research Integrity

Mateja Dagarin Fojkar — 2023-09-28

The primary aim of this paper is to present the key elements that characterise online course design, addressing the process of designing, implementing, and evaluating an online course for Bachelor’s degree students that focuses on developing their academic writing skills. These skills are essential for university students as they provide the knowledge necessary to express themselves effectively, analyse texts, think critically, cite correctly, and avoid plagiarism. Academic writing is also the foundation for responsible research practice. The Research Integrity Competency Profile Model, which includes four main areas, namely values and principles, research practice, publication and dissemination, and violations, was created prior to the design of the course and the skills students need to acquire at the Bachelor’s level for successful academic writing were identified. A small private online course was carefully designed in 2020. It consisted of a variety of assignments, including interactive elements such as quizzes, videos, and work in international interdisciplinary groups. The participants of the course were 36 students from Slovenia, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic. The course lasted four weeks and covered topics such as literature analysis, writing a research paper, avoiding plagiarism, paraphrasing, and citation styles, among others. The course was launched in 2021 for two consecutive instances. The participating students evaluated the course positively, describing the assignments as motivating, useful, and well-structured. However, they concluded that they need more practice in this area, and we suggest that a university course be established to provide all students with the necessary academic writing skills.

Opinions of Montenegrin University Students and Teachers about Plagiarism and its Prevention

Dijana Vučković — 2023-09-28

This research paper aims to identify the opinions of university students and teachers about plagiarism and how to prevent it. We employed qualitative techniques, providing three case studies to participants and asking open-ended questions based on these cases. One hundred and forty-five people participated in this study, including bachelor, master, and doctoral students and university teachers. We performed a thematic analysis of the text received from the participants’ responses. The results show that the participants were serious about plagiarism if academic stakeholders commit it; however, they expressed a lenient attitude toward ghostwriters. They also felt there was a need to provide training in academic writing for them to feel confident about their writing and not copy from others. Some awareness sessions on academic integrity should also be conducted.

Plagiarism in the Research Reports of Indian Doctoral Students: Causes and a Remedial Action Plan

Tapan Kumar Pradhan — 2023-09-28

Many reputable academic journals have retracted research papers from Indian researchers because of plagiarism. The University Grant Commission, a representative organisation of the Indian government, is diligently endeavouring to ensure academic integrity by applying stringent guidelines. The present study aims to find the potential causes of the plagiarism found in the research reports of Indian doctoral students and to formulate a remedial action plan. A literature review was undertaken to identify incidences of plagiarism at educational institutions. Based on the review’s insights, a survey was conducted to investigate doctoral students’ awareness of plagiarism, including causes and remedial action plans. In addition, 21 interviews were conducted with senior academics and professionals from various academic disciplines to gain an understanding of their viewpoints. An analysis was then undertaken of the responses received through the questionnaires and interviews. The results suggested the widespread incidence of plagiarism and shed light on its causes. A remedial action plan emerged from the study, which included 1) establishing a research ethics committee at all academic or research institutions, 2) fostering a correct understanding of plagiarism and its implications by conducting training, workshops and awareness campaigns at an early stage of doctoral students’ lives, 3) ensuring clarity of research purpose among doctoral students and emphasising the quality of research work, 4) developing academic writing skills, and 5) making anti-plagiarism software available free of charge to all students and faculty members. Indian students perceive the University Grant Commission’s stringent guidelines as a good initiative. However, these guidelines cannot be implemented fruitfully without addressing the underlying causes of plagiarism.

People with Special Needs and Career Development Based on Strength

Janez Drobnič — 2022-09-16

The present work deals with career counselling for people with special needs based on the paradigm of positive psychology, which is becoming increasingly relevant in counselling and therapeutic processes. It is an approach to counselling and working with clients based on the strengths of the individual and represents a paradigm shift – a departure from the approach based on deficits and weaknesses. The empirical study established the prevalence of this approach in Slovenian elementary and secondary school counsellors. The results show that this way of counselling is a new strategy for mobilising various internal sources of strength and a supportive environment, which improves the individual’s ability to achieve the best possible self-sufficient education and integration into professional and social life. However, in the case of counselling for persons with special needs, a balance needs to be achieved between a strength approach and others that focus on personal problems and weaknesses.

Development and Validation of the ‘Mentoring for Effective Teaching Practicum Instrument’

Mateja Ploj Virtič — 2022-11-23

In the context of improving the quality of teacher education, the focus of the present work was to adapt the Mentoring for Effective Primary Science Teaching instrument to become more universal and have the potential to be used beyond the elementary science mentoring context. The adapted instrument was renamed the Mentoring for Effective Teaching Practicum Instrument. The new, validated instrument enables the assessment of trainee teachers’ perceived experiences with their mentors during their two-week annual teaching practicum at elementary and high schools. In the first phase, the original 34-item Mentoring for Effective Primary Science Teaching instrument was expanded to 62 items with the addition of new items and items from the previous works. All items were rephrased to refer to contexts beyond primary science teaching. Based on responses on an expanded instrument received from 105 pre-service teachers, of whom 94 were females in their fourth year of study (approx. age 22–23 years), the instrument was reviewed and shortened to 36 items classified into six dimensions: personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modelling, feedback, and Information and Communication Technology due to outcomes of Principal Component and Confirmatory Factor analyses. All six dimensions of the revised instrument are unidimensional, with Cronbach alphas above 0.8 and factor loadings of items above 0.6. Such an instrument could be used in follow-up studies and to improve learning outcomes of teaching practice. As such, specific and general recommendations for the mentee, mentors, university lecturers, and other stakeholders could be derived from the findings to encourage reflection and offer suggestions for the future.

Jaap Bos, with contributions by Ruud Abma, Friso Hoeneveld, Dorota Lepianka, Toon van Meijl, and Naomi van Steenbergen, Research Ethics for Students in the Social Sciences, Springer, 2020; XVI, 287 pp.: ISBN: 978-3-030-48415-6

Bert Theunissen — 2023-09-28

Nataša Hoić-Božić and Martina Holenko Dlab, Uvod u e-učenje: obrazovni izazovi digitalnog doba, Sveučilište u Rijeci, Odjel za informatiku, 2021; 215 pp.: ISBN 978-953-7720-53-7

Alenka Žerovnik — 2023-09-28