The PostDocs Forum

The Office of Research Integrity developed an interactive video for Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training, called “The Lab”. I am impressed. The video is well done. The acting is not stilted, the dialog is not forced and stiff, the plot is mostly realistic and not painfully obvious, and it’s a clever interactive video, like a Choose Your Own Adventure.

The point of the training is that many people, other than the perpetrator, have opportunities to prevent or minimize the damage of misconduct. The basic story is that a postdoc changes a grad student’s data in a publication. You can play the role of the principal investigator (PI), the grad student, another postdoc (the “good” postdoc), or the research integrity officer, but not the role of the postdoc who committed fraud (the “bad” postdoc).

It took a good two hours to play through all the parts part, and being of the scientific mind that I am, I went through each part several times, making all the obviously wrong choices, the obviously right ones, and then combinations.

Spoiler alert! Try out the video for yourself before reading any further.

The “best possible outcome” changes if you play the grad student vs. the PI. As the PI, you had the chance to build a culture of trust, and in the best outcome your grad student came to you, you took her concerns seriously, and you contacted the Research Integrity Officer. When you play the other roles, there is no culture of trust in place. If you talk to your PI about your suspicions, the PI tips the bad postdoc off and the bad postdoc hides his misconduct. The default scenario is that there is no culture of trust. If you are in one of the few labs like that, you don’t need this training video. Sadly, most trainees are not in a culture of trust.

Overall I am very pleased with the video, but there is one glaring plot mistake: both the grad student and the good postdoc end up in tenure track positions. In fact, the bad postdoc sometimes also lands a tenure track position (which he later loses when his fraud is uncovered). 90,000 postdocs. 24,000 tenure track faculty positions (most of them filled already). Do the math.

In the next week, Dr. Ruhlen will review and examine in depth the roles of the PI, Grad Student, PostDoc, and RIO in this interactive video. Stay Tuned!

Rachel Ruhlen received her PhD from the University of Missouri in 2003. She is currently a Research Assistant Professor at A.T. Still University in Kirksville, Missouri. She serves on the Board of Directors for the National Postdoctoral Association.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are Dr. Ruhlen’s and don’t necessarily reflect the views of the NPA.