Responsible Research

We did a survey on norms and organizational climate in Sweden´s social and medical sciences after achieving a response rate of 33,6 % - a very good rate compared to similar European surveys. Of the more than 3,000 respondents, 650 also wrote personal comments. Many were very encouraging (see below), others more critical. Several analyzed the interpretive difficulties of particular survey items, an important input for the project team´s analytical work. Almost 100 comments were longer or much longer than 100 words and offered sharp observations of the current climate and challenges in the academic system.

Our sincere thanks to all of you!

Quite a few respondents wondered why the survey asked them about their colleagues´ attitudes and behavior instead of asking them about their own attitudes and behavior. The answer is that previous research has found a strong positive bias when people are asked about their own behavior. According to a review of 21 survey studies, 2% of the participating scientists admitted to have fabricated or falsified their research data at least once, whereas 12% answered they had “personal knowledge of a colleague who fabricated or falsified data”, and a similar difference was discovered when respondents were queried about “questionable research practices” (D. Fanelli, PLOS ONE May 29, 2009.)

The analysis of our survey data material has already indicated interesting and robust patterns. You will be informed when we have run through all the necessary checks and controls. When doing this laborious work, it's good to remember all the encouraging comments from the researchers in Sweden!

• “Thank you for doing this survey. I really hope it will lead to changes, because it is needed.”
• ”Ser fram emot resultaten från denna studie.”
• “Thanks for this survey and good luck with analysis!”
• ”Mycket bra och viktiga frågor i denna undersökning. Saknar dock en fråga där vi ombeds prioritera vad vi anser vara de viktigaste frågorna för arbetsplatsen/ kulturen för att förbättra rådande normer/ kultur.”
• ”Bra att det bedrivs forskning på detta område”
• “First I would like to thank you for this survey”
• “This is an important survey.”
• ”Det som jag saknar i enkäten är frågor om akademiskt ledarskap. Annars är jag glad att någon forskar om dessa saker!”
• ”Intressanta och viktiga frågor!”
• ”Lycka till med sammanställningen - och det jag önskar mig som kompensation för avsatt tid är (minst) en rapport av resultaten till alla deltagares e-post.”