Views of postgraduate students regarding research ethics in Turkey

Abstract

This research aimed to examine the level of knowledge of master and doctorate students regarding scientific research ethics and the frequency of scientific deception identification in scientific publications. The research was conducted using descriptive methods. The group under examination consisted of 112 randomly chosen students who pursued their postgraduate degree in physical education and sports fields. The validity and reliability were determined in the framework of this study. Item total correlation and factor analyses were conducted for the construct validity of the assessment tool. The Alpha Coefficient, which was calculated for the scale reliability as .96, indicated the scale is valid and reliable. The Shapiro-Wilks test was also conducted to determine whether the data were normally distributed. Because the data did not exhibit a normal distribution, a non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test was utilised. “Writing more than one article using the same data”, “citing without providing a reference”, “reporting findings that are only consistent with expectations”, “publishing someone else’s ideas without providing references as if they are one’s own”, “presenting the same research in more than one conference or symposium”, and “publishing the same research in more than one journal” are the most non-ethical behaviours perceived in scientific research. All of the participants indicated that “presenting falsified findings of research and publishing someone else’s research with own name” represent non-ethical behaviours. According to the research results, “citing without providing a reference” and “writing more than one article using the same data” were the most unethical behaviours identified in scientific studies.