title: Professional Decision-Making in Research (PDR): The Validity of a New Measure.
abstract: In this paper, we report on the development and validity of the Professional Decision-Making in Research (PDR) measure, a vignette-based test that examines decision-making strategies used by investigators when confronted with challenging situations in the context of empirical research. The PDR was administered online with a battery of validity measures to a group of NIH-funded researchers and research trainees who were diverse in terms of age, years of experience, types of research, and race. The PDR demonstrated adequate reliability (alpha = .84) and parallel form correlation (r = .70). As hypothesized, the PDR was significantly negatively correlated with narcissism, cynicism, moral disengagement, and compliance disengagement; it was not correlated with socially desirable responding. In regression analysis, the strongest predictors of higher PDR scores were low compliance disengagement, speaking English as a native language, conducting clinical research with human subjects, and low levels of narcissism. Given that the PDR was written at an eighth grade reading level to be suitable for use with English as a second language participants and that only one-fourth of items focused on clinical research, further research into the possible roles of culture and research ethics training across specialties is warranted. This initial validity study demonstrates the potential usefulness of the PDR as an educational outcome assessment measure and a research instrument for studies on professionalism and integrity in research.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Medical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, 4523 Clayton Avenue, Campus Box 8005, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA. jdubois@wustl.edu.
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: DuBois
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Monteleone Hall, 1438 S. Grand Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63104, USA.|Department of Psychology, Saint Louis University, 3700 Lindell Boulevard, Morrissey Hall, St. Louis, MO, 63108, USA.
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Chibnall
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Monteleone Hall, 1438 S. Grand Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63104, USA.
authors.forename: Raymond C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Tait
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Saint Louis University, 3700 Lindell Boulevard, Morrissey Hall, St. Louis, MO, 63108, USA.
authors.forename: Jillon S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Vander Wal
authors.affiliation: Division of General Medical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, 4523 Clayton Avenue, Campus Box 8005, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Kari A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Baldwin
authors.affiliation: Division of General Medical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, 4523 Clayton Avenue, Campus Box 8005, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Alison L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Antes
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Oklahoma, 455 W. Lindsey Street, Dale Hall Tower, Norman, OK, 73019, USA.
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Mumford
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000941:ethics; D003469:Culture; D003657:Decision Making / Q000941:ethics*; D032984:Ethics, Research; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009014:Morals; D009289:Narcissism; D010551:Personality; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000941:ethics*; D000068616:Professionalism; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000193:education / Q000941:ethics*; D012586:Science / Q000941:ethics*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Assessment; Educational; Measurement; Professionalism; Research ethics; Research integrity; Responsible conduct of research