For the “good of the lab”: Insights from three focus groups concerning the ethics of managing a laboratory or research group

ABSTRACT

To obtain some exploratory, qualitative data on ethical issues and values in managing a research laboratory, we conducted three focus groups with experienced investigators and laboratory managers. After validating the focus group transcripts for accuracy, two coders used deductive and inductive coding to develop themes from the text. Participants regarded ethics as important in managing a laboratory (or research group) for various reasons, ranging from conducting research with integrity to exhibiting leadership and promoting an ethical research climate. Participants identified many different types of ethical issues that arise in managing a research laboratory, including issues involving the management people, financial and material resources, projects, and data. An overarching ethical dilemma identified by participants was balancing the desire for productivity against apparently competing values, such as treating people fairly and promoting the wellbeing of individuals. Participants also indicated that graduate and post-graduate education and training did not prepare them to deal with the ethical, financial, interpersonal, and other issues related to managing a research laboratory, and that communication and leadership are crucial to managing a research laboratory ethically.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethics
• laboratory management
• leadership
• research climate
• integrity
• fairness
• productivity
• stewardship

Acknowledgments

David Resnik, Edith Lee and Bill Jirles were supported, in part, by the Intramural Program of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH). This paper does not represent the views of the NIEHS, NIH, or US government. Elise Smith is supported in part from the Clinical and Translational Science Award (UL1TR001439) from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, NIH.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. We will use the term “laboratory” as short for “laboratory or research group” because we recognize that a great deal of scientific research is conducted by people who do not work in a physical laboratory. For example, epidemiologists, biostatisticians, economists, sociologists, anthropologists, and theoretical physicists do not work in laboratories. However, many of the same issues that arise in laboratories, such as management of data, human resources, and money, also arise in research groups that do not work in laboratories.

2. The research climate is the organizational climate (or social environment) in which research is conducted (Martinson et al. 2010; Martinson, Thrush, and Crain 2013; Haven et al. 2020). Schneider et al. (2013, 361) define the organizational climate as “the shared perceptions of and the meaning attached to the policies, practices, and procedures employees experience and the behaviors they observe getting rewarded and that are supported and expected.” They define a related concept, organizational culture, as “as the shared basic assumptions, values, and beliefs that characterize a setting and are taught to newcomers as the proper way to think and feel, communicated by the myths and stories people tell about how the organization came to be the way it is as it solved problems associated with external adaptation and internal integration” (Schneider, Ehrhart, and Macey 2013, 361).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences [UL1TR001439]; National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences [ZIA 102646-10].