University Students’ Experience and Recognition of Research Ethics and Research Misconduct in Science Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to clarify the experience and recognition of university students who research ethics and misconduct in science education. We designed a five-point scale questionnaire, which consists of questions about the students’ experience of misconduct and their recognition of misconduct. This questionnaire on misconduct in science was conducted on 136 university students for this study. After analyzing the surveys, the results revealed that some university students had copied textbooks, blackboards, and the results of other people’s experiments, or had falsified experimental results. On the other hand, the students’ candid answers also revealed that they could recognize that academic and scientific misconduct is unethical.