James E. Kruse Writing assignment 4B 6/26/17 CSAFE REU Responsible Conduct: Git Hub

Overarching question to be addressed in the following prompts: In what ways can GitHub (or comparable cloud-based, version controlled, collaborative environments) help address the issues which the questions raise?

Prompt:

  1. What are some of the mentoring issues raised by this case? (Originally a peer question.)

There were many issues that can be discussed involving the mentoring in this study. In the case of Mr. Kimble’s response to the prompt above, he discussed the need for the mentor to be involved in both of the experimental trials. I agree with this statement completely for multiple reasons and believe that the use of Git Hub, or another cloud based collaboration system, could be a great resource for situations like this.

In this situation, LaCour could have saved both his preliminary work and his trial work in a repository that could have been kept private between himself and Green. This would have given Green play by play updates on the study and he would have been able to work with LaCour and make sure that all of his data and observations were reasonable. It also would have given him a better chance to notice irregularities right off the bat. In this type of situation, the mentor needs to be on the same page as the mentee and this would have been a great way for that to be done, but they would have had to design a way for Green to be actively involved through Git Hub.

Prompt:

  1. Why didn’t the peer review system identify the problems? (Originally a peer question.)

    The peer review system is meant to be a way to make sure that all research is legitimate and sound before a paper is published. In the case of Ms. Neblett’s response, she talks about how the reviewers may have been more apt to push the paper through due to its revolutionary content. I agree that this could be a piece of the puzzle and add that due to the original data being erased and other research problems, there was not a lot for them to go off of.

    In this situation, linking it back to question “7”, the Git Hub that was created between Green and LaCour would have been a great resource for the reviewers to look back on all of the work and raw data. All of their work and notes would have been available to the reviewers and they, theoretically, could have become keen on any and all abnormalities much sooner in the process and a scandal may have been avoided.

Prompt:

  1. What are some of the consequences of LaCour’s behavior? For Broockman and Kalla? For Green? For other researchers in this field? For UCLA? For activists? (Originally my question.)

Each of the individuals/groups named above were effected in a significant way once the scandal became public. In my original response, I broke it down and hit on each one, but it can be summarized by saying that many of them loss credibility, money, and reputations were tarnished. After discussions, I still stand by my original response.

By incorporating Git Hub into this study, they could have curtailed this all before it started. As stated in the answer for question “7”, they could have created a private repository that would have allowed LaCour, Green, and an on sight advisor from LaCour’s school to have access to the data and catch the problem. This, along with other changes to the way they carried themselves, could have saved not only their reputations, but a significant amount of money. This, also, could given Brookman and Kalla a solid collection of data should they choose to replicate the study.

It should be noted that this could be a fantastic collaboration tool for cross university (and inter university) collaboration. It is a great way to keep data organized and available to all involved for use and review purposes.

Prompt:

  1. What are the responsibilities of individuals who co-author papers? What can or should a student (graduate or undergraduate) do when co-author is suspected of falsifying data? (Originally my question.)

It is the responsibility of all involved, in the case of a paper that is being collaborated on, to make sure that all data and findings are sound. This is important to not only protect the reputations of the individuals involved, but to protect the integrity of research, the field, and the institutions(s) involved.

By pulling the responses above, this question can be answered quite quickly. Git Hub would allow the individuals involved to fact check the data. In regards to what someone should do in the case of data being falsified, I stand by the original response. They need to follow up and report it to a superior if need be.

Prompt: If you were asked to consult for a research project, how would you recommend the integration of GitHub into the workflow? Assume your collaborators have never used GitHub before. Be sure to also explain briefly how it works so they can understand.

If I were a consultant and looking to use Git Hub as a resource for my team, I would do the following:

First of all, I would help the members of the team I am consulting for (from here to be referred to as team A) create accounts and set up GitHub. After a tutorial on how to work the system and an explanation as to how this is a system that will allow us to collaborate/share files in both a controlled and organized fashion, I would help them to fork a repository I had already set up for the team (titled Team A Consulting). I would ask them to update the fork every morning when they first log into Git Hub and periodically through the day.

I would explain that this can be done by going into their fork of the file and then clicking compare. From that point, they could go and set the base fork to their repository. Then after clicking “compare across forks”, change the head fork to Team A Consulting. They will then create a pull request and note in the comments when and why they are doing this. They will then click on create pull request a second time and then merge the documents.

I would stress that this is a great way to share documents and collaborate. If the company has other branches or has employees that travel, I would explain how this could be a great way to work long distance. All other direction would be explained using the same step by step set up above.