Interest is increasing in street-level research personnel, whom we call """"""""research extenders"""""""" (REs), employed by researchers because they share characteristics (geographic, ethnic, and/or personal experience with the focal research problem) with the targeted research population, and thus can be effective, or even essential in recruiting and developing rapport with research subjects. However, these similarities may also raise issues in human subjects protections, including social risk for research participants, difficulty in maintaining confidentiality, and challenges to appropriate boundaries in research relationships, which may compromise the validity of the data. Using primarily qualitative methods (in-depth interviews,,scenarios, focus groups), the goal of this study is to generate knowledge about the understandings of this understudied segment of the research community related to the responsible conduct of research, leading to more targeted and nuanced training approaches for them, and in turn, enhancing research integrity and promoting collection of valid data in vulnerable populations.
AIM 1) Using in-depth interviews with 2 types of REs: those who only perform research activities (single role REs) and those who combine research activities with service provision (dual role REs), we examine how both types of REs understand and approach responsible conduct of research. H1a: REs will identify and discuss ethical conduct in ways that differ from the standard framework, provided by guidance documents such as the Belmont Report. H1b: Dual role REs will identify and discuss some ethical conflicts that are not identified and discussed by single role REs.
AIM 2 : To discover factors, identified by both types of REs and their supervisors as facilitating or impeding the ethical conduct of research. Separate focus groups, conducted with single role REs, dual role REs, and their supervisors, will explore effectiveness of existing formal and informal training, difficult encounters for REs and supervisors to manage; and supervisor confidence about data validity and strategies used if validity is questioned.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01NR009879-01
Application #
6987363
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZNS1-SRB-H (25))
Program Officer
Bakos, Alexis D
Project Start
2005-09-22
Project End
2007-06-30
Budget Start
2005-09-22
Budget End
2006-06-30
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
$199,608
Indirect Cost
Name
Bryn Mawr College
Department
Type
Schools of Social Work
DUNS #
067398420
City
Bryn Mawr
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
19010
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True, Gala; Alexander, Leslie B; Richman, Kenneth A (2011) Misbehaviors of front-line research personnel and the integrity of community-based research. J Empir Res Hum Res Ethics 6:3-12