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Scholarship and Research Integrity Requirements

As research has become more complex, more collaborative, and more costly, issues of research ethics have become similarly complex, extensive, and important. The education of Penn State graduate students must prepare them to face these issues in their professional lives. The SARI (Scholarship and Research Integrity) program at Penn State is designed to offer graduate students comprehensive, multilevel training in the responsible conduct of research (RCR), in a way that is tailored to address the issues faced by students in individual programs.

All Penn State graduate students must complete SARI requirements during their graduate study.

The Lifelong Learning and Adult Education (LLAED), in the College of Education, submit this plan.

 

Part 1. Online RCR Training Program
All students must complete an online course offered by the collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI). The course selections can be found at the following website citi.psu.edu. Select the course that applies to the type of research you will be conducting. Complete the course and email the completion certificate to the LLAED program staff assistant within the first two semesters.

 

Part 2. Five hours of discussion-based RCR Education
For doctoral students, five hours of discussion will be provided in the 3-credit graduate course, ADTED 550, Qualitative Research in ADTED.

 

RCR topics to be discussed
All topics listed on the SARI guidelines sheet, with the exception of the animal welfare topic, are covered in ADTED 550.

Scholarship and Research Integrity Requirement (WC)

Penn State requires all graduate students to complete online training in research issues and the ethical conduct of research. There are two requirements, or parts that students in the program must complete within the first two semesters of enrollment.

Part One

During the first two semesters of enrollment, graduate students will complete an online RCR training program provided by the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI). The Office for Research Protections (ORP) provides the conduit to this training via the SARI Resource Portal on the ORP website.

Steps

  1. Students must first register with CITI and create a unique user name and password. Be sure to select "Pennsylvania State University" (NOT Hershey) as your institution.
  2. After you have registered on the site, you will be taken to a page that shows courses in two categories:
    • Human Subjects Research (IRB/SARI) (Choose Social Science Research from the three options)
    • SARI Program Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) (Choose Social and Behavioral Responsible Conduct of Research Course from the options).
  3. Make sure that you choose these specific courses from those offered.
  4. This self-paced training, which can be done intermittently over the course of the first two semesters of enrollment, will take about 6-8 hours. You may log in and out as often as you like to complete the course.
  5. When you have completed the course (with 80% or higher scores on the quizzes), you will receive a completion report. You then must deliver a copy of that report to the staff assistant for record keeping.

Part Two

Students are required to engage in an additional five hours of discussion-based RCR education prior to degree completion. These discussions encompass both universal and discipline-specific material. This discussion will take place in ADTED 550: Research and Evaluation in Adult Education.

 

More information about SARI can be found in the SARI Frequently Asked Questions page.