The Supervisor-Trainee Relationship
Author(s):
Caroline Whitbeck
Background and Module Content
The relationship between trainees and their research
supervisors is usually formative for the trainee. This is
especially true when the research supervision occurs over a
extended period and when the research is the trainee's main
activity. A similar situation holds true for doctoral
students and their dissertation supervisors or post doctoral
fellows or associates and their sponsors, but applies also to
other trainees, such as residents, medical fellows, and
bachelor's and master's students.
Trainees learn many positive and negative lessons about
responsible research conduct from observing and interacting
with their supervisors. Unfortunately negative lessons can be
learned from misunderstood behavior and/or bad behavior. It
is important that supervisors be able to discuss with their
trainees how and why their research is conducted as it is.
Institutions have a role in facilitating those
discussions.
Supervisors often function as mentors. A mentor is not
only a research supervisor, but also an example or source of
guidance about professional development and how to cope with
a host of responsibilities that attend being a research
investigator. Fulfillment of those responsibilities includes
not only skills in: writing and reviewing papers, lab
management, grant writing, job seeking, and the management of
time and commitments, but also the development of ethical
judgment and standards for treating others fairly. Along with
this comes simultaneously meeting responsibilities for:
education of students, advancement in one's field, colleagues
and collaborators, one's institution and one's funding
agencies.
It is the fortunate doctoral student or post doc who has a
true mentor as his or her supervisor. The task of the
would-be mentor is more difficult if he or she was not
well-mentored in his or her own trainee period. Group
mentoring and peer mentoring, including discussions of how to
cope with difficult situations may help a lab , department,
or institution identify key values and standards and transmit
good ways of meeting those standards that are appropriate to
the conditions of research in one's field.
More on mentoring of junior faculty or advisory
committees
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Method and
Scenarios
Distribution of scenarios and related discussion questions
to the students and faculty.
Panel discussion based on those scenarios and questions
and any others that students or faculty wish to add.
If your focus is Working Relationships in the Lab, aspects
of the relationship between two or more colleagues in a
research lab is the topic of these scenarios.
Additional scenarios from other modules (e.g. authorship,
data management) which also raise issues of the
supervisor-trainee relationship are listed here.
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Reading
(recommended for discussion of the scenarios)
Objectives
- To have an open and candid discussion of potentially
sensitive topics and thus establish that all matters of
research conduct are discussable and strengthen trust
within the research group.
- Improved understanding of the mutual responsibilities
of supervisors and trainees.
- Establish some agreed upon methods suitable to the
particular research group for resolving conflicts and
misunderstandings when they arise.
Selected Bibliography (for further
reading)
Bird, S.J. and Sprague, R.L. (eds.), Mentoring and the
Responsible Conduct of Research, Science and
Engineering Research, Volume 7, No. 4, 2001, 449-640;
Opragen Publications, Guildford, Surrey, UK. (Contents and
abstracts can be viewed at http://www.opragen.co.uk)
Bird, Stephanie J. (1994), "Overlooked aspects in the
education of science professionals: Mentoring, ethics, and
professional responsibility." J. Science Education and
Technology 3: 49-55.
Fort, Deborah, Bird, Stephanie J. and Didion, Catherine
J., eds. (1993), "A Hand Up: Women Mentoring Women in
Science." Washington, D.C.: Assoc. for Women in Science.
Gorovitz, Samuel (1998), "Ethical issues in graduate
education." Science & Engineering Ethics 4:
235-250.
Hall, R.M. & Sandler, B.R. (1983), Academic
mentoring for women students and faculty: A new look at an
old way to get ahead. Washington, DC: Association of
American Colleges.
National Academy of Sciences (1997), Advisor,
Teacher, Role Model, Friend: On Being a Mentor to Students in
Science and Engineering. National Academy Press,
Washington, D.C.
For further reading please see the additional Annotated
Bibliography
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Relevant Web Resources
-
The Endocrine Society Ethics Advisory Committee, Ethical
Aspects of Conflicts of Interest
- Will download a PDF. This review includes information
on conflicts of interest both for the organization at large
as well as for individual clinician and researcher
members.
- Publication Ethics: Rights and
Wrongs
- Science and Technology Article from November 12, 2001
about how balancing obligations and interests surrounding
dissemination of research is an ardous task.
- Reflections on Determining Authorship
Credit and Authorship Order on Faculty-Student
Collaborations"
- By Mark A. Fine and Lawrence A. Kurdek. "The purpose of
this article is to explore the process of determining
authorship credit and authorship order on collaborative
publications with students. The article presents
hypothetical cases that describe relevant ethical issues,
highlights ethical principles that could provide assistance
in addressing these dilemmas, and makes recommendations to
faculty who collaborate with students on scholarly
projects."
- "Publication Ethics: Rights and
Wrongs"
- By Stephen K. Ritter, Chemical & Engineering
News, Washinton. Science &
Technology, November 12, 2001, Volume 79, Number 46,
CENEAR 79 46 pp. 24-31,ISSN 0009-2347. Balancing
obligations and interests surrounding dissemination of
research is an arduous task. Integrity and trust. these
values are the hallmarks of the scientific discovery and
publication process. Being objective is critical to this
process, because communicating one's research to the
scientific community is at the heart of what keeps science
alive. It's also the principal way that scientists make
their reputations, get jobs and promotions, and obtain
sustained research support."
- Conflicts of Interest: Dilemmas and
Conundrums
- A resource on how to deal with conflicts of
interest