The reputation of the academy stems at least partially from published research. This reputation requires that research be ethically conducted and reported such that scholars, consumers, and the public have faith in the academy. Thus, trust is the catalyst that ensures our reputation as individual scholar-practitioners and as a profession.
How do we ensure that our published research can be trusted? What constrains or influences researcher behaviors? And what guidelines should we use to ensure trust and research integrity? Before I address these questions, it is important to clarify what I mean by integrity and trust.
Defining Integrity and Trust
It should come as no surprise that integrity shows up in religious doctrine, in the Bible, the Koran, and the Torah, for example. But the word integrity also is used in many human resource development-related documents. For example, integrity is mentioned throughout the Academy of Human Resource Development Standards on Ethics and Integrity, in the ASTD and ISPI Codes of Ethics, and in numerous editorials and articles published in HRD-related journals. But what are we really talking about when we use the word integrity? According to Webster' s Unabridged Dictionary (1983), integrity is "the quality or state of being of sound moral principle; uprightness, honesty, and sincerity."
Integrity is a virtuous character trait that is closely connected to reliability, trustworthiness, honesty, and having principles. A person who has integrity can be counted on to be consistent and harmonious; someone who does not is fickle and discordant. May (1996) says that integrity has three aspects: coherence of value orientation, mature development of a critical point of view, and disposition to act in a principled way. Warren Bennis is credited with saying that integrity is the basis of trust. Without integrity there is no trust. Going to Webster (1983) again, to paraphrase, trust is a reliance on the integrity, veracity, justice, friendship, or other sound principle of another person [or group of people]. In research, trust has been shown to be related to variables such as reward practices and intent to leave an organization or profession. Without trust, individuals and organizations suffer.