Thirty-five years ago, a congressional committee led by a young US representative by the name of Albert Gore, Jr., began investigating a growing number of cases involving misconduct in federally funded research. Over time, the exposure of these cases led to the creation of the Office of Research Integrity (ORI), a unit of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Now, ORI is not only proactively developing programs to teach responsible research conduct but also exploring the role behavioral science can play in understanding the root causes of fabrications, falsifications, and plagiarism in reporting the results of federally backed public health research.
The Observer recently talked with ORI scientist–investigator Ann A. Hohmann about ORI’s work and the role that psychological scientists can play in helping prevent scientific misconduct.
The statements and opinions expressed in the following interview are Hohmann’s and are not the official positions of ORI or HHS.