Questionable Research Practices: The (un)ethical handling of data in quantitative humanities research

Questionable Research Practices (QRPs) are often viewed as the “murky waters” of research ethics. On the scale from “ideal behavior” to absolute misconduct, QRPs make up the grey area in-between. As such, they can be difficult to detect, and, what is worse, researchers may not even be aware of the fact that they are doing something wrong.

For example, with increasing pressure to secure external funding, choosing to tone down findings that go against the interests of the grant-funding agency may seem like the best solution. However, misrepresenting information or failing to objectively report it are examples of QRPs and should thus be avoided.

The present project aims to bring clarity to the concept of QRPs as it relates to the humanities, thereby providing domain-specific tools to help Swedish researchers avoid such practices. The project also includes a systematic comparison with one of the main actors on the research scene: the U.S. Specifically, the project (i) investigates the range and severity of QRPs faced by researchers in the field, (ii) surveys researchers’ experiences with QRPs, and (iii) assesses the extent to which training for PhD students addresses these QRPs.

Based on the results, four articles will be published and humanities-specific training materials in QRPs will be developed. At a general level, the project will help raise researchers’ awareness of QRPs, thus enabling high-quality research to be performed in a more ethical as well as informative manner.