TIPSters: I have a question about authorship on papers. One of my students has elected to do a research study for her project in my Abnormal Psychology class. She wants to go on to graduate school in psychology and is interested in research, but has never had any research experience or even a research methods class (she will take that course in the fall). I agreed to help her conduct an independent research project because she is a very hard-worker and has tremendous potential. She has selected a general area that is of interest to her, but my role will be to mentor her through the process of narrowing down her ideas, developing hypotheses, planning methodology, analyzing and interpreting data, and writing up the results. She will take the lead role on all of these steps, but I will be there to help provide guidance and direction. My goal in working with her is to provide mentorship so that she can learn how to conduct research from the beginning to the end. In this type of situation, should I take second-authorship? Or should the student assume sole authorship? The APA Ethics Code suggests that intellectual contribution should be the criterion one considers when making this type of decision. I certainly will make an intellectual contribution, but I want this to be her research and not my research. In some ways, taking second authorship helps to teach her about how authorship decisions are made (which is a very important part of graduate education in research), but I also want to be sensitive to the power differential that exists and not abuse my position as her instructor. I would welcome your thoughts as I think through this issue.
Rod ______________________________________________ Roderick D. Hetzel, Ph.D. Department of Psychology LeTourneau University Post Office Box 7001 2100 South Mobberly Avenue Longview, Texas 75607-7001 Office: Education Center 218 Phone: 903-233-3893 Fax: 903-233-3851 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage: http://www.letu.edu/people/rodhetzel --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
