VIII.A. Ethical Standards
Students must be familiar with and abide by the ethical standards of appropriate professional organizations and the University as they relate to the student’s professional activities. These standards include, but are not limited to:
American Psychological Association Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct
American Psychological Association Guidelines for Ethical Conduct in the Care and Use of Animals
Society for Research in Child Development Ethical Standards for Research with Children
WVU Policy on Research Misconduct
WVU Institutional Review Board guidelines and procedures (see Section IV.D.3.)
WVU Animal Care and Use Committee guidelines and procedures
VIII.B. Training Requirements
Researchers must complete the appropriate training listed below before commencing with their research activities:
Human Participants Protection Training: http://www.wvu.edu/~rc/irb//ethi_tra.htm
HIPAA - Research Requirements Training: http://www.wvu.edu/%7Erc/irb/hip_crse.pdf
Animal Welfare Regulatory Training: http://www.wvu.edu/~rc/acuc/training.htm
VIII.C. External Approval of Research
Any research conducted by WVU faculty, staff, and students must be approved by the Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects (IRB) or the Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC) prior to the beginning of data collection. Students are responsible for ensuring that any research they conduct has been approved by the IRB or ACUC. The student is responsible for obtaining, reading, and adhering to the procedures described in the approved protocol. Any violations of the approved protocol must be reported to the Department Chair, the IRB or ACUC, or the University's Research Integrity Officer (see http://www.wvu.edu/~research/senateintegrity.html), as appropriate.
VIII.D. Appropriate Use of Reference Material in Scientific Writing
Provided below are several links to web resources that contain important information for psychology students to use when writing papers. The first set of links provide information on using American Psychological Association (APA) style. Students also should purchase or borrow a copy of the APA Publication Manual (5th edition) for use when writing psychology papers. This book may be purchased at the bookstore, via Amazon.com, or directly from APA (click here). Copies are available for student reference use in the Student Records Office. Another good book that can help students learn to use sources appropriately is:
Harris, R. A. (2005). Using sources effectively: Strengthening your writing and avoiding plagiarism (2nd ed.). Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Publishing.
It can be ordered from the publisher at Pyrczak Publishing, P.O. Box 39731, Los Angeles, CA. Fax (818) 246-1277. To order on-line or e-mail the publisher, click here. This book and several others related to writing are available for student use in the Student Records Office.
The second set of links provides information about defining and avoiding plagiarism. All graduate students are required to complete a set of readings and quizzes on avoiding plagiarism when they enter the program. Instructions for accessing these materials are provided during new graduate student orientation.
The links below include additional information on what plagiarism is and how to avoid intentional or unintentional plagiarism. These resources provide a number of examples of plagiarized material and material that is appropriately referenced, paraphrased, or summarized. You can reference these materials to help you understand what plagiarism is and how to best protect yourself from a charge of plagiarism. Note that some of the examples use a referencing style that is different from APA style; be sure to use APA style in your own psychology-related writing. Also note that some of these web sites are from other universities, so you can ignore references to particular schools’ policies or procedures. Refer to The WVU Student Handbook - The Mountie for details on WVU’s policy and procedures related to academic dishonesty.
Be sure that you thoroughly understand how to present the words and ideas of others in your writing without plagiarizing. Plagiarism (intentional or unintentional) can result in penalties in courses ranging from a lowered grade on an assignment to an unforgiveable F in the course and can be grounds for dismissal from a graduate program.
Resources on APA style
Resources on plagiarism
Establishing Authorship (Alverno College)
Academic Integrity (University of Washington)
VIII.E. Grievance Procedures
VIII.E.1. Academic Appeals
Students who have a grievance pertaining to an academic penalty (i.e., grade penalty, expulsion from class, academic probation, academic suspension, and academic dismissal) should consult the, WVU Student Handbook - The Mountie, for guidelines on appeal procedures. The Mountie provides general information on how students should be notified of an academic penalty and procedures students can take to appeal an academic penalty. In addition, The Mountie states specific step-by-step guidelines for appealing academic dismissals and academic sanctions by a faculty member, institution, and/or constituent colleges and schools. Should a student have a grievance with an academic penalty, he or she is advised to consult The Mountie immediately, as appeals must occur within a specified amount of time and can be time-consuming.
VIII.E.2. Nonacademic Professional Appeals
The University has no formal policy regarding professional conflicts unrelated to academic performance, such as authorship and order of authors on professional presentations and publications. Consequently, the Department of Psychology has formulated its own policy regarding authorship concerns. This policy is given in Section I.H.3. This policy should be reviewed before making a grievance complaint, in order to ensure that a grievance complaint is warranted.
To make a grievance pertaining to authorship and/or similar professional nonacademic conflicts, the student should first discuss the issue with the person (faculty or student) with whom he or she has a grievance. If the grievance remains unresolved following this discussion, the student should ask his or her adviser to accompany the student to discuss the matter with the person with whom the student has a grievance. If the issue is still not resolved, the student should ask his or her Program Area Coordinator to meet with the student and the person with whom the student has a grievance. The next step, if the conflict still stands, is for the student to ask the Department Chair to attend a meeting with the student and the person with whom the student has a grievance. Finally, if the conflict is still unresolved, the student may ask the Dean of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences to meet with him or her and the person with whom the student has a grievance.
If the grievance is with a departmental staff member, the student should first go to the staff member to resolve the conflict. If the conflict cannot be resolved in this way, the student should then go to the staff member’s immediate supervisor, then to the Chair, and then to the Dean.
VIII.E.3. Discrimination
If a student has a grievance regarding discrimination due to his or her race, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status, religion and/or other personal variables or beliefs, the student can make a grievance complaint to the President’s Office for Social Justice, located in Room B-1 Stewart Hall, P.O. Box 6202, 293-5496. If a complaint is filed, the student making the complaint is protected from retaliation for filing the complaint or assisting in an investigation under the University’s Affirmative Action Plan. The Office for Social Justice not only handles grievance complaints due to discrimination, but also provides educational materials regarding discrimination (i.e., definition and prevention) and affirmative action. Students may contact this office if they experience discrimination and/or would like more specific information regarding the university’s nondiscrimination policy and Affirmative Action Plan.
Students are strongly advised to examine the University’s Affirmative Action Plan before filing a discrimination complaint. The exact steps taken by the Office for Social Justice , once a discrimination complaint unrelated to sexual harassment is filed, is not clearly specified in The Mountie. Students are therefore advised to call the Office for Social Justice and educate themselves before reporting any names and making a specific complaint.
The Council on Sexual Orientation (COSO) is available to students with concerns pertaining to sexual orientation and related discrimination. Students with such concerns can also go to the Social Justice Office. Further, a support group, Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgendered Mountaineers (BIGLTM) is available for interested students.
Students with disabilities and disability concerns should contact the Office of Disability Services, G-30 Mountainlair, 293-6700. This office functions as a resource service, a support service, a counseling service, and a referral service for students with disabilities and disability concerns.
VIII.E.4. Sexual Harrassment
Sexual harassment is prohibited by Federal law. The WVU policy and procedure on sexual harassment is available at http://www.wvu.edu/~socjust/98shpolicy.pdf.
Sexual harassment goes beyond unwelcome sexual advances. Casual comments or jokes about gender or sexual orientation can create a university environment that is offensive and demoralizing. Students and faculty in the Department must be sensitive to this important area of professional conduct.
A faculty member serves as the Departmental Social Justice Liaison Officer (see Section VII.B.7). The name of the current officer may be obtained in the Department Chair’s office or from the Office for Social Justice (293-5496). Further information about relevant University, Federal, and professional guidelines is available from this officer, from the Department Chair, in the WVU Student Handbook - The Mountie, and from the Office for Social Justice. Extensive training materials are available from these sources for students and faculty who are interested in further information on handling sexual harassment issues in the classroom and other professional situations.
Additional resource information is available from:
The President’s Office for Social Justice, B-1 Stewart Hall, 293-5496, http://www.wvu.edu/~socjust/
University Health Services, Sexual Assault Prevention & Education Program, Room G-281 Student Health Service, 293-1377 or 293-6584, http://www.hsc.wvu.edu/shs/sexualAssault/index.asp
The University Student Life Office, Elizabeth Moore Hall, 293-5611, http://www.studentlife.wvu.edu/
The Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center (RDVIC), 24-Hour Hotline: 292-5100, http://rdvic.org/
West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information & Services, Inc., 366-9500
Procedures - Students who experience any form of sexual assault are encouraged to seek immediate medical attention, whether or not they choose to file a complaint report and involve law enforcement. Students can refer to The Mountie for information on receiving medical attention following a sexual assault. Students may prefer to contact the two community centers for rape crisis and domestic violence listed above to get assistance in obtaining medical attention.
If a student is unsure as to whether or not he or she was sexually harassed, the student can refer to the definition of sexual harassment in The Mountie and provided above. The student also can go to the Office for Social Justice to receive information and assistance in filing a complaint if sexual harassment did indeed occur. Students can discuss and/or report a sexual harassment incident(s) within the university, by going to a faculty member, adviser, a Departmental Social Justice Liaison, one of the Departmental Program Area Coordinators, the Departmental Chair, the Dean of the College, or the Student Life Office. Students must realize, however, that if they report names, all of the aforementioned persons are obligated to report the incident and the persons involved to the Office for Social Justice within 24 hours of learning of the incident. Whoever the student goes to within the university, the information will eventually and undoubtedly be reported to the Office for Social Justice. This is an inflexible, nonnegotiable university-wide policy.
Students filing a sexual harassment complaint through the university and initiating a university-wide investigation of the incident must file a complaint with the Office for Social Justice (directly or indirectly, the latter by reporting it to another member of the university) within 30 days of the act. Students should consult The Mountie for information on the specific steps that the Office for Social Justice will take upon learning of a student sexual harassment incident. For example, The Mountie delineates the student’s responsibilities in filing a sexual harassment complaint. The Mountie also addresses the right of the accused person to know of the accusation and who made it. Discipline procedures pertaining to any retaliation behavior on the part of the accused person are also addressed in The Mountie. Students should realize that their filed complaint with the university does not become legal unless the accused person takes legal action. The university’s role is to investigate the grievance within the university and pursue a just course of action.
There are other options available outside of the university for sexual harassment grievances. Students can report a sexual harassment and/or sexual assault incident to the Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center (RDVIC) and/or to the police. These outside sources, especially the RDVIC, will in all likelihood advocate for the victim. The role of the Office for Social Justice is not to advocate, but to pursue an investigation, in an attempt to determine the truth.
VIII.E.5. Summary
The following table summarizes the steps to be taken in response to specific grievance incidents.
GRIEVANCE INCIDENT STEPS TO TAKE
ACADEMIC APPEAL |
1. Consult The Mountie as soon as possible after the grievance occurs. Students have only 30 days to appeal. 2. See The Mountie’s guidelines for Academic sanctions and/or for academic dismissals. |
NONACADEMIC |
Students should proceed through the following steps until the conflict is resolved: 1. Discuss the issue with the person with whom the student has a grievance. 2. Arrange a meeting with the student’s adviser and the person with whom the student has a grievance. 3. Arrange a meeting with the appropriate Program Area and the person with whom the student has a grievance. 4. Arrange a meeting with the Department Chair and the person with whom the student has a grievance. 5. Arrange a meeting with the Dean and the person with whom the student has a grievance |
DISCRIMINATION |
1. Call the Office for Social Justice (293-5496) to learn about their Affirmative Action Plan and their specific policies and procedures once a discrimination complaint is filed. 2. Use resources for support and education: Office for Social Justice COSO & BIGLM Office for Disability Services 3. Decide whether or not to file a discrimination complaint with the Office for Social Justice. |
SEXUAL HARASSMENT |
1. Use resources for support and education (see graduate handbook for list of resources). 2. Seek medical attention via the university or community if a sexual assault has occurred. 3. Consult The Mountie to learn of procedures once a complaint is filed, and decide whether or not to file a complaint at the Office for Social Justice. 4. Decide whether or not to file a complaint with the police or Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center in the community. |