Routines, Reality and Research Integrity

Slowly but surely...as the days go by...I seem to be getting more done. Starting to focus again and come the end of the work day, I, for the most part, have accomplished something. Tomorrow, I start back with CAP, and am certainly excited to do that! In the afternoon, depending on how productive I can be, I will try to get some work done. I realllllllly wish I didn't have to get my wisdom teeth out on Wednesday. Just as I get into a routine it will be thrown out of whack by having to take at least 2 full days off. So is life, I suppose.

Every once in awhile, someone says something that really strikes a chord with you. It may be something they say you find offensive, maybe funny, possibly intriguing. This anecdote falls into the latter category. When I was in the field on Saturday, we were talking about the candidate who had just given a talk at Queen's as part of her job interview with the Biology Department. Paul, one of the faculty in the field with me, was talking about his feelings about the candidate's talk, CV, etc. And ultimately his feelings about her as a potential faculty member. He said "The reality of it is, Amanda, that it's not the reality at all... it's all about the perception of reality". For some reason, I can't get that out of my head. And I think it's because it's so true. Reality doesn't matter. Reality really doesn't matter because people will always perceive it differently. You can try to portray an idea, and it is completely dependent on the interpretation of the audience. Even with personal matters, it's the same thing. You may KNOW something is not true, but you can so easily perceive it as true. This really has turned into a rant... and I am struggling to explain myself. Maybe I'll just stop, and hope you understand.

I sat through a VERY boring seminar this evening on Research Integrity. I attend these seminars as part of my Certification in Professional Development. This was my third seminar of twelve...still a long way to go. The first seminar I attended a few months back was "working in a diverse workforce" which was a huge waste of time. Essentially the message was "be nice to everyone even if they are different"..wait... how old are we again? The second seminar I attended was on  "Bridging the generation gap" and this one was soooo good, albeit I did have very low expectations going into it. Maybe if I am bored post-wisdom teeth I will write a blog about bridging the generation gap, because it was super interesting! Today's seminar, like I said, was boring. The first half wasn't bad. It was all about learning what research integrity was and common examples of wrong-doings in science and how to prevent making the wrong choices. I will admit, some of the so-called "wrong-doings" I never even considered. For example: submitting a manuscript with one or more authors who haven't seen a draft. I never even questioned this before as I have many friends who have publications in review right now who couldn't tell you a thing about them. I had a headache to begin with and the whole second half was about ethics and using humans and animals in research...two things I will NEVER be doing.. so that was a little annoying to sleep...errr...sit through. The seminar was given by the AVP (Research) and she was a decent speaker with a great history in the field and a few neat stories from past experiences.