Professional Ethics and Conduct
The Professional Ethics and Conduct domain tests judgment under pressure. Questions often present a realistic conflict: a PI wants an unallowable cost charged, a colleague asks for confidential proposal information, or a supervisor pressures staff to approve something quickly. The exam rewards the action that is honest, documented, fair, and consistent with policy.
Core rules and concepts
- Act with integrity and objectivity. Do not misrepresent facts, budgets, effort, credentials, or institutional capabilities in a proposal or report.
- Protect confidentiality. Proposal ideas, sponsor information, personnel data, patient data, and peer-review materials should be shared only with those who need to know.
- Avoid and disclose conflicts of interest. A conflict may be financial, personal, or professional. Disclosure allows the institution to manage it; concealment creates a compliance problem.
- Be accurate. Certifications and assurances are not administrative formalities. Signing an authorized-official certification means the institution has reviewed and stands behind the submission.
- Follow fair processes for vendor selection, subaward issuance, and hiring. Do not steer work to a preferred entity or accept gifts that could influence a decision.
- Maintain competence. Stay current with sponsor and regulatory changes and seek expert help when a question is outside your expertise.
- Report suspected misconduct through institutional channels, such as the research integrity officer or compliance hotline. Retaliation against good-faith reporters is prohibited.
Worked example
A PI asks you to charge a conference trip to a grant even though the conference is unrelated to the project, saying the department will repay the grant later. Reasoning: this is an unallowable cost because it is not allocable to the project, and a later repayment does not make the original charge proper. Do not process it. Explain the cost principles and offer an appropriate funding source. If the PI persists, escalate to your supervisor or the office of sponsored programs and document the conversation. The ethical failure is not only the charge; it is the intent to disguise it.
Traps that cost marks
- Using an everyone-does-it justification for an unallowable charge.
- Charging first and planning to fix it later.
- Discussing confidential proposal or award information casually.
- Failing to disclose a conflict because it seems minor.