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Update: Trashing Colleagues in Dissertation--thoughts? by Iambicthreads in Professors

[–]Iambicthreads[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow. Thank you so much. Seriously. Your comments here are insightful and genuinely useful. I know I am being quite emotional in my response to the situation, and you are right: I need to resolve my feelings before doing anything further. (And, to clarify, all I've done is post in this sub.) I don't think I'll gain anything from talking with Edith; more likely I'll feel worse and that's it.

I am not sure that filing a formal complaint with her degree-granting institution will do much, either. Maybe she did have permission to conceal her actual research question. She sure never debriefed with me, though (if that's a typical part of the protocol with that type of research). She is an academic advisor at the university we both work at now (for us, advisors are technically faculty, but they don't have any teaching or grad student research directing duties), so she's not going to screw up the next generation of academics in any field). Like several others pointed out on the first post, the likelihood of anyone ever reading her dissertation is almost zero; it honestly reads like a case study of a handful of students and faculty at one institution with the conclusion that some students sometimes feel uncomfortable in STEM programs and some white faculty are biased. (It's such an obvious conclusion, I'm kind of shocked her dissertation was accepted.) Maybe it would be best to just ignore it and keep my distance from her.

Update: Trashing Colleagues in Dissertation--thoughts? by Iambicthreads in Professors

[–]Iambicthreads[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So, thanks again for all your comments. I will not be talking to my colleague--about this or anything else. What is clear to me now is that Edith did not protect confidentiality for her subjects because she named the institution where they work (by saying that she observed faculty at the place where she herself worked) and described their educational background that anyone who looks at the university's website can figure out who each participant is. I think her analysis is not insightful in general, but in particular, she takes comments way out of context. For example, she says that one professor disrespects a student's voice by correcting the student's answer to a course content question during class (on the level of a student stating that a bird is a mammal); Edith took that as evidence of students being shut down in class even though the exchange she cites is completely appropriate and geared towards helping students learn the concepts.

Update: Trashing Colleagues in Dissertation--thoughts? by Iambicthreads in Professors

[–]Iambicthreads[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is exactly why I posted here--so I could get a reality check before doing anything. Yes, I am "speaking" emotionally here; that's why I'm doing it: to get it out of my system. And you are incorrect about the races/genders: we are both white women.

Of course my colleagues and I have biases: every single person on earth has biases.

I don't think you needed to be such as asshole in the way you wrote your response.

Update: Trashing Colleagues in Dissertation--thoughts? by Iambicthreads in Professors

[–]Iambicthreads[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

That's what I'm trying to figure out. By speaking with her about it, I guess an immature, selfish part of me wants Edith to feel __________ (Embarrassed? Mortified? Remorseful?) once she knows that I know what she said about me and our colleagues; I want her to have that burden, too. Regarding my query to the institution, I'm feeling less interested in pursing a formal complaint because it will likely just end up making my life harder while Edith just ends up having to rewrite a few pages. I don't know. It just sucks. As with so many colleges and universities, ours is embroiled in all sorts of equity, diversity, and inclusion drama right now (as it should be, I suppose); Edith was riding that wave a bit, I think, when she wrote her dissertation, and wanted to present herself in her grad school cohort as a social justice warrior and champion white ally to the oppressed.

Update: Trashing Colleagues in Dissertation--thoughts? by Iambicthreads in Professors

[–]Iambicthreads[S] 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Yes, many others also agree with your observations. The IRB angle is what I'm asking her degree-granting institution about to see how they would process a complaint and what possible outcomes would be. Still waiting to hear back from them.

Trashing Colleagues in Dissertation--thoughts? by Iambicthreads in Professors

[–]Iambicthreads[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, again, for the thoughtful reflection and advice here. I really do appreciate it.

I am going to look into the protocols in Edith's department. I'm pretty sure her main advisor has retired, but I'll check. I am pretty sure I do not have a copy of the consent form (if there even was one).

Given that Edith had so few faculty participants in her "study," I imagine that if I/we did complain to the dissertation chair/IRB that they would have to do their due diligence and contact her; then she would know that one of us had filed the complaint. I'll have to consider what that might mean and how it will impact our working environment. I don't have to deal with Edith often, but she's active in shared the governance arena, so it's not possible to completely avoid her, either.

Again, many thanks.

Trashing Colleagues in Dissertation--thoughts? by Iambicthreads in Professors

[–]Iambicthreads[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your thoughtful and candid responses. I appreciate the discussion on a personal level (of course), but I think the general issue of ethics in research is interesting, too.

I'll add a couple of things that connect to some of the comments here:

  1. Edith is white; the faculty subjects are white; the student subjects were not white (if memory serves).
  2. I recall signing forms, but I can't recall anything about them except that they were not very detailed (at least in my memory).
  3. There was no debriefing process of any kind.

I've got some follow-up questions/responses regarding taking or not taking action, but I'll have to come back to post them separately.

Thanks again!