Exercise 3

Exploring Soft Conflicts of Interest

🕑 1 hour

Reflect on the subtle pressures that may influence your work, and to acknowledge these influences with transparency.

Details

Objective

Reflect on the subtle pressures that may influence your work, and acknowledge these influences with transparency.

Possible Outputs

Notes on your soft conflicts of interest and how you can mitigate them

When to Use

Most helpful with these phases of research:

Planning

Analysis

Dissemination

Exercise Preview

Each CHIRON exercise follows the same structure:

📖 Step 1: Read

Read one or two (light) readings

💬 Step 2: Discuss

Apply discussion questions to a real or hypothetical research project

✍️ Step 3: Reflect

Use a worksheet to reflect on how this exercise applies to your work, and note key takeaways

Reminder

This is intended for conversations about biorepository enabled research — research that relies on the storage and sharing of biological samples and/or data. You may still find it useful in other contexts.

Step 1.

Read

📖 Read as a group.

Note: web versions include links to additional content.

Reading

Read the following reading as a group. You might take turns reading aloud or spend a few minutes reading quietly.

This reading will give you important context for the discussion.

“Soft Conflicts of Interest”

Thinking critically about influences on science

Web version →

Print version →

Step 2.

Discuss

💬 Discuss a real or imaginary project

Discussion Prompts

Use the prompts below to guide your group’s conversation.
You can focus on a real research project or make one up for this exercise.

If you are an oversight committee member, consider how you might use or adapt these questions in your review process—for example, by including them in application materials for researchers.

Print version →

Funding Sources

What type of organization is funding your research?

Examples:

Governmental health funder (e.g., NIH, NHS)
Governmental fund not strictly related to health (e.g., Department of Defense)
Charitable foundation
University or local institution
Individual private donor or family (that is not a charitable foundation)
Commercial health entity (e.g. pharmaceutical company, health insurance company)
Commercial entity not strictly related to health (e.g., Google, Apple)

Motivations for Research

Consider the many reasons researchers pursue a question. Which resonate most with you? Are there any that you think don’t belong on this list? Are there any reasons you can think of that are NOT on this list?

Funding & Resources

I have received funding to work on this research question.
I am doing early work in the hopes of receiving funding.
I know funders are interested in this question.
I have access to data that lets me answer this question.

Personal Motivation

This question matters to me because I’m part of the community being studied.
This question matters to me because this health condition affects me or people I care about.
This question has religious or cultural significance to me.
A particular event inspired me to pursue this question.
I’m curious about this question.

Scientific & Professional Drivers

This question addresses a priority in the scientific community.
This question connects to my broader body of work as a researcher.
This question relates to an urgent health issue for humanity (like a pandemic or natural disaster).
Working on this question could help advance my career (e.g., publication, tenure).
I see a gap in the research literature that this question could fill.
Answering this question could be useful in clinical practice.

External Influence

My supervisor asked me to study this question.
A community asked me to study this question.
I think this question could have commercial value.
I think this question could inform policy decisions.

Funding Allocation and Conflicts

What have you allocated funding towards or what are you planning on requesting funding for? What are the reasons you would or would not request funding for each of these elements?

Scientific journal publication fees
Scientific journal open access publication fees
Scientific conference travel
Participant community engagement during the research process
participant community outreach to disseminate research findings
Data repository access or compute fees
Other fees related to data access and/or compute (e.g., revenue sharing requirements)

Are any of these “soft” conflicts of interest applicable to your work? Are there any that you think don’t belong on this list? Are there any reasons you can think of that are NOT on this list?

The mission of the funding organization could have/could appear to have an influence on study conclusions
The mission of the funding organization is controversial or opposed by certain groups
The government behind the funding is controversial to certain groups

Make a list of bullet points about your own potential soft conflicts of interests for a given project and then think through how you might mitigate each one of them.

For example, creating transparency about your personal motivations for pursuing the research question by drafting and publishing a blog post or social media post about your research and why it is important to you.

If you’d like to explore further, here is an external resource.

“When research is me-search: How researchers’ motivation to pursue a topic affects laypeople’s trust in science”

Step 3.

Reflect

✍️ Document your takeaways

Note on versions:

Google doc – best for copying and filling out digitally

PDF – best for printing

Reflection Worksheets

Take a few minutes to reflect on this exercise using the worksheet below. Choose the version that best matches your role — or share one worksheet as a group. Jot down any insights, questions, or takeaways.

Next Steps

You’ve completed this exercise. Great work! 🎉

Where to go from here

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