Collaborative Research

Collaborative Research

by Felicita Jusof

​​Collaborative Research or Not?

Amy is a microbiologist who studies bacteria. She found some interesting bacteria and wants to carry out further studies on these bacteria.

Poll

Amy lacks the facilities to study these bacteria. Therefore, she asked Razif, a colleague from another lab, for permission to use his facilities. Razif was not involved in any data analysis and interpretation.

• Yes, this is collaborative research.

• No, this is not collaborative research.

Poll

Amy isolated DNA from the bacteria and sent the DNA to Foong for DNA sequencing. Foong's lab was paid to perform the work and she sent the unanalysed raw data to Amy. Foong was not involved in any further analysis and interpretation of data.

• Yes, this is collaborative research.

• No, this is not collaborative research.

Poll

Amy invited Raani, a geneticist, to study the genes of the bacteria that she discovered. Together, they designed the experiments, analysed the data which led to the discovery of a new strain of bacteria.

• Yes, this is collaborative research.

• No, this is not collaborative research.

Poll

Amy asked her friend, Raja, a plant biologist from another university, to accompany her on her expedition to collect samples. Raja agreed as he can share the cost of travel with Amy while collecting samples for his own research.

• Yes, this is collaborative research.

• No, this is not collaborative research.

Poll

Amy spoke to Ming during lunch about the bacteria she recently discovered. Ming casually suggested experiments for the bacteria to her. Amy asked her student to run the experiments Ming suggested. Amy and Ming did not have further discussions.

• Yes, this is collaborative research.

• No, this is not collaborative research.

Open Ended

State possible questions that researchers should ask themselves when identifying potential collaborators.

Open Ended

Describe the step-by-step process of forming collaborations.