HESI Lab Code of Conduct and Working Expectations

Part II. How We Work

Research is a set of habits before it is a set of results. The practices below exist because they reduce friction, protect people's time, and make the science reproducible and complete-able.

Communication

• We respond to meeting requests. Reply to a scheduling request within two business days, even if the reply is "not this week" or "I need to check." Silence stalls other people's work and requires them to guess.

• We respond to email within two business days. A short acknowledgment with a realistic timeline counts as a response. If you need longer, say so.

• Off-hours messages carry no off-hours obligation. People work at different times for professional and personal reasons. If you receive a message outside your working hours, you are not expected to answer until the next working day. If you send one, schedule it for the morning where you can.

• Ask early. If you have been genuinely stuck on a technical problem for more than an hour, ask. The cost of a quick answer is far lower than the cost of a lost afternoon, and asking is not evidence of inadequacy.

• Report when things go wrong. Missed deadlines, failed analyses, data problems, and personal difficulties are all easier to manage early. Nobody in the HESI lab is penalized for reporting a problem; problems get worse when they are concealed.

Writing

• Develop a writing habit. Write regularly. A modest daily or near-daily block is more productive than punctuated marathons, and it is better protection against the failure modes of academic writing (e.g., procrastination, perfectionism, the belief that you must finish analyzing before you can start writing). Thirty minutes on most days will produce a dissertation chapter; a heroic weekend will not.

• Writing is thinking. Start writing while the analysis is still in progress. Drafting the methods and the framing early surfaces gaps in the design while there is still time to fix them.

• Share rough drafts. We work on unfinished text. Send a draft when it is coherent enough to generate reactions and feedback, not when it is polished. Label the draft's state ("rough, ignore prose," "ready for line edits") so feedback is focused on where you want it.

• We return feedback on a predictable schedule. Default turnaround: 1-2 weeks for a chapter, section, or short document; 2-3 weeks for a full manuscript, proposal, or dissertation draft. If you need feedback faster, ask, and give as much lead time as you can. If a deadline is external and fixed, flag it when you send the draft, not after.

Meetings

• Individual meetings. Every graduate student and postdoc has a standing one-on-one meeting with Dr. Bitterman. But these are meetings led by you. Come prepared with a short agenda (e.g., what you did, what you are stuck on, what you need a decision on). Send it in advance when you can.

• Lab meetings. Attendance is the default expectation. We use this time for works-in-progress, practice talks, methods discussions, and reading. Presenting unfinished work is expected.

• Cancel early, not late. If you cannot make a meeting, say so as far in advance as you can manage. Canceling is fine, but no-showing is not.

Data, code, and reproducibility

• Nothing important lives only on a laptop. Code must be put in version control. Data go in the lab's designated storage with documented provenance. Analyses that cannot be re-run by someone else are not completed analyses.

• Write for the next person, who is probably you. README files, commented code, and a documented directory structure are part of the work product, not an optional courtesy.

• Follow the data management plan. Funded projects carry specific obligations for data documentation, retention, and open access. It is your responsibility to know which ones apply to your project before you start collecting.

• Human subjects and field research. IRB approval, consent procedures, and safety protocols must be completed before fieldwork begins.

Authorship and credit

• Discuss authorship early. Expected authorship and order are to be discussed at the start of a project and revisited when contributions change.

• We use the CRediT taxonomy to describe contributions where the venue supports it.

• Credit “invisible” contributions. Data collection, code, and coordination are contributions. So is the work of people who are no longer in the lab.

Time, workload, and wellbeing

• We do not measure commitment in hours. Rest when appropriate and needed. Take your vacation. Take weekends. Sustained overwork degrades the quality of research and is not a signal of seriousness.

• Have a plan and follow it. Each lab member maintains a set of goals for the year (an individual development plan or equivalent) covering research, skills, and career direction. We review it at least annually. Your goals do not have to be an academic career.

• Depression and anxiety are common in graduate school (context). Kent State offers confidential support through Counseling and Psychological Services.

• If you are concerned about the health or wellbeing of a KSU community member, submit a Basic Needs Assessment Form.