Principal Investigator oversight

English translation: use oversight

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:Principal Investigator oversight
Selected answer:use oversight
Entered by: Charles Davis

04:39 Nov 21, 2017
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Medical - Medical (general) / Clinical trials
English term or phrase: Principal Investigator oversight
I am having a dust-up with an editor about this and want to check my facts first, because I may be wrong. It was in a German source text and my first reaction on seeing "oversight" was that it meant some sort of omission or error, but that did not fit the context and it was clearly being used in the sense for which I personally would use "overview". Webster’s online dictionary as “management by overseeing the performance or operation of a person or group; watchful care, superintendence, general supervision”. I was asked for UK English though and have never come across "oversight" used in this sense, but "you learn something new every day" and there do seem to be a few instances of it being used in this sense in UK-based clinical trial texts. So basically I am hoping that someone is going to back me up and tell me that "oversight" used in the Webster's sense is ("primarily" perhaps) an Americanism and that I was fully justified in changing it to something that is not going to invite sniggers from a UK readership, but perhaps I am going to have to swallow my pride on this one.
Any input very welcome...
Charles Stanford
Czech Republic
Local time: 15:34
use oversight
Explanation:
In both American and British English, "oversight" can mean either a mistake or supervision. It more often means the former in British English and more often the latter in American English, but both are correct in both. Exercising oversight is normal in official UK English. There are lots of Oversight Committees. I would use it here even though it is for a UK readership. If you were going to replace it, I think the word would be supervision (monitoring, exercising control) rather than overview (having a complete picture of what's going on). However, "principal investigator oversight" is a term of art in the field and is used in the UK in the context of clinical trials, and I don't think any synonym regularly is. The thing is that PI Oversight denotes a recognised range of functions which those in the field (basically the potential readership, I presume) will know. So the National Institute for Health Research, the NHS's research wing, offers a Principal Investigator Oversight Master Class:
https://www.nihr.ac.uk/our-faculty/clinical-research-staff/l...

You could save face by pointing out that "oversight" as supervision is indeed more usual in American English, but as I say, in this context I think it's the word to use for all English-speaking readers.
Selected response from:

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 15:34
Grading comment
Thanks
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +5use oversight
Charles Davis


Discussion entries: 9





  

Answers


2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +5
principal investigator oversight
use oversight


Explanation:
In both American and British English, "oversight" can mean either a mistake or supervision. It more often means the former in British English and more often the latter in American English, but both are correct in both. Exercising oversight is normal in official UK English. There are lots of Oversight Committees. I would use it here even though it is for a UK readership. If you were going to replace it, I think the word would be supervision (monitoring, exercising control) rather than overview (having a complete picture of what's going on). However, "principal investigator oversight" is a term of art in the field and is used in the UK in the context of clinical trials, and I don't think any synonym regularly is. The thing is that PI Oversight denotes a recognised range of functions which those in the field (basically the potential readership, I presume) will know. So the National Institute for Health Research, the NHS's research wing, offers a Principal Investigator Oversight Master Class:
https://www.nihr.ac.uk/our-faculty/clinical-research-staff/l...

You could save face by pointing out that "oversight" as supervision is indeed more usual in American English, but as I say, in this context I think it's the word to use for all English-speaking readers.

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 15:34
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 78
Grading comment
Thanks

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  writeaway: both uses of the word (mistake/supervision) are definitely used in everyone's English
1 hr
  -> Thanks! I think so too.

agree  Herbmione Granger: Yes, we like our Oversight Committees :)
2 hrs
  -> Quite right too! Thanks :)

agree  B D Finch: The context generally makes the meaning clear. An indefinite article generally indicates the "omission/mistake" meaning, while absence of any article indicates the "supervision" meaning.
2 hrs
  -> Thanks! That's a point that crossed my mind too, though I didn't get round to mentioning it: countable versus non-countable.

agree  Lirka
2 hrs
  -> Thanks :)

agree  Yvonne Gallagher: with BDF and yes, both meanings used in US & UK
9 hrs
  -> Thanks :)
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