Students' Ethical Awareness and Conceptions of Research Ethics

Abstract

The study focused on university students' understanding and conceptions of ethical issues in research. Domain-specific and domain-transcending measures were developed to gauge the students' awareness of ethical issues. Responses were obtained from 269 undergraduate and graduate students at a U.S. regional university. Participant withdrawal, the debriefing of research participants, the dissemination of findings, and giving credit to co-contributors were the most challenging ethical issues for the students. Ethical awareness was predicted by professional and organizational socialization, and perspective taking. Contextualization greatly improved the students' ability to recognize ethical issues. Simulations and role-taking are suggested as the means with which to teach students about the ethical issues perceived as challenging.

Keywords:

• research ethics
• ethical awareness
• ethical sensitivity
• ethical climate
• student conceptions of research ethics

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank the following individuals for their help and support: Professor Laura Koppes for her continuous support throughout the project; Evelyn Lowery for her invaluable assistance in the research; Rick Hicks for tech support; Diana Robinson for administrative support; Professor Sam Mathews for the discussions about research ethics and the instruments; Professor Sue Walsh for insights and inspiration in creating parts of the instrument; and graduate teaching assistants Kimberly Sinkkanen, Katie Lowe, and Jaci Francisco for their comments on the instruments and usability of the online survey.