Kligyte Vykinta, Marcy Richard T, Waples Ethan P, Sevier Sydney T, Godfrey Elaine S, Mumford Michael D, Hougen Dean F
Department of Psychology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019-2007, USA.
Sci Eng Ethics. 2008 Jun;14(2):251-78. doi: 10.1007/s11948-007-9048-z. Epub 2007 Dec 12.
Integrity is a critical determinant of the effectiveness of research organizations in terms of producing high quality research and educating the new generation of scientists. A number of responsible conduct of research (RCR) training programs have been developed to address this growing organizational concern. However, in spite of a significant body of research in ethics training, it is still unknown which approach has the highest potential to enhance researchers' integrity. One of the approaches showing some promise in improving researchers' integrity has focused on the development of ethical decision-making skills. The current effort proposes a novel curriculum that focuses on broad metacognitive reasoning strategies researchers use when making sense of day-to-day social and professional practices that have ethical implications for the physical sciences and engineering. This sensemaking training has been implemented in a professional sample of scientists conducting research in electrical engineering, atmospheric and computer sciences at a large multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary, and multi-university research center. A pre-post design was used to assess training effectiveness using scenario-based ethical decision-making measures. The training resulted in enhanced ethical decision-making of researchers in relation to four ethical conduct areas, namely data management, study conduct, professional practices, and business practices. In addition, sensemaking training led to researchers' preference for decisions involving the application of the broad metacognitive reasoning strategies. Individual trainee and training characteristics were used to explain the study findings. Broad implications of the findings for ethics training development, implementation, and evaluation in the sciences are discussed.
在产出高质量研究成果以及培养新一代科学家方面，诚信是研究机构效能的关键决定因素。为应对这一日益受到机构关注的问题，已制定了一些负责任研究行为（RCR）培训项目。然而，尽管在伦理培训方面已有大量研究，但仍不清楚哪种方法最有潜力提高研究人员的诚信度。在提高研究人员诚信度方面显示出一定前景的方法之一，是专注于培养伦理决策技能。当前的研究提出了一种新颖的课程，该课程聚焦于研究人员在理解对物理科学和工程学具有伦理意义的日常社会及专业实践时所使用的广泛元认知推理策略。这种意义建构培训已在一个专业科学家样本中实施，这些科学家在一个大型多元文化、多学科和多大学的研究中心从事电气工程、大气科学和计算机科学领域的研究。采用前后测设计，使用基于情景的伦理决策测量方法来评估培训效果。该培训提高了研究人员在数据管理、研究行为、专业实践和商业实践这四个伦理行为领域的伦理决策能力。此外，意义建构培训使研究人员更倾向于涉及应用广泛元认知推理策略的决策。研究结果用个体受训者和培训特征来解释。文中讨论了这些发现对科学领域伦理培训发展、实施和评估的广泛影响。
