Integrating Ethics into Graduate Training in the Environmental Sciences

Michelle SticklerEducation Specialist

The Pennsylvania State University

Funded by the National Science Foundation: # 0529766

Acknowledgements

• Research Team:– Donald Brown (case developer)– Ken Davis (case developer)– Klaus Keller (case developer)– Rich Ready (case developer)– Erich Schienke (case/manual developer)– Jim Shortle (case developer)– Nancy Tuana (PI)

• IRB approval from PSU

Educational Objective

• Develop ethics education modules that can be integrated into science curricula– Geosciences– Agricultural economics

• Develop and test at PSU

• Make available broadly

Module Topics

• RCR

• Data analysis

• Sustainability

• Cost/benefit analysis

• Environmental risk-analysis

• Decision-making under uncertainty

RCR Module

• Introduction to research misconduct• Responsible authorship

– Authorship credit and responsibility– When and what to publish– Data sharing

• Conflict of interest– In peer review– In expert testimony

Objectivity Module

• Ethical question – can research truly be objective

• Influences that shape how a problem is defined, studied, and reported

• Differences in standards of objectivity

Benefit-Cost Analysis Module

• Ethical evaluation of 3 common criteria for evaluating social welfare change

• Argument – need for deeper evaluation of benefits and costs

Uncertainty Module

• When is it ethical to publish results likely to influence policy when subject to uncertainty

• Inherent ethical decisions in treatment of uncertainty– Differences between scientific / policy

arenas

• Data analysis and dissemination issues

Research Question

• Does ethical training embedded within the curriculum correlate with a better understanding and/or attitudes toward RCR than RCR training alone?

Research Groups

RCR Module

Ethics Module

Pre- Tests

Post-Tests

Exp 1 X X X X

Exp 2 X X X

Control X X

Assessments

• Principles of RCR – multiple choice knowledge assessment

• Attitudes Towards RCR – Scenario based assessment– Identify acceptable vs. unacceptable

scenarios on 4 point scale– Qualitative explanation of choice

Progress

• Module development - ongoing

• Pilot testing of instruments - Spring 2006

• Revisions to instruments – Summer 2006

• 2nd reliability testing – early Fall 2006

• Start of data collection – Fall 2006

Challenges and Limitations

• Inconsistency in delivery

• Enrolling sufficient number of participants

Summary

• Curricular development: ethics / RCR modules embedded in science courses

• Research: comparing impact of 1) stand-alone RCR education and 2) RCR and ethics in the curriculum on knowledge and attitudes