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"Graduate Education in Research Ethics for Sciencists and Engineers" is a project funded by the National Science Foundation (SES 0629377) to design and integrate a pilot program in research ethics for graduate students in science and engineering to prepare them to face the complex and encompassing ethical and social issues that arise in professional activity. This project is being built around three key components: (1) Three specially designed graduate student workshops, a freestanding course, and a capstone activity will provide students with problem-solving skills and a conceptual framework in research ethics; (2) Participants in faculty development workshops will design research ethics cases and materials to provide graduate students with practice and guidance in confronting ethical challenges in research; (3) Faculty mentoring workshops will foster collaboration between faculty experienced with integrating ethidcs and those new to the task. This and others in a series of modules in Connexions will describe these activities and undergo modifications and improvements as these activities evolve and are tried out at different locations. The conversion of this workshop activity into module form has come about through the EAC Toolkit project, NSF SES 0551779.

Module introduction

Graduate students will participate in a follow up workshop during their second semester of study that will be designed to add skills of ethical evaluation to those of ethical awareness. This workshop will advance on the first workshop (Graduate Awareness Workshop) through presentations of a taxonomy of ethical issues in research called the "Double Axiological Axis" and through a framework that integrates teleology and deontology to enable students to introduce ethical theory and principle into moral deliberation. Students will practice the skills presupposed by these presented materials by deliberating on a case in research ethics that has been chosen because it presents a conflict between moral considerations. Students will be guided through the process of identifying the conflicting moral elements and designing ethically acceptable courses of action. This workshop will target the skill of ethical evaluation and be assessed in terms of the success of the participants in resolving the conflict posed by the case over which they deliberate. Workshop objectives, outcomes, and activities are summarized below.

Module under construction

This workshop module is still under development. It is being published in the Connexions Content Commons to allow students participating in the workshops and interested faculty to react to its different parts and to participate in its continued development.

Moral deliberation workshop
Objectives Activities
Systematic introduction to a taxonomy of key issues in research ethics Presentation: Ethical Issues in Research (Double Axiological Axis)
Introduction of ethical theory and principle to aid in moral reasoning and moral judgment in research ethics Presentation: Teleological and Deontological moments of ethical reflection in research ethics
Students learn to arbitrate between conflicting moral and practical considerations Reflection Exercise: Students are presented with a case raising a moral conflict, such as a conflict between duties or rights. Students then use guidelines and reflection to resolve the conflict

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Source:  OpenStax, Graduate education in research ethics for scientists and engineers. OpenStax CNX. Dec 14, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10408/1.3
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