Formal Ethical Training Science Fair Projects

Behavior science fair projects tackle ethical questions...

Professional Ethics

Professional ethics relates to how a professional needs to act in their industry. Obviously what is considered ethical in one industry may not be considered ethical in another industry.

Objectives/Goals

This project was designed to determine if formal ethics training provided by the U.S. Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFJROTC) curriculum increases cadets' ethical knowledge and ethical conduct when compared to the general high school student population as demonstrated by scored responses on an anonymous ethical decision-making survey.

Methods/Materials

An anonymous survey was distributed to 32 high school students enrolled in AFJROTC and similar organizations (experimental group) and 34 students not enrolled in AFJROTC (control group). The survey contained 14 short statements to assess ethical knowledge and 8 hypothetical situations to assess ethical conduct. Demographic data were also collected. Answers to the survey questions were assigned 1-4 points each with 1 being the least ethical and 4 being the most ethical response. Responses to the survey questions were scored, entered into an Excel spreadsheet, and analyzed.

Results

In assessing Ethical Knowledge, the benchmark score was 3.17; the experimental group score was 3.05; and the control group score was 3.03. In terms of Ethical Conduct, the benchmark score was 2.87; the experimental group score was 2.57; and the control group score was 2.77. For the Composite Score, the benchmark score was 3.02; the experimental group score was 2.81; and the control group score was 2.90. Using Descriptive Statistics: (Mean, Std Dev, 95% Confidence Level); t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming Unequal Variances (Alpha=0.05); and z-Test: Two Sample for Means (Alpha=0.05) it was determined the three (3) null hypotheses (i.e., no difference between experimental and control groups) could not be rejected.

Conclusions/Discussion

Experimental Group (AFJROTC) and Control Group (Non-AFJROTC) ethics scores DO NOT differ enough to statistically rule out chance sampling error. Therefore, data collected from this experiment DOES NOT support the hypothesis that formal ethics training results in greater ethical knowledge and ethical conduct among teens. 3rd party contributor