Browsing by Subject "monimenetelmällisyys"

Objectives. Research ethics is an essential part of good science and the craftsmanship of trained professionals. However, there are only few studies about teaching and learning research ethics in universities. In the context of Finnish universities, the research is non-existent. The objective of this study was to examine students' research ethics skills and perceptions, and how university appears as a learning environment from the students' perspective. The objective was also to recognise possible developmental needs in education. The concept of ethical sensitivity represented the research ethics skills of students. Methods. The study utilised a mixed methods approach. The population consisted of psychology and educational science students in University of Helsinki. Students (N=87) responded to a questionnaire examining whether students' empathy, organisational and professional socialisation, and experiences on the department's ethical climate have a relationship with their sensitivity in research ethics issues. Three vignettes were composed for measuring sensitivity in research ethics issues. The informants' task was to recognise the ethical issues embedded in the vignettes. Also the relationship between students' age, field of study, progression in studies, and sensitivity in research ethics issues was examined. Six students, who were also respondents of the questionnaire, were interviewed. The frame of the interviews was created on the grounds of the quantitative results. The interviews were analysed thematically. Results and conclusions. According to principal component analysis, the measure of socialisation did not consist of the same dimensions than the original measure (organisational socialisation and professional socialisation). The Finnish data produced two new components: socialisation to the values of the field and the department, and socialisation to the practices of the field and the department. The latter component predicted sensitivity to ethical issues in research (?=.287, p=.023, R2=.09) in the regression model. Other variables did not have the same relation. The six students interviewed represented two different student clusters based on their socialisation in cluster analysis. Those students who reported a high level of socialisation to the values and the practices of the field and the department emphasised research ethics as certain practices, whereas those students who did not report a high level of socialisation emphasised the relativity of values and the importance of questioning existing norms. The findings suggest that in order for students to commit themselves to ethical research practices, they need to figure out the value basis of those practices. For teaching research ethics this implies that practical guidelines and realistic examples will have to be underpinned with thorough discussions about the underlying values and their consequences. This way the development of the students to responsible and ethical subjects can be assisted successfully.