Collaborative Research: The SEED-PA. A Practical Instrument for Assessing Individual Ethics Initiatives

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Engineering ethics is an important topic in engineering education. There is considerable interest in the engineering education community for an instrument that can be used in ethics education. This collaborative project addresses the need for such an instrument. The project team plans is building upon their current research-based SEED (Survey of Engineering Ethical Development) instrument which is grounded in theory and has been completed by 3,914 respondents at 19 partner institutions across the nation. The project has four goals: 1). Create a practical instrument for assessing individual ethics initiatives (SEED-PA); 2). Use the SEED-PA to conduct four separate studies addressing important research questions and demonstrating the utility, reliability, and validity of the instrument; 3). Develop the SEED-PA User's Guide to assist in research design, administration, data analysis, and results interpretation; 4). Broadly disseminate the online SEED-PA and the SEED-PA User's Guide.This project is advancing discovery about assessing individual ethics initiatives and has the potential to transform undergraduate education in engineering ethics. The instrument developed can be used by engineering programs to address ABET learning outcomes on engineering ethics. The project includes a multifaceted dissemination plan with focused and broad dissemination mechanisms. The collaborating institutions span a range of institutional types with diverse student bodies. The studies are likely to yield results that are widely applicable.