Collaborative Proposal: Early Career Engineers' Views of Ethics and Social Responsibility: Trends, Influences, and Contexts

合作提案：早期职业工程师的道德和社会责任的观点：趋势，影响，和ContextsPublic Abstract回应经常关注缺乏重视工程教育和专业实践中的道德，各种正式的课程为基础的干预措施和非正式或课外计划已经创建和评估，以提高工程毕业生的社会和道德承诺。此外，许多雇主提供或要求在道德，合规和相关主题的培训。大多数先前对这种经历的影响的研究都集中在工程专业的学生，特别是本科生。很少有研究跟踪这些学生进入职场后的情况，以研究这些经历对他们职业生涯早期的影响。本项目探讨了早期职业工程师对道德和社会责任的看法如何在从本科工程学位课程到工作场所（或研究生学习）的过渡中发生变化，以及这些看法如何形成或影响。它还询问了这些看法如何根据个人的工程学科，背景和当前的专业设置而变化。特别优先考虑调查代表性不足的群体之间的看法和经验的差异。除了有助于文献和工程教育和职业道德的影响实践，从这个项目的研究结果揭示了雇主如何更好地调整入职计划，专业发展机会和组织气候与年轻专业人士的观点和看法的劳动力发展的影响。数据收集分两个阶段进行。第一个研究阶段将开始调查和采访参与者从以前的研究谁现在是早期的职业专业人士和/或追求研究生学位。参与者在这些调查和访谈的反应可以与他们以前的反应作为工程专业的学生，使可见他们的看法如何随着时间的推移和整个从学校到专业实践的过渡而变化。在研究的第二阶段，将对一批新的参与者进行调查和访谈，这将使参与者人数更多、更多样化。将使用适当的统计技术来调查调查数据集中的纵向变化和组级结果，同时将使用专题和现象学方法来分析访谈数据。这项分析将揭示年轻的职业工程师对社会和道德责任的看法是如何通过他们在本科学习和当前环境中的经历形成的。这项提议是由CISE董事会通过ER 2计划资助的。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Collaborative Proposal: Early Career Engineers' Views of Ethics and Social Responsibility: Trends, Influences, and ContextsPublic AbstractResponding to frequent concerns about a lack of attention to ethics in engineering education and professional practice, a variety of formal course-based interventions and informal or extracurricular programs have been created and assessed to improve the social and ethical commitments of engineering graduates. Additionally, many employers offer or require training in ethics, compliance, and related topics. Most prior research into the impacts of such experiences has focused on engineering students, especially undergraduates. There have been very few studies that have tracked these students as they enter the workforce in order to study the impacts of these experiences early in their careers.This project explores how early career engineers’ perceptions of ethics and social responsibility change in the transition from undergraduate engineering degree programs to the workplace (or graduate studies) and how those perceptions are shaped or influenced. It also asks how those perceptions vary depending on an individual’s engineering discipline, background, and current professional setting.Specific priority is given to investigating differences in perceptions and experiences among underrepresented groups. In addition to contributing to the literature and impacting practices in engineering education and professional ethics, the findings from this project have implications for workforce development by revealing how employers can better align onboarding programs, professional development opportunities, and organizational climate with the views and perceptions of young professionals.This study uses both survey (quantitative) and interview (qualitative) research methods. Data is being gathered in two phases. The first study phase will begin by surveying and interviewing participants from a prior study who are now early career professionals and/or pursuing graduate degrees. The responses of participants in these surveys and interviews can be compared to their prior responses as engineering students, making visible how their perceptions have changed over time and across the transition from school to professional practice. In the second phase of the study, a new group of participants will be surveyed and interviewed, which will allow for a larger and more diverse participant pool. Appropriate statistical techniques will be used to investigate longitudinal changes and group-level results in the survey data set, while thematic and phenomenographic approaches will be used to analyze the interview data. This analysis will shed light on how young career engineers’ perceptions of social and ethical responsibility are shaped by their experiences in their undergraduate studies and their current contexts.This proposal was funded through the ER2 program by the CISE directorate.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.