Awareness of Secondary Teachers on Research Ethics: Basis for Capability Building Program

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Teachers are engaged in doing school-based action research to improve their teaching practices. This undertaking faces some ethical issues. This can be due to lack of awareness and knowledge about ethical standards in conducting research. Studies investigating the awareness of teachers on the fundamental principles of research ethics are limited. Little is known about the extent or level of awareness of teachers in public schools. With this in mind, the researcher intended to conduct a study on the awareness of secondary teachers on research ethics.

METHODS

Descriptive research design using a quantitative approach was used. This was conducted at Teodoro P. Prudente National High School among 18 secondary teachers for S.Y. 2018-2019. Purposive sampling was used in selecting the respondents. A self-made questionnaire was used to gather the data needed. It contained the Nuremberg Code 10 fundamental principles in research ethics as indicators to measure the respondents' level of awareness using a five-point Likert scale. Frequency, percentage and mean were used to describe the socio-demographic profile of the respondents and weighted mean to determine the level of awareness of respondents on research ethics.

RESULTS

The data revealed that majority of the respondents (83%) were female. Majority of them (67%) were young professionals belonging to the age bracket 20-30. Respondents have diverse specialization in the different fields wherein more than a third quarter (78%) has units in a master's degree. The majority (67%) of the respondents have no formal training in research ethics. The data revealed that respondents are extremely aware of 3 indicators (voluntarism, justice & Beneficence, protection of subjects) while moderately aware of remaining indicators. Analyses of the overall weighted mean of the respondents showed that they are moderately aware (4.15) about the fundamental principles of Research Ethics.

DISCUSSIONS

The result showed that the respondents are moderately aware of the fundamental principles of Research Ethics based on their overall weighted mean. This means that respondents demonstrate a high degree of awareness on the fundamental principles of research ethics as revealed in the result of the overall weighted mean. Majority of the respondents identified participation in seminar-workshops and training on ethical research as the kind of suggested capability building program to improve their awareness of research ethics.