Putting an Ethics Training Program Online: It May Be More Complicated Than We Think.

Area of Science:

• Education
• Ethics
• Online Learning

Background:

• Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training is crucial for graduate students.
• The shift towards online education necessitates evaluating remote training effectiveness.
• Assessing the impact of different training modalities on ethical understanding is important.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of an online, video-streamed Responsible Conduct of Research/Professional Ethics Training for graduate students.
• To compare the outcomes of remote, real-time training with an in-person option.
• To assess participants' perceptions of ethical dilemmas, decision-making abilities, and overall reactions to the training.

Main Methods:

• The study involved graduate students participating in a Responsible Conduct of Research/Professional Ethics Training offered remotely via video-streaming and in-person.
• Effectiveness was measured using pre-post training assessments of ethical dilemma perception, ethical decision-making, and participant reactions.
• Statistical comparisons were made between remote and in-person training modalities.

Main Results:

• Post-training scores decreased for some outcomes, particularly among remote participants.
• In-person participants demonstrated significantly better performance on several key measures compared to remote participants.
• Despite modality differences, all participants reported favorable reactions to the training program.

Conclusions:

• Online implementation of Responsible Conduct of Research/Professional Ethics Training requires innovative approaches for program development and institutional preparation.
• Current remote training modalities may be less effective than in-person options for certain learning outcomes.
• Further research is essential to identify optimal strategies for delivering effective online ethics training to graduate students.