How Do We Know What Works? A Review and Critique of Current Practices in Ethics Training Evaluation

Abstract

Training is a costly investment. As such, it is of great interest to know the extent to which that investment is yielding a positive return. Recent meta-analytic efforts have observed that ethics training programs are, indeed, having a positive effect, leading to the conclusion that the programs are working. However, they have also uncovered considerable variability in the effectiveness of ethics training programs, which leads to the purpose of the present study-to review current practices in ethics training evaluation. Through this review of 243 studies, consisting of 380 ethics trainings, we identified major themes in evaluation practices and training design. The tradeoffs associated with these evaluation procedures and designs are discussed, along with directions for future research.

Training programs’ return on investment in the Portuguese railway company: a fuzzy‐set Qualitative Comparative Analysis

“…Each level involves increased complexity (Moldovan, ). Despite much criticism (Ritzmann et al , ; Sitzmann et al , ; Sitzmann & Weinhardt, ), Kirkpatrick’s evaluation model is still the most frequently cited model on training evaluation (Rohmann et al , ; Steele et al , ). It is the most relevant to the research that many academics generally accept (Hung, ; Phillips, ; Sitzman & Weinhardt, ) and also the most commonly used by organizations (Ho et al , ; Hung, ; Sitzman & Weinhardt, ).…”

Fostering Research Integrity

“…Some of the most interesting material appears in an appendix thatdescribes five cases of alleged or actual misconduct (including discussions individual and institutional responses)and an appendix that reviews empirical research on assessing the effectiveness of RCR education, written by Michael Mumford, who has published numerous articles in this journal, e.g. Steele et al (2016), Todd et al (2017), and is a member of the editorial board of this journal. Fostering Research Integrity nevertheless makes a valuable contribution to advancing the cause of RCR even if it falls short of the standard set by earlier NASEM reports.…”

The Development and Evaluation of Expert Witness Role Play Instruction for Teaching Engineering Ethics

“…It can be a daunting challenge to effectively evaluate ethics training programs 1,2 . There are numerous options for evaluation, outcomes, and approaches 1,2,3 .…”

“…It can be a daunting challenge to effectively evaluate ethics training programs 1,2 . There are numerous options for evaluation, outcomes, and approaches 1,2,3 . However, there are also limited resources that can be dedicated to evaluation 2,4 .…”

“…Evaluations beyond this may focus on how well the program actually works or if it is effective in eliciting behavior change 2 . A common evaluation of effectiveness is to determine how trainees react to the training experience, the content of the program, or the instructor delivery 1,3,5 . It is difficult and rare to evaluate how well ethics training actually develops a trainee's ethical reasoning or behavior change 1 .…”