GENDER DIFFERENCES IN MORAL REASONING COMPARING PRE-PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN NURSING, EDUCATION, AND ENGINEERING: A CONTENT ANALYSIS.
Contributors: University of Alabama.
Published: 1994
Number of pages: 193
Subjects: Education, Philosophy of.; Education, Educational Psychology.; Education, Sociology of.; Education, Higher.
Description: The purpose of this study was to explicate moral reasoning theory and the ways pre-professional university students resolve ethical dilemmas. Early philosophers connected moral reasoning with caring and situational factors; however, Kohlberg, who is considered the leading researcher in moral reasoning, moved toward a justice ethic. Gilligan argues that while Kohlberg's work deserves merit, relational aspects need to be included in his theory of moral reasoning.

A review of the literature revealed a sharp debate, with Kohlberg's followers maintaining the completeness of his theory and Gilligan's supporters arguing that moral reasoning theory should include the relational aspects she found in females. Gilligan claims that since Kohlberg only studied males, his research did not document the relational component common to females. This research sought to expand knowledge about moral reasoning theory, linking Watson's Caring Theory for nursing with research on moral reasoning.

The present study involved interviews with 28 males and 28 females in pre-professional programs of nursing, education, and engineering. The research used content analysis and the Manual for Coding Real-Life Dilemmas (Lyons, 1982) to analyze subjects' hypothetical and real life dilemma solutions.

The study was designed to see if males and females resolve moral dilemmas in differing fashions, and differences in individuals entering caring professions compared to those entering engineering. From this study, the researcher developed a theoretical framework explaining moral reasoning functioning based on both justice and care orientations.

Chi Square analysis revealed several significant differences. For the hypothetical dilemma, females used more "justice" orientations and males used more "combined" but fewer "care" orientations than expected. For the real life dilemma, males used more "combined" orientations than expected. Participants had more caring orientations for the real life dilemma than the hypothetical dilemma. There were no significant differences for individuals in the three pre-professional majors.

The interviews revealed moral reasoning built on justice and care orientations, with individuals voicing conflict over rules versus relational factors. This study indicates support for combining care and justice in moral reasoning theory. The researcher suggests using diverse methods of study, further investigating Kohlberg's and Gilligan's precepts.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-07, Section: A, page: 1866.

Thesis (ED.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA, 1994.

School code: 0004.