Thanks for all of your input.  I teach ethics at the graduate level  
and realize that it is not easily assessed in any kind of exam -  
simple or not!

I am not involved in the undergraduate curriculum development, so I  
checked with the chair of the committee for the reasoning for this  
request.  No undergraduate ethics course is offered at our school;  
ethics is supposed to be integrated throughout the curriculum.  The  
committee wants a tool to assess ethics at the undergraduate level to  
relieve that duty from faculty in another required courses in which it  
is currently assessed.

My initial reaction was that this might not exist, so I thought if it  
exists someone in ALSB would know about it.

Thanks,
Linda


On Nov 4, 2009, at 8:28 PM, Virginia G Maurer wrote:

> Sounds to me like the juxtaposition of "simple" and "non multiple  
> choice" is a real challenge. Non multiple choice is expensive.
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk on behalf of  
> M Neil Browne
> Sent: Wed 11/4/2009 8:01 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: ethics exam
>
>
>
> Linda,
>
>
>
> The DIT (Defining Issues test) is probably the gold standard for  
> ethics tests.  While it has no specific business content, it does  
> have national norms aplenty, as well as a clear set of criteria for  
> assessing the quality of ethical reasoning. The criteria are drawn  
> exclusively from a Kohlberg perspective of ethical development.
>
>
>
> The DIT IS a multiple choice instrument.  You asked for a "simple,  
> non-multiple choice exam." Methinks you are seeking a snipe or a  
> sharply dull knife. As soon as one describes an assessment  
> instrument as "simple," you are seeking convergent thinking, or an  
> assessment framework of right and wrong. To ask for a non-multiple  
> choice exam is to seek an exam that allows play for human judgment,  
> interpretation, and contextual framing (divergent thinking.)  
> Assessing such an exam in a psychometrically meaningful way requires  
> a rubric of criteria that can be applied reliably by trained raters.  
> Repeated reliability tests of faculty raters is often as frustrating  
> as it is necessary to provide a meaningful assessment.
>
>
>
> For what it s worth, I have been involved in assessment projects  
> that used several forms of tests to measure, inter alia, ethical  
> reasoning. While I agree entirely with your preference for a non- 
> multiple choice assessment instrument, I have yet to see a faculty  
> cohort who were willing to implement such an assessment approach  
> once they appreciated how much work and training would be required.
>
>
>
> I would be very excited to learn that you later have an experience  
> that belies what I am suggesting, but I am skeptical.
>
>
>
> Neil Browne
>
>
>
> From: Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk  
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Linda Christiansen
> Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 6:31 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: ethics exam
>
>
>
> Hello all,
>
> Our School of Business is interested in the possibility of giving a  
> nationally normed ethics exam.  Does anyone know of a simple, non- 
> multiple choice exam that we can administer?
>
>
>
> Thanks!
>
> Linda Christiansen
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
>