INVESTIGATING RESEARCH ETHICS SCALE IN ENGINEERING GRADUATE STUDENTS

The aim of this study was to investigate and validate research ethics in engineering graduate students.  The research method was descriptive-survey and the statistical population included all postgraduate students of technical-engineering fields at government universities of Tehran, Hormozgan, Ferdowsi and Gilan in the first semester of the academic year 2020-2021. Due to the size of the statistical population and the nature of the research, a sample of 402 people participated in the research and completed the Sailor Research Ethics Scales (1997) electronically. Statistical analysis of data was performed with SPSS 24 and Lisrel 8.5 software. The validity of the research ethics scale was examined from both content and structure aspects and the fit indices of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the confirmation model has an acceptable fit (χ2 = 52.2843, RSMEA = 0.09, RFI = 0.92, GFI = 0.74, CFI = 0.96). The reliability process was used the internal consistency method and the correlation of each subscale with the total score. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for internal consistency, were 0.95 for the whole scale and 0.84, 0.74, 0.76, 0.90 for the four personal integrity, methodology, data analysis and publication. Also, the matrix of correlation coefficients between the subscales with the total score of research ethics indicated strong internal relationships and a significant positive correlation (P < 0.001). Finally, in order to compare the results of future research with the norm group in Iranian culture were reported the mean and standard deviation of the subscales of the research ethics scale.