Teaching science at the university level: What about the ethics?

Ethics in science is integrated into an interdisciplinary science course called “Science, Technology and Society” (STS). This paper focuses on the section of the course called “Societal Impact on Science and Technology”, which includes the topics Misconduct in Science, Scientific Freedom and Responsibility, and the Use of Human Subjects in Research. Students in the course become aware not only of the science itself, but also of the process of science, some aspects of the history of science, the social responsibilities of scientists, and the ethical issues in science. Teaching techniques include the instructor sharing experiences as a scientist with the students, sharing books and resources with students, utilizing current sources of information like the weekly “Science Times”, inviting guest speakers, and utilizing portfolios to assess student learning. This paper was delivered orally at the National Academy of Sciences’ “Convocation on Scientific Conduct”, 6–7 June 1994.     

Impact of End-of-Life Circumstances on the Adjustment of Bereaved Siblings of Children Who Died from Cancer

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of end-of-life (EoL) circumstances on grief and internalizing symptoms among bereaved siblings. Bereaved families (N?=?88) were recruited from three sites 3–12 months (M?=?11.57, SD?=?3.48) after their child’s death from cancer. One sibling per family aged 8–17 years (M?=?12.41, SD?=?2.64) was randomly selected to participate. Families completed measures of siblings’ grief and internalizing symptoms, as well as a structured interview about circumstances surrounding the death. Mother and sibling reports of EoL circumstances were generally concordant, except there was a discrepancy between mothers and children about whether or not children expected their sibling’s death (t(75)?=?1.52, p?=?.018). Mother reports of sibling internalizing symptoms were above the normative mean (t(83)?=?4.44, p?≤?.001 (M?=?56.01?±?12.48), with 39% (n?=?33) in the borderline/clinical range. Sibling opportunity to say goodbye was associated with greater grief-related growth (t(79)?=?? 1.95, p?=?.05). Presence at the death and wishing they had done something differently were both associated with greater grief (t(80)?=?? 2.08, p?=?.04 and t(80)?=?? 2.24, p?=?.028, respectively) and grief-related growth (t(80)?=?? 2.01, p?=?.048 and t(80)?=?? 2.31, p?=?.024, respectively). However, findings were primarily unique to sibling report, with few mother-reported effects. The adjustment of bereaved siblings may be affected by certain modifiable circumstances surrounding the death of their brother or sister. A proportion of bereaved siblings had elevated internalizing symptoms irrespective of circumstances at EoL. Further work is needed to understand predictors of adjustment among bereaved siblings to provide better support and optimize their outcomes.

     

Reliability estimation for a test with parts of unknown lengths

The separate questions on an essay test or the individual judges on a rater panel may constitute congeneric parts rather than tau-equivalent parts. Also, it may be necessary to infer the lengths of the congeneric parts from their variances and covariances, rather than from some obvious feature of each part, such as the range of possible scores. Cronbach's alpha coefficient applied to such part-tests data will underestimate total score reliability. Several reliability coefficients are developed for such instruments. They may be regarded as extensions of the coefficient developed by Kristof for a three-part test.