Research involving minors necessitates additional safeguards to assure that research activities conform to appropriate ethical standards. Federal regulations require that adequate provisions are made to obtain informed consent from the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) prior to initiating any research with minors. Waiver of consent may only be granted by an IRB for minimal risk studies. For emergency situations when informed consent cannot be obtained, a written summary consent must be secured and signed by the subject or by the subject's legal representative following emergency treatment.
In one case, an infant with respiratory distress was being transported by ambulance from a small hospital to a children's hospital in Indianapolis. In route, the infant grew increasingly worse and the physician in charge felt that the baby might not survive. The physician decided that the only hope was to administer an investigational drug to try to sustain the baby until it arrived at the hospital. Unfortunately, the baby died shortly after arriving at the hospital in spite of the physician's efforts.
The parents of the infant lived approximately one hundred miles from the hospital in Indianapolis. Although the pediatrician was well aware of the consent requirements, he asked the IRB to waive the requirement to get consent from the parents since they lived so far away and the physician did not want to have to confront them with consent after-the-fact when these lifesaving procedures ultimately failed anyway.
DESIGNING AN ASSESSMENT PLAN
1. Specify the outcomes of your course. Pick one of the four basic processes from Rest's Four Component Model of Morality. (See "An Overview of the Psychology of Morality," in Rest, James R., et al., Moral Development: Advances in Research and Theory, pp. 1-27. Westport: Greenwood Publishing, Inc. Reprinted in the 1995 TRE Reader, P. 62-88.) The outcome focuses on what the student will be able to do as a result of instruction. In addition to picking one of the processes, specify an objective related to student self-assessment or self-discovery. For example: "By the end of the course, the student will be able to describe his or her competence in developing a well-reasoned moral argument, relative to the course standards."
2. Describe the measurement instrument(s).
Performance Measure(s). If you are using a "teacher-made" test to assess performance on the course outcome, include an actual copy of the test, the criteria for judging performance, and any directions for scoring the test. Be sure there is correspondence between the outcome and the method of measurement. (For example, if the outcome is to write a well-reasoned moral arguments for dilemmas in research ethics, a multiple-choice test asking students to recognize the elements of a well-reasoned argument would be an inappropriate measure for the outcome.) If possible, use a pretest/posttest design. Your objective is to demonstrate that instruction made a difference in student performance.
Student-perception Measure(s). (A) Use a standard likert-type course evaluation measure that is administered anonymously. Describe the procedures for assuring anonymity and assuring that all students respond. You might make completion of it a course requirement and assign someone to see that everyone provided one. (B) Use another method for collecting self-perceptions of learning. For example, you might require log book entries at the end of each class coupled with a final opportunity for reflection at the end of the course. Before selecting a method, consider how you will analyze responses. (Keep it simple.)
3. Describe the methods of instruction. It should be clear to the reviewer of your assessment plan that the instructional methods are appropriate to the outcome. Consider the elements of effective instruction: specifying the criteria for judgment, providing instruction and appropriate practice, providing feedback and opportunities for self-assessment, etc.
Rather than providing great detail about your plan, simple include a course syllabus. In designing the syllabus, attend to the standards set by your department and/or university. Be sure to describe the basis for assigning credit or course grades. Consider some methods of discriminating differing levels of participation and/or performance. Even if you use attendance as a criterion for a passing grade, and/or mere completion of one or two assignments as a criterion for the next grade, the presence of clear expectations will improve the effort expended. Setting standards does make a difference.
DEVELOPING THE FINAL REPORT
Think of the final report as a mini research report. Include a brief introduction that states the course objectives. In the methods section, briefly describe methods of instruction, assessment measures and methods of analyzing the data. (Use appendices to provide detail.) If your analysis of performance involved expert judgment, provide some information about the reliability of judgments, even if you only rescore a small sample of responses yourself. Attending to interrater and intrarater reliability adds credibility to your findings. Report the results, including a table or two that summarizes the data. In a discussion/conclusion section, discuss the results and suggest any modifications to instruction that are suggested by the data.
ADDENDUM
The assessment movement requires that assessment to be the driving force behind educational reform. Before you even think about what you as the teacher will do, you must ask: What is it I want students to be able to do as a result of instruction? And, how will I know they can do it? So, the methods of assessment need to be designed before you begin teaching, the performance required must simulate real-life performance, and criteria for judging performance must be public and presented prior to instruction, and there must be opportunities to practice the performance and receive feedback prior to the "final." One of the benefits of focusing on assessment is you know where you are going before you begin teaching, and when you finish, you have data that can be used to reflect on whether the instruction brought about the intended change. Data from student performance on course outcomes, as well as student perceptions about the course can be used to make data-based revisions to instruction.
ASSESSMENT is:
Last updated: 22 January 1996
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Copyright 1996, The Trustees of Indiana University