A Qualitative Study of the Moral Development of Undergraduate Students at a Private University

Background and Purpose:

Moral development is the process by which individuals identify a set of values to determine right and wrong.  Moral development is considered an important outcome of a college education. However, few studies have sought to describe the extent and depth of moral development that occurs during the course of an undergraduate education. This qualitative, cross-sectional study sought to answer that question by examining the moral development of undergraduate students during their tenure at a private, Midwestern university.  This project was funded as part of an initiative of the Beamer-Schneider Program in Ethics & Civics at Case Western Reserve University.

Methods:

The random sample was drawn proportionally from the five schools within the university and from two underrepresented groups (international students and underrepresented minority students). Theoretical saturation was reached at 35 participants. The interview guide was developed through an iterative process, allowing flexibility and responsivity to the emerging findings. The structured face-to-face interview included questions about participants’ values prior to attending the university, their current values, decision-making challenges, and incidents when their values were compromised. The interviews were transcribed into NVivo, and themes were identified through a coding process.

Results:

Themes of academic integrity, moral growth, and sense of community and social justice emerged during the coding process. Participants described being acutely aware of academic integrity, but rationalized not upholding this value as not necessarily being part of their strategic self-interest. Students described an academic pathway that included initial feelings of excitement followed by disillusionment followed by cynicism resulting in cheating, with an overall feeling of unfairness. Moral growth occurred through exposure to social science courses for many participants as well as through mentorship. Participants described mentors as being individuals that they can look to for support in their moral development. Underrepresented minority students described the university as adequately acknowledging and providing messaging around diversity, but that they did not actually feel valued by the university. Social justice issues emerged for minority students, including experiences of marginalization, both in the classroom and around campus. Participants described a disconnect from the community, and more of a focus on themselves and what would benefit them. For example, few students acknowledged the community beyond campus and even fewer expressed any values related to the greater good or the community. This was understood as an actor-centered type of moral development, one in which the end goal is to benefit oneself.

Conclusions and Implications:

Overall, participants did not describe an experience in which their moral development matured in a way that valued the greater good and civic duty. These results have important implications for curriculum development, delivery of course material, faculty roles, and community-building. Incorporating explicit ethics topics into required courses is one solution. The use of spiral learning techniques, supporting faculty in cultivating mentoring relationships with students, and creating meaningful, sustained experiences of community building for students are potential strategies for improving the moral development of students while at an undergraduate institution.