Selected ethical issues in research and publication: Perceptions of healtheducation faculty

A national random sample of 195 university health education faculty at grad uate degree-granting programs completed a 31-item survey with regard to the ir perceptions of ethical issues in research and publishing. Most responden ts were male (57%), tenured (75%), had graduate faculty status (92%), had p resented original research at conferences (85%), and had published articles in health education journals (89%). Faculty members were requested to asse ss whether 21 scenarios dealing with ethical issues in research and publish ing were ethical, unethical, questionable, or not an ethical issue. Of the scenarios, 3 were considered ethical and 7 unethical by the majority of res pondents. The perceptions of how ethical the remaining 11 scenarios were va ried considerably. Perceptions of the ethical scenarios did not differ amon g respondents by sex, academic rank, years taught as a faculty member, whet her the department taught units/classes on research ethics, or whether the respondents were from doctoral-level versus master's-level programs.