Design and Psychometry of a Tool for Evaluating Professional Ethics of Faculty Members

Professional ethics in higher education institutions play an important role in preparing the young generation for the future. The purpose of this study was to design and psychometry of a tool for evaluating the professional ethics of faculty members in Urmia University.

In this study, structural equation modeling method was used. The target population was all faculty members of Urmia University, Urmia, Iran. Kerjesi and Morgan table was used to determine sample size and sampling was done using proportional stratified random method. Data gathering tool was a researcher-made questionnaire of professional ethics in two dimensions of education and research that its content validity was confirmed by expert opinions and its construct validity confirmed by factor analysis. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were calculated 0.96 and 0.98 for the two mentioned dimensions, respectively. Data were analyzed using SPSS 22 and SmartPLS3 statistical software.

The components of faculty members' professional ethics in the educational dimension include personality, professional competence, communication skills, student evaluation and organizational commitment; and in the research dimension include professional competence, individual characteristics, topic selection and problem expression, theoretical framework of research, research design, data collecting, analyzing, interpreting, concluding and reporting and referencing (P<0.01). All components were favorable among faculty members.

This study provides a tool for evaluating the professional ethics of faculty members. It is recommended to use this tool to evaluate and improve the quality of teaching performance as well as education and research in universities.