Cultivating Research Ethics Competence in Undergraduate Researchers: Evidence from an NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program

Abstract

Research ethics training for undergraduate students remains insufficient despite a broad consensus that ethical competency is foundational to responsible scientific practice. For over a decade, we have offered formal research ethics training to undergraduate students pursuing research in psychology, neuroscience, and other STEM fields through our NSF-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program at our urban public university. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of this training by examining students’ self-reported confidence in knowledge of research ethics and perception of ethics before and after the program across 14 REU cohorts (n = 113) from 2013-2026. Additionally, given the challenges that first-generation (FG) college students often face in accessing research opportunities, we examined whether changes following training differed between FG and continuing-generation (CG) students. Students reported significant pre-to-post improvements in overall confidence in knowledge of research ethics, as well as in specific domains including identifying ethical misconduct, handling breaches of research integrity, strategically making ethical decisions, and providing advice in handling ethical dilemmas. There were no differences in improvement by college generation status. Students also trended toward a greater openness to viewing ethics as a malleable trait following training. These findings support the feasibility of integrating structured research ethics training into existing research programs and offer a replicable model for STEM programs seeking to strengthen research ethics education at the undergraduate level.