DEFINING ISSUES
TEST

University of Minnesota, Copyright, James Rest, All Rights Reserved, 1979

 

     The purpose of this questionnaire is to help us understand how people think about social problems. Different people have different opinions about questions of right and wrong. There are no "right" answers  to such problems in the way that math problems have right answers. We would like you to tell us what you think about several problem stories. You will be asked to read a story from this booklet. Then you will be asked to mark your answers on a separate answer sheet. More details about how to do this will follow.      

     Thank you for your contribution to my research. Your participation is voluntary. The questionnaire usually takes 30 to 40 minutes. Please answer the questions below regarding demographics information for statistical analysis purpose. All responses are strictly confidential. No responses can be tracked to an individual. We are interested only in the average responses for a group of people who are completing this form.

     After you have answered the demographic questions you will be presented with six stories. After you have read each story you will be asked to indicate your recommendations for what a person should do. If you tend to favor one action or another (even if you are not completely sure), indicate which one. If you do not favor either actions, mark the circle by "can't decide"

Read each of the items numbered 1 to 12. Think of the issue that the item is raising. There are five choices for each item. There is no fixed number of items that must be marked at any one level.        

Select "Great" if the item is of great importance, if it concerns an issue that makes a big, critical difference (one way or the other) in making a decision about this story.

Select "Much" if the item is of much importance, if it concerns an issue that a person should clearly be aware of, and if the issue would make a difference (one way or the other), but not a crucial difference (as under "great" importance.)

Select "Some" if the item concerns something relevant and that you generally care about, but something that is no way decisive in deciding about what to do in this story.

Select "Little" if the item is not sufficiently important to consider in decision making.

Select "No" if the item is not relevant, if the item doesn't’t make sense to you, or seems foolish.

An sample story is below.

FRANK AND THE CAR

     Frank Jones has been thinking about buying a car. He is married, has two small children and earns an average income. The car he buys will be his family's own car. It will be used mostly to get to work and drive around town, but sometimes for vacation trips also. In trying to decide what car to buy, Frank Jones realized that there were a lot of questions to consider. For instance, should he buy a larger used car or a smaller new car for about the same amount of money? Other questions occur to him.

     We note that this is not really a social problem, but it will illustrate the instructions. After you read a story you will then turn to the answer sheet. In this sample story, we present the questions below (along with some sample answers). Note that your answers will be marked on the separate answer sheet.

SAMPLE ITEMS and SAMPLE ANSWERS:

G
R
E
A
T		 M
U
C
H		 S
O
M
E		 L
I
T
T
L
E		 N
O

FRANK AND THE CAR
Buy new car Can't decide Buy used car
  1. Whether the car dealer was in the same block as where Frank lives.
  2. Would a used car be more economical in the long run than a new car.
  3. Whether the color was green, Frank's favorite color.
  4. Whether the cubic inch displacement was at least 200.
  5. Would a large, roomy car be better than a compact car.
  6. Whether the front connibilies were differential.
Most important item 1 2 3 45 6
Second most important 1 2 3 45 6
Third most important 1 2 3 45 6
Fourth most important 1 2 3 45 6

Note that in our sample responses, the first item was considered irrelevant; second item was considered as a critical issue in making a decision; the third item was considered moderate importance; the fourth item was not clear to the person responding whether 200 was good or not, so it was marked "no"; the fifth item was also of critical importance; and the sixth item didn't make any sense, so it was marked "no".

Demographic information

Age
Years of college education
Gender
Years of paid work experience
Undergraduate and/or Graduate Major:
Job position
Industry Associated with
Does your Professional organization Maintain a Code of Ethics?
Total number of employees in your firm
How long you have been with the firm?
Does your firm have a code of corporate ethics?
How long ago did you take an ethics class or training?
How often are you or your co-workers offered an opportunity for an ethics training class by your firm?
Does your employer promote ethical behavior?
Do you think additional Ethics training will help you to make ethical decisions?
Do you think your company is an ethical company?

Press the button below and Read the stories. Don't forget to mark your answer sheet.

 

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