The construction of a normative instrument for the measurement of moral reasoning

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to construct a normative instrument for the measurement of different levels of moral reasoning.The sample comprised 426 undergraduate students in Industrial Psychology and Personnel Management from two Afrikaans speaking universities. A questionnaire was developed to measure different levels of moral reasoning on a normative scale. A factor analysis on 90 items yielded two factors.These factors were interpreted as principled moral reasoning and prescriptive moral reasoning.The two scales were subjected to an item analysis and yielded reliability coeficients of 0,936 and 0,937.The implications of these findings are discussed. Opsomming Die hoofdoel van die studie was om’n normatiewe meetinstrument te konstrueer vir die meting van verskillende vlakke van morele redenering. Die steekproef het uit 426 voorgraadse students in Bedryfsielkunde en Personeelbestuur aan twee Afrikaanstalige universiteite bestaan. ’n Normatiewe skaal is ontwikkel om verskillende vlakke van morele redenering temeet.’n Faktorontleding van die 90 items in die skaal het twee faktore tot gevolg gehad, naamlik principiele morele redenering en voorskriftelikemorele redenering. Die skale is vervolgens aan’n itemontleding onderwerp en het betroubaarhede van 0,936 en 0,947, onderskeidelik, opgelewer. Die implikasies van die bevindinge word bespreek.