Comparison of semistructured interviews with a quantitative measure of moral orientation

Journal of College Student Development, Mar/Apr 1998 by Liddell, Debora L

In this paper a researcher reports on a study that compared the Measure of Moral Orientation with semistructured interviews with college students. Results support the Measure of Moral Orientation as a standardized assessment of moral voice. Readers are cautioned to reinforce their paperand-pencil inquiries with face-to-face inquiries of students.

Since Gilligan (1982) refuted the sovereignty of Kohlberg's claim that moral maturity developed along principled, abstract, objective lines, student development researchers have struggled with the measurement of two distinct moral orientationscare and justice. Assessment of the moral domain has been focused almost exclusively on hierarchical moral reasoning, that is, the assigning of stages of development to respondents. Gilligan (1982) was the first researcher to postulate that stages based on an ethic of justice may be inappropriate for those who resolve conflict and solve moral dilemmas using an ethic of care. However, relatively little empirical evidence has been presented about the measurement of moral orientation (Liddell, Halpin, & Halpin, 1993).

The ethic of justice usually has been defined as a commitment to the sanctity of the individual, a commitment to reciprocity (treating others as one would wish to be treated), and a framing of moral problems as conflicting rights (e.g., Brabeck, 1983). As moral problems are solved using a framework of justice, the problem is distanced from the problem solver, and resolution of a moral problem is dependent upon a clear understanding of rights, principles, and rules.

In contrast, when using an ethic of care, the problem solver sees conflicting relationships, rather than conflicting rights, at the center of a moral problem. The situation or context may be more important than the overriding principle involved in the conflict. The maintenance or restoration of the relationship is primary to the problem solver (Brabeck, 1983; Liddell, Halpin, & Halpin, 1992; Lyons, 1988).

Self-description had two dimensions in this study: connectedness and separateness. The view of oneself as a connected being refers to relating and attending to others, and experiencing relationships as integral to oneself; preoccupations are about doing good for another person. In contrast, the separate being view refers to the sanctity of individuation, autonomy, reciprocity, and objectivity; preoccupations may be about doing good for society. These self-descriptions represent a construction of social reality specific to that individual (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1986; Gilligan, 1982). From that social reality, the individual will define and resolve his or her moral life. Self-descriptions have been correlated positively with gender, with women more likely to describe themselves as connected, and men more likely to characterize themselves in separate and detached terms (Belenky et al., 1986; Gilligan & Attanucci,1988; Lyons, 1988).

Considerable debate has surrounded the appropriateness of both objective and interview methodologies to measure morality. By using interviews, Gilligan (in Kerber et al., 1986) learned more about the context and the process of moral decision making, and not just the outcome or resolution of the individual's dilemma. Several studies of the moral voice of health professionals also included interviews. For example, researchers have examined the real-life dilemmas of critical care nurses (Collins, 1992), and have explored the preference for the ethics of care and justice of general nurses (Millette, 1993), and physicians (Self, Skeel, & Jecker, 1993). However, the majority of interviews regarding moral reasoning have focused on Kohlberg's hierarchy of moral reasoning (e.g., Rest & Narvaez, 1994).

Likewise, researchers and educators studying the development of students have successfully used interviews to assess moral orientation and to examine its correlates, such as genderrole orientation (Sochting, Skoe, & Marcia, 1994). Mennuti and Creamer (1991), exploring the use of multiple orientations in decision making among community college presidents, found care and justice as moral voices used by both male and female college presidents. Stiller and Forrest ( 1990) also used interview methodology to collect data about differences in self identity and moral reasoning between male and female undergraduates. Following a protocol designed by Lyons (1988), Stiller and Forrest found significant differences between men's and women's use of moral voice, as well as the use of connected identity, but not in the use of separate identity, a construct also assessed in the current study.

Open-ended interviews, unlike paper-andpencil instruments, or even structured interviews, provide the researcher and the interviewee an opportunity to make meaning together, to move away from a reliance on "the stimulus-response model. . . and to confront directly the interrelated problems of context, discourse, and meaning" (Mishler. 1986, p. 27). Researchers have also used interviews to assist in validation efforts of paper-and-pencil measures (Baxter Magolda, 1987; King & Kitchener, 1994).