Critical Incidents in Ethical Engineering Research: Stories from Biomedical Engineering Faculty

We address the research question, “What critical factors influence ways of experiencing and understanding ethical engineering research by faculty members in biomedical engineering?” We address this question by using CIT or Critical Incident Technique. Through semi-structured interviews with 25 faculty members who conduct research in biomedical engineering, we extracted critical incidents and sorted these into 14 incident types that describe events that inform how these researchers come to understand and practice ethical engineering research. The incident types denote the formative impacts of professional culture and academic norms, engaging in ethical behaviors, attending to novel perspectives, formal and informal training and mentoring events, and reflecting on one's own views and experiences. Study findings can inform others' efforts at promoting ethical engineering research in their courses, curriculums, research labs, organizations, and throughout the field of biomedical engineering.