GEOSCIENCE PROFESSIONAL ETHICS TRENDS INDICATED BY NATIONAL ASSOCATION OF STATE BOARDS OF GEOLOGY (ASBOG®) SURVEYS

ASBOG^® was founded in 1988 to facilitate cooperation and coordination among states with licensing of practicing professional geologists--currently 29 states and Puerto Rico. ASBOG^® creates national exams which are used by all of the states granting licensure. Periodic surveys of the practicing profession every 5 years are used to determine the skills and knowledge needed for professional practice and are used to generate the exam blueprints. Thirteen issues on professional ethics in the geosciences were included on the surveys in 2005, 2010 and 2015. Professional geologists rate the importance of and the frequency of contact with these ethics issues. The topics include such items as gift-giving, whistleblowing, plagiarism, etc. The respondents are grouped into one of three categories: practicing licensed geologists in the United States, practicing licensed geologists in Canada, and geologists employed in the academic sector. Regardless of the employment sector, the responses to the professional ethics questions were statistically similar. Some differences were detected. For example, plagiarism is regarded by practitioners in the academic sector as more important than this issue among licensed practicing geologists of the United States and Canada. The professional ethics issues asked on the 2010 and 2015 surveys are identical to facilitate detection of any temporal changes in response patterns. Statistically, the responses in the 2010 and 2015 surveys are nearly identical, indicating that the profession has maintained virtually the same attitudes with regard to professional ethics. Stimulated in part by the profession’s expression of the importance of professional ethics, ASBOG^® actively encourages candidates, state boards, and academic institutions to participate in and enhance educational opportunities in professional ethics. Currently questions on professional ethics are included on the national licensing exams.