Aimed to investigate the process of moral reasoning and development
Hypothesised that we go through moral stages from childhood to adulthood
Our moral thinking changes as we mature and there would be little variation across cultures
Sampling - Participants
75 American boys aged 10-16 and again every 3 years until 22-28 years old
Kohlberg or colleague interviewed boys (10-16) from UK, Canada, Taiwan, Mexico and Turkey
Non-USA interviews were only done once with each group - acted as cultural comparison to main group
Sampling technique not recorded
Methodology
Semi structured interview - interviewed from childhood to adulthood
Longitudinal study with his USA group - every 3 years for 12 years
Non-USA were cross sectional as they were only done once and acted as comparison
Answers were answered using content analysis
Location
Not recorded it is thought Kohlberg used a field location
Procedures - Part 1
Kohlberg developed nine hypothetical moral dilemmas, including the Heinz Dilemma, where a man steals drugs to save his wife from cancer.
Participants discussed three dilemmas in interviews using 10 open-ended questions, like “Should Heinz steal the drug? Why or why not?”
Interviews were conducted every three years from ages 10 to 16 over 12 years.
Participants’ answers were analyzed through content analysis to identify common themes.
Procedures - Part 2
The same dilemmas were used for participants from the UK, Mexico, and Canada, while culturally specific dilemmas were used for Taiwanese participants.
The dilemmas used for the Turkish participant group were not recorded.
Kohlberg compared findings across cultures to explore potential cultural differences in moral reasoning.
Findings
Collected qualitative data - verbal answers about moral dilemmas + used content analysis to convert them into numerical themes e.g. the 6 stages of moral development
3 main stages - Pre conventional, Conventional and Post Conventional - each had 2 sub stages
Children thought at conventional and then when more mature where at post conventional - moved from focus on themselves to what is important to others
Each went through same stages but some quicker e.g. middle class USA
Conclusion
Accepted his hypothesis and concluded that stages of moral development are universal - everyone goes through the same stages