Equity Ethics Scale

Overview

The Equity Ethics Scale (EES) was developed to fill a critical gap in the movement for justice within STEM. While diversity initiatives have expanded across STEM, few tools exist to measure individuals’ ethical commitment to equity, both in belief and practice.

The EES was born out of qualitative research which revealed that many underrepresented professionals in STEM expressed a strong desire to use their technical skills to address inequities and uplift marginalized communities. These professionals saw equity as not just a value, but a core responsibility of their work.

However, the field lacked a validated instrument to measure this orientation or assess how equity values translate into meaningful action. To address this gap, Dr. Ebony McGee, Dr. Shelly Engelman, and Dr. Binh Chi Bui developed and validated the EES—a research-based tool designed to assess how individuals in STEM fields think about and act on issues of equity. The scale focuses on two interrelated subconstructs:

Equity Ethos – Equity Ethos encompasses a set of values and beliefs that guide an individual's commitment to promoting equity and justice within engineering and computing. Equity Ethos reflects a profound dedication to establishing just and fair possibilities for marginalized groups within engineering and computing scenarios. Equity ethos acknowledges the systemic, structural barriers and strives to eliminate them. Essentially, Equity Ethos is the cultural aspect of Equity Ethics, defining how individuals should ideally think and feel about equity.
Equity Action – This component refers to the deliberate actions, strategies, and interventions implemented to rectify racial/social injustices and champion equity within engineering and computing contexts. Equity Action is about taking purposeful measures to uplift marginalized voices and dismantle systemic barriers. It involves practical efforts in line with Equity Ethics. Equity Action is the active realization of the Equity Ethos, representing the concrete steps taken to translate principles and beliefs into tangible outcomes.

By examining both beliefs and behaviors, the EES provides a comprehensive understanding of how equity-minded values translate into practice, promoting racial and social justice in STEM fields.

Psychometric Properties

The Equity Ethics Scale has been rigorously tested for reliability and validity. Internal consistency for the scale and its subconstructs is as follows:

Entire scale: α = 0.90
Equity Ethos subscale: α = 0.88
Equity Action subscale: α = 0.85

Using the Equity Ethics Scale (EES)

The Equity Ethics Scale (EES) is available for use by researchers and practitioners studying equity in STEM. Those utilizing the scale in their research or evaluations must provide proper attribution and cite the original work.

Suggested citation:

McGee, E., Engelman, S., & Bui, B.C. (2025, April 23-27). Equity ethics: A new tool for measuring and

promoting justice in STEM fields [Conference presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual 2025 Meeting, Denver, CO, United States.

The scale may be used for non-commercial research and educational purposes. For further details on adaptation or broader applications, please contact us.

The EES Scale

Please rate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements:

Scale: 1, Strongly Disagree; 2, Disagree; 3, Neutral; 4, Agree; 5, Strongly Agree

DOWNLOAD SCALE

Note: Gatekeeping: the process of controlling information and access through biased selection, withholding, shaping, manipulation, localization, integration, disregard, and deletion among others. Marginalized Groups: groups that experience discrimination and exclusion due to social or historical injustice. Eurocentric Norms: denotes a world-view that posits European history and values as “normal” and superior to theirs, thereby helping to produce and justify white people's dominant position within the global capitalist world system.