The Research Trends on Empathy in Korean Ethics Education

Objectives The purpose of this study is to analyze the trend on empathy research in Korean Ethics Education and provide implications for future research. Methods 87 articles from five leading journals in the field of Ethics Education were selected for the final analysis. The analysis criteria were time period, disciplinary approaches, research methodology, research topic, and related school levels. and text mining techniques were additionally utilized. Results First, the analysis of trends by research period revealed that empathy research in Ethics Education began in 1998 and saw a dramatic increase after 2007. Second, in terms of disciplinary approaches, educational approaches accounted for the highest proportion. Third, in terms of research methodology, there was a bias toward literature studies. Fourth, in terms of research topics, the largest number of studies were on theoretical foundations. Finally, the most common research topics were general explorations that did not specify a particular school level, and the most common school levels were elementary school students. Conclusions The results of the analysis suggest that research on empathy in Ethics Education needs to be more interdisciplinary, empirical, and broader in scope.