Ethical Reasoning Mapper (ERM): Coding Manual for Open-Ended Responses to Ethical Dilemmas

The Ethical Reasoning Mapper (ERM) is a standardized, response-level coding framework for the empirical analysis of ethical reasoning expressed in open-ended responses to ethical or moral dilemmas. Version 1.1 operationalizes 27 binary variables across three complementary dimensions: Ethical Reasoning Components (8 variables), Morally Salient Considerations (10 variables), and Sources of Justification (9 variables). The technical manual presents the conceptual framework, unit of analysis, data structure, coding workflow, operational definitions, coding rules, quality-control procedures, worked examples, decision trees, variable dictionary, and reproducible analysis guidance. The ERM is descriptive. It does not assess the moral correctness of a response, moral competence, psychometric performance, or educational achievement. As of version 1.1, the framework has not undergone expert-panel review, pilot coding, or formal inter-rater reliability validation. It is released as a proposed coding framework pending empirical validation. Versioned companion materials—including the machine-readable variable dictionary, a synthetic example dataset, and the R analysis pipeline—are available in the project’s GitHub release for version 1.1: https://github.com/steresadiaz/Ethical-Reasoning-Mapper/releases/tag/v1.1