Eliciting Secondary Education Pupils’ Views on Euthanasia Through Argumentative Paragraphs

This study aims to elicit secondary education pupils’ views on euthanasia based on a survey model and with a study group of 253 pupils in year 9 studying in the city of Ankara in the school year 2010-2011. The study makes use of a combination of qualitative and quantitative research techniques as well as a Questionnaire for Personal Particulars in order to clarify the pupils’ demographics in data collection, and scenarios based on ethical dilemmas about active and passive euthanasia in order to elicit their views on the issue.The pupils’ views were elicited through the argumentative paragraphs that they were asked to write on the situations given in the scenarios. Of the qualitative data analysis techniques, the content analysis method was selected for the analysis of the argumentative paragraphs on the scenarios. In light of the data yielded by the content analysis, the pupils’ basic ethical guidelines in their decision-making processes were studied taking into account such variables as gender, school type, and family’s income.