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effect of ethics instruction on the moral development of adult real estate students

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Date Issued:
1994
Summary:
A baseline examination of real estate licensees' ethical reasoning abilities implemented by this researcher in 1993 indicated that the subjects (n = 82) were ethically immature compared to adults in general. The purpose of this study was to test the effect of ethics instruction upon the moral reasoning ability of adult real estate students. The subjects were drawn from two real estate post-licensing classes offered at a private vocational school: one class (n = 14) served as the experimental group and received the traditional curriculum without ethics instruction; the other class (n = 21) served as the treatment group and received a 15 hour ethics program as part or their 45 hour program. The ethics program used in this study incorporated the best teaching practices described in research literature, including small group discussion, role play and teacher- and peer-led activities designed to simulate the reality of the real estate business. Subjects were administered the Defining Issues Test (DIT), a measure of moral reasoning, as a pre- and post-test. ANOVA and ANCOVA indicated that students in the treatment group experienced the Blatt Effect, a one-developmental stage increase in their moral reasoning abilities: the mean P-score at the beginning of the program was 27.07; at the end of the program, the mean P-score was 41.24. Students in the control group did not experience significant change in their scores. Further analysis indicated that gender was significant: female licensees scored higher on the DIT than did males. Those licensees who were members of the National Association of Realtors, a professional society with its own code of ethics, also scored higher than did non-members. No significant relationships were found between DIT scores and the licensees' age, license status, sales experience, real estate income, or level of formal education. The overall results of this study indicate that the ethics intervention program was effective in improving DIT scores. The probability exists that this program might have a similar effect on a larger sample of licensees as well as on other professionals.
Title: The effect of ethics instruction on the moral development of adult real estate students.
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Name(s): Long, Deborah H.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Guglielmino, Lucy M., Thesis advisor
College of Education
Department of Educational Leadership and Research Methodology
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1994
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 214 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: A baseline examination of real estate licensees' ethical reasoning abilities implemented by this researcher in 1993 indicated that the subjects (n = 82) were ethically immature compared to adults in general. The purpose of this study was to test the effect of ethics instruction upon the moral reasoning ability of adult real estate students. The subjects were drawn from two real estate post-licensing classes offered at a private vocational school: one class (n = 14) served as the experimental group and received the traditional curriculum without ethics instruction; the other class (n = 21) served as the treatment group and received a 15 hour ethics program as part or their 45 hour program. The ethics program used in this study incorporated the best teaching practices described in research literature, including small group discussion, role play and teacher- and peer-led activities designed to simulate the reality of the real estate business. Subjects were administered the Defining Issues Test (DIT), a measure of moral reasoning, as a pre- and post-test. ANOVA and ANCOVA indicated that students in the treatment group experienced the Blatt Effect, a one-developmental stage increase in their moral reasoning abilities: the mean P-score at the beginning of the program was 27.07; at the end of the program, the mean P-score was 41.24. Students in the control group did not experience significant change in their scores. Further analysis indicated that gender was significant: female licensees scored higher on the DIT than did males. Those licensees who were members of the National Association of Realtors, a professional society with its own code of ethics, also scored higher than did non-members. No significant relationships were found between DIT scores and the licensees' age, license status, sales experience, real estate income, or level of formal education. The overall results of this study indicate that the ethics intervention program was effective in improving DIT scores. The probability exists that this program might have a similar effect on a larger sample of licensees as well as on other professionals.
Identifier: 12375 (digitool), FADT12375 (IID), fau:9276 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): College of Education
Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1994.
Subject(s): Education, Adult and Continuing
Education, Business
Education, Curriculum and Instruction
Education, Vocational
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12375
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.