Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1994

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Guglielmino, Lucy M.

Abstract

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.

Extent

214 p.

Comments

College of Education|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1994.|College of Education

Identifier

FADT12375

Format

pdf

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