Semester

Summer

Date of Graduation

2005

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

College of Education and Human Services

Department

Counseling, Rehabilitation Counseling & Counseling Psychology

Committee Chair

Robert P. Marinelli.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of psychology doctoral students with regard to their faculty's ethical behavior. A review of the literature suggested that research on the perception of ethical behavior in academia has been narrowly focused on undergraduate students. Furthermore, many of the studies did not convey a comprehensive picture of the students' perceptions of their faculty's ethical behavior. A survey instrument was adapted from a survey used in a study of students' view of their undergraduate professors' actions (Keith-Spiegel, Tabachnick, & Allen, 1993). A randomized sample of 50 accredited counseling psychology doctoral programs and 50 accredited clinical psychology doctoral programs were chosen from the American Psychological Association's Graduate Study in Psychology (2004). A complete list of non-accredited counseling psychology programs (5 total) and clinical psychology doctoral programs (13 total) were also acquired from the same source. Six surveys were sent to each program totaling 708 surveys. One hundred and twenty five usable surveys were returned after a follow-up notice was sent to the training directors of each program. Data analyses revealed statistically significant differences across counseling psychology and clinical psychology doctoral students in areas related to the perception and occurrence of a variety of behaviors including hugging a student, criticizing all theoretical approaches except those the professor personally prefers and insulting or ridiculing a student in the student's presence. Although these differences were statistically significant, there are few practical differences between them. Anecdotal findings have also been categorized and discussed. Suggestions for future research are based on these findings.

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