Professional ethics : an investigation of student affairs professionals' compliance with the American College Personnel Association's statement of ethical principles and standards

The purpose of this study was to determine whether and to what extent student affairs administrators acted in accordance with the American College Personnel Association Professional Code of Ethics. Full-time, professional live-in residence hall staff were asked to respond to a series of ethical situations and their responses were compared to the principles and standards defined in the code. The research questions guiding this study included:

1. How consistent are residence hall professionals' responses with the recommendations of the ACPA Code?
2. What are the motivations underlying participants' responses to ethical situations?
3. What is the relationship between what residence hall professionals say they should do in an ethical situation and what they say they would do in a ethical situation?
4. What is the relationship between how professional hall staff respond to ethical situations and the demographic variables of age, gender, race, residence hall experience, educational background, type of institution in which employed, and familiarity with the code?