A Q-analysis of ethical expectations of journalism and public relations students

This study attempted to determine typical perceptions of public relations and news-editorial students of accepted ethical conduct in public relations and journalism. The researcher provided 32 students, half public relations majors and half news-editorial majors, with 51 individual statements. Each statement either supported or opposed a specific action that a public relations practitioner or journalist may take in an ethical dilemma, or a belief that professionals in those fields may hold. Each student was asked to indicate how strongly the student agreed or disagreed with each statement.A computer program developed for Q Methodology studies was used to extract two factors from the students' answers, resulting in the formation of two hypothetical groups, Type I and Type II. Type I consisted of 14 public relations majors and six news-editorial majors. Type II consisted of 10 news-editorial majors and two public relations majors.Most students in both groups agreed that they would not be asked to lie as professionals, that they would always produce original work, that professionals in their future fields believe they serve the public interest, and that professionals in their future fields believe their professions serve society. However, Type I students expected to function as channels of communication for their employers, while Type II students disagreed with that job description of themselves. Type I students strongly disagreed that practitioners in their fields do not care about public feedback; Type II students marginally agreed with that statement. Type I students seemed to believe it was normal for practitioners in their fields to maintain two codes of ethics, one for professional use and another for personal use. Type II students marginally disagreed with that concept. This finding appears to contradict those studies which suggest that practitioners are only as ethical professionally as they are personally.Department of JournalismThesis (M.A.