When Rules Are Not Enough: Developing Principles to Guide Ethical Conduct

Kelly et al. (2021) asked staff, parents, and clients to help rewrite the BACB Code. They ran small group talks and surveys until everyone agreed on a short list of plain-language principles.

The team then tested the list inside their own ABA agency. They wanted a tool that turns long rules into daily choices.

The finished product is five one-sentence principles. Each principle links back to a BACB Code number so staff can show why they said yes or no in tough spots.

Stakeholders said the short list made ethics feel like part of the job, not a separate quiz.

Mead Jasperse et al. (2025) extends this work. Their paper tells the back-story: Nuremberg, the Belmont Report, and why the Code exists. Reading both gives you the rule and the reason.

Dewsbury (2003) shows what happens without clear shared values. In the 1950s, behavior analysts fought with primate labs over food deprivation and cage size. Kelly’s team prevents the same clash by writing agency-level rules before problems start.

Smith et al. (2011) remind us that Lovaas spread ABA by keeping parents in the loop. Kelly’s stakeholder process copies that move: include the people served and the method travels farther.

You can copy the Kelly process in one staff meeting. Pick a sticky ethical issue, write a one-sentence principle, tie it to the Code, and post it on the wall. Your RBTs get a quick compass, and you get a quick citation when families ask why you refused a request.