This study was an examination of the Hawthorne Effect in a verbal learning situation in an educational setting. The Hawthorne Effect was defined as the facilitating effect(s) produced in experimental situations when the subjects of the experiment expect that they are the objects of special attention. The purpose of the study was to determine if contamination by the Hawthorne Effect existed in an educational setting. Comparisons were made between "experimentally inexperienced" subjects and "experimentally experienced" subjects at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The task was to learn a list of paired associate terms, and to show learning retention by immediate replication of those terms. The focus of the study was upon the expected differences in performance of the control and experimental groups produced as a result of an effort to persuade experimental subjects that they had "unique" characteristics which would cause them to be exceptionally proficient. The control groups were given the task by the course instructor in a usual classroom setting,as an example of a curriculum objective. Recommendations for further research were as follows: (1) the personality variables of the researcher and those of the subjects being tested should be thoroughly delineated; (2) sex differences in performance should be …

The aim of this investigation was to analyze the effects of induced physical exertion on the performance of an immediate mathematical mental ability task among second-grade students. The purpose of the study was to gain information concerning the effects of physical exertion on a mathematical mental task and to evaluate each of four experimental treatment periods (twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty minutes) used to induce physical exertion. Another purpose was to determine whether males or females were more affected by experimentally induced treatments of physical exertion. It was concluded that fifty minutes of prolonged physical exertion as induced by relay game activities had a positive effect on certain mathematical tasks. This conclusion was based on the comparison of the fifty minute treatment performance to the pre-test treatment performed without induced physical exertion. Another conclusion derived from the data was that physical exertion periods of twenty, thirty, and forty minutes had no significant positive or negative effect on certain mental performance when compared to a non-induced physical exertion treatment. It was also concluded that there were no significant differences between male and female mean difference performances.

This study reports on an investigation of the effects of two methods of teacher evaluation on the attitudes of teachers and principals concerning the method of teacher evaluation in which each subject participated. The data indicate several broad implications. Teachers who were evaluated by the CT method had a significantly more positive feeling that teacher evaluation is more likely to be used for the improvement of instruction than teachers who were evaluated by the ADT method. CT teachers also had a more positive attitude toward their evaluation as a professional process. CT teachers had a generally more positive attitude toward evaluation, Department Chairpersons/Lead Teachers, and the principal as an instructional leader than did the ADT teachers. However, these latter differences were not significant and represented only a general attitude. Principals showed no significant difference in their attitudes as affected by the two methods of teacher evaluation. Principals who had used both methods felt that the CT method provided them more opportunity to provide instructional leadership for their teachers. The findings indicate that, although the method of teacher evaluation may have no major impact on teacher attitudes, administrators who believe that teacher evaluation should be used to improve instruction need to …

The problem of this study was to determine the perceived competencies needed by supervisors in order to supervise instruction conducted by part-time instructors in a junior/community college setting. The study was conducted in three phases. The purpose of phase one of the study was to determine the areas of responsibility and tasks which are appropriately delegated to the supervisors of part-time instructors. To accomplish this purpose, areas of responsibility and tasks were drawn from job descriptions for the position of supervisor of part-time instructors in the Dallas County Community College District. The areas of responsibility and tasks were reworded by the investigator to serve as items in a questionnaire to which participants in the First National Conference on Part-time Instructors in the Community College were asked to respond. Means and standard deviations were determined for each group in relation to each competency statement for both importance and adequacy. All 134 competency statements listed in the questionnaire were rated by all groups as important. All but four of the competencies were rated by all groups as adequately performed by present supervisors. A list of seven competencies which were deemed very important (mean score of 4.50 or more) was presented.

The purposes of this study were (1) to determine whether the mean gains on achievement scores in reading and mathematics for bused students in grades four and five after one year in integrated schools is greater than the mean gain in reading and mathematics achievement scores for similar non-bused students in segregated schools; (2) to determine whether school attendance for bused students is greater than attendance for similar non-bused students; and (3) to determine if attitude toward school, academic self-concept, and general self-concept among groups of subjects are different. The analysis and interpretation of data yielded the following conclusions. 1. The elements associated with increased achievement in reading for fourth-grade minority students are not likely to be positively facilitated by increasing the majority-minority ratio by busing. 2. The elements associated with increased achievement in reading for minority fifth-grade students may be enhanced by busing for racial balance. 3. The elements associated with increased achievement in mathematics for minority fourth-grade students may be enhanced by busing for racial balance. 4. The elements associated with increased achievement in mathematics for minority students are not likely to be facilitated by increasing the majority-minority ratio. 5. The busing of minority students out of their …

The problem of this study was to determine the relationship of double sex standards to achievement and to selected personality variables of female college students. The following hypotheses were formulated: Hypothesis 1 Women with low acceptance of double sex standards will be found to have a higher grade-point average than will women with high acceptance of double sex standards. Hypothesis 2 Women with low acceptance of double sex standards will have greater internal locus of control than will women with high acceptance of double sex standards. Hypothesis 3 Women with high acceptance of double sex standards will be more influenced by powerful others than will women with low acceptance of double sex standards. Hypothesis 4 Women with high acceptance of double sex standards will show a greater tendency to believe that chance controls their lives than will women with low acceptance of double sex standards. Hypothesis 5 Women with high acceptance of double sex standards will have a greater fear of negative evaluation than will women with low acceptance of double sex standards. Hypothesis 6 Women with low acceptance of double sex standards will show more motivation to succeed than will women with high acceptance of double sex standards. The …

The goal of this survey was to determine if a list of skills, activities, and competencies could be developed to aid in setting uniform guidelines for recruiting and selecting prospective mid-management instructor-coordinators. The data were amassed using a questionnaire which was sent to all mid-management instructor-coordinators and to three administrators at each participating college to ascertain the opinions of those persons closely involved with mid-management. The original mailing plus follow-up mailing resulted in a return of 72.50 per cent from mid-management instructor-coordinators and a return of 68.46 per cent from administrators. The results of this study show that the participants agree on a complex set of criteria, indicating a real need to formulate new guidelines for selecting instructors, guidelines which include definite skills, activities, and competencies mutually acceptable to administrators, teachers, and the TEA.

The purposes of the study were to develop self-instructional materials for teaching selected business terms to college students, to determine the effect of using these materials as compared to the effect of using a lecture notebook teaching technique for instruction in business vocabulary and to no instruction in business vocabulary, and to compare the effect of using the lecture-notebook teaching technique to no instruction in business vocabulary. Four conclusions were drawn from the statistical findings from this experiment. (1) Specific instruction in business vocabulary by either of the two teaching approaches used in this experiment is more effective in increasing the business vocabulary of college business communications students than no instruction. (2) When total groups including all levels of business vocabulary knowledge are considered, the self-instructional materials are more effective than the lecture-notebook technique. (3) For students with a high initial knowledge of business vocabulary, one of these techniques is not more effective than the other. (4) The self-instructional materials used in this study are particularly effective for teaching business vocabulary to students who have a low initial knowledge of business vocabulary.

This study was based on the assumption that classroom teachers were in an advantageous position to judge their principal's role behavior and their principal's administrative performance. The problem of this study was to determine whether or not significant differences existed between teachers' perceptions of their principal's role behavior; whether or not significant differences existed between teachers' perceptions of their principal's administrative performance; and whether or not there was any relationship between teachers' perceptions of their principal's role behavior and his administrative performance. The findings in this study led to the following conclusions: Factors such as sex, education level, teaching experience, school level, school size, and school district do not effect principal’s behavior or administrative performance. However, differences were found in teacher perceptions for teachers with 5 years or less of teaching experience, rural/urban school setting, principal’s sex don’t differ in their role behavior; differing instead in educational leadership ability. It is concluded that principals are least effective in the area of educational leadership when comparing the four areas of administrative decision-making, communications, general administrative behavior, and educational leadership. They are most effective in general administrative behavior. Principals, in general, tend to exhibit transactional behavior. The majority of teachers do not …

The primary problem with which this investigation is concerned was the assessment of the perceptions of lower-level administrators as to leadership styles they see to be in effect in their respective colleges and universities in Texas. The purposes of this investigation were to 1) identify the administrative leadership styles in effect, 2) determine the prevailing leadership styles among presidents and lower-level officers, 3) test the assumption that lower-level officers select leadership styles similar to those styles perceived to be descriptive of chief officers and other administrators, 4) determine if the type of institution (public/ private) is a factor in the choice of leadership styles, 5) determine if institutional size is a factor in the choice of leadership styles, 6) ascertain if age is a factor in the choice of leadership styles, 7) determine if educational level is a factor in the choice of leadership styles, 8) determine if institutional level is a factor in the choice of leadership styles, 9) ascertain if tenure in an administrative position is a factor in the choice of leadership styles, 10) determine if administrative position is a factor in the choice of leadership styles. Analysis of the findings revealed the most popular styles of …

The problem with which this investigation was concerned was an evaluation of community college learning resources programs as reflected by client opinion and use of services and conformity to the published guidelines. The purposes of the study were to ascertain the extent to which learning resources programs of selected metropolitan community colleges conformed to the recommendations published in "Guidelines for Two-Year College Learning Resources Programs," and to compare the guidelines scores rendered with faculty and student opinion and use of learning resources services on the campuses. No significant differences were noted in comparisons of opinion and utilization of learning resources services among either students or faculty on the campuses with the highest guidelines scores and the same groups on the campuses with the lowest guidelines scores. Based on the findings, the following conclusions were formulated: 1) the instruments utilized were not sensitive enough to distinguish subtle differences, if any, between the learning resources programs on the various campuses, 2) the learning resources programs included in the study were similar in nature, and 3) more differences exist between groups based on demographic variables than exist between the learning resources programs.

The purpose of this study was to identify and describe the purposes, plans, activities, and programs of the National Education Association that focused upon instruction. To carry out this purpose, guideline questions were developed. Answers to the questions were sought through leads obtained from a study of the volumes of Addresses and Proceedings for the years since the first NTA meeting in 1857 through the 1976 NEA Convention and editions of the NEA Handbook from the first in 1945 through the 1976 edition. Findings were presented in a six-chapter historical-descriptive narrative. Although interest in instruction is not an exclusive concern held only by professional associations, the findings of this study do suggest that instruction has been a fortunate focus for the NEA in two respects. First, the times of NEA's more obvious emphasis on instruction have been relatively free of criticism of Association activity. Secondly, emphasis on instruction has emerged as a thread to unify the National Education Association with diverse organizations and with classic human institutions--the home, the church, the school, and governmental agencies--throughout the world.

The problem of the study was the effect of fear-arousing communications upon junior high school students' cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses within the context of a dental hygiene program. Analysis of the data revealed that the personal performance scores, were initially, significantly (p <= .05) different for the recommendations and low-fear groups. They had cleaner teeth. The recommendations elicited the most positive change, and this extended for a longer period of time. There were no significant differences in any of the other variables. The results were more questionable in cases where threat appeals were used for volunteer subjects. Fear messages elicited less positive change and were seen as being unnecessary in teaching dental hygiene. Behavior, cognition, and emotion, as components of an attitude, were explained as being idependent in threat-appeal research where behavior may change but not attitudes.

The subject of this study was the development of a computer-based system for the modeling of costing assumptions in an academic department. Initially, costing assumptions were defined as those assumptions made in the selection of costing sources and apportioning procedures in cost studies. The major theme of this study was that the system should allow for multiple sets of costing assumptions to be modeled, and it should allow for a very low level of cost disaggregation. This modeling system allows costs to be attached to individual course enrollments, and it also allows multiple departmental cost studies to be performed simultaneously so that any two may be compared for sensitivity analysis.

The purpose of this study is to determine boundary conditions associated with the number of treatment groups (K), the common treatment group sample size (n), and an index of the extent to which the assumption of equality of treatment population variances is violated (Q) with regard to user confidence in application of the one-way analysis of variance F-test for determining equality of treatment population means. The study concludes that the analysis of variance F-test is robust when the number of treatment groups is less than seven and when the extreme ratio of variances is less than 1:5, but when the violation of the assumption is more severe or the number of treatment groups is seven or more, serious discrepancies between actual and nominal significance levels occur. It was also concluded that for seven treatment groups confidence in the application of the analysis of variance should be limited to the values of Q and n so that n is greater than or equal to 10 In (1/2)Q. For nine treatment groups, it was concluded that confidence be limited to those values of Q and n so that n is greater than or equal to (-2/3) + 12 ln (1/2)Q. No definitive …

This study dealt with the perception of dissonance by male, female, freshman and senior music majors. A test was devised which would show that there is a significant difference in dissonance perception between freshman versus senior and male versus female music majors, utilizing specific excerpts from the musical repertoire. Test item analysis was also employed to determine if a significant difference occurs in each excerpt. It was found that certain excerpts show a significant difference while the means of the combined groups do not. This phenomenon was because of relative uncertainty in response between dissonant ("four") and extremely dissonant ("five") excerpts. The conclusions of the study based upon the hypotheses were the following: 1. Four years in a university environment makes a significant difference in a music major's perception of dissonant sounds in music. 2. The sex of the music major causes no significant difference in the perception of dissonance. Male responses were consistent with female responses within the same class.

This study purposed to determine Registered Nurses' levels of knowledge and support of the Professional Nursing Practice Act considered by the Sixty-fifth Texas Legislature. According to the findings previously described, it may be concluded that many Registered Nurses participate infrequently in continuing nursing education programs. If the proposed Act had been passed during this session of the Texas Legislature, most Registered Nurses licensed in Texas would have been required to change their levels of participation when regulations regarding continuing education were implemented, no later than January 1, 1982. It may be further concluded that Registered Nurses lacked sufficient knowledge about the Act that was proposed in 1977. Both comments made by respondents and answers to specific questions in the questionnaire pointed to this conclusion.