Adrian Blunt

Prediction of Participation in Continuing Professional Education: A Test of Two Behavioral Intention Models.

Data from a survey of veterinarians was used to test the applicability of two competing models of behavioral intention to participate in a continuing professional education (CPE) program. The Triandismodel accounted for nearly 50% of the variance in intention to participate and proved to have greater predictive utility than the Fish be in and Ajzen model. Disciminant analysis revealed that 85% of the respondents were classified appropriately as participants and non-participants by the variables in the behavioral intention model. The results strongly support the hypothesis that variables external to thebehavioralintentionmodelindirectlyinfluencebehavioralintentionandparticipationbehavior. The study extends existing research by identifying essential social psychological variables for inclusion in the development of a future theoretical model of CPE participation. Implications for future research are proposed.

The Contribution of Graduate Student Research to Adult Education Adult Education Quarterly, 1969-1988

The purposes of this study were to determine the extent to which graduate students contributed to thebody of research through publication in Adult Education Quarterly (AEQ) and to shed some light on aspects of knowledge production and dissemination processes in graduate adult education programs. Graduate student contributors to volumes 19 through 38 were identified from two mailed surveys conducted ten years apart. The surveys sought information on the content of graduate research, the graduate programs and faculty who supported it, and the levels of graduate study involved. In addition, the surveys sought information on the characteristics of the student authors, including their sex, level of graduate study, motivation for undertaking non-required research, research dissemination activities and current professional occupations and duties. An overall survey response rate of 88.5% was achieved. The data revealed that 113 students, as authors and co-authors, published 128 articles in the journal over the 20 year period under study. Forty six percent of all journal articles published were written by graduate student authors. Seventy articles were written by lone authors, 50 were written with one other person and eight were co-authored with two other persons. The study findings confair that graduate student contributions to AEQ have been underestimated by prior studies and that adult education departments mediate the influence of the field of education on the development of the discipline and knowledge building to a greater extent than previously recognized. Graduate publication activity in AEQ was associated with program location and gender was associated with research content and dissemination activities. Implications for further research into the processes by which knowledge is produced in adult education are presented.

A Blunt Instrument for Use by Low-Literate Participants in Summative and Formative Evaluations of Adult Education and Development Programs.

This article reports the development of an evaluation technique that uses adjective checklists as instruments for use by low-literate and marginally literate adults to provide assessments of their learning experiences in adult education and development programs. Vignettes of activities from three stages of the development process depict the range of groups and learning events used to refine the technique and to establish the reliability and validity of instrument scores. Recommended procedures are outlined for application of the technique, including the selection of adjectives, obtaining responses, summarizing results, and calculating scores and instrument statistics.