James R. Montgomery

Size and Efficiency.

It has been long assumed that it takes some optimum size in order to obtain a sufficient critical mass to have an economy of scale operation, but there has been little substantive study of the topic. This paper looks at the relationship between enrollment and costs at colleges and universities. The question under study is whether large size provides economy of scale for operating. The question, unfortunately, is masked by the complexity of an institution. The manner in which complexity, size, costs, and enrollment interrelate is the substance of this paper. The findings suggest that curricula and complexity have an exceedingly important bearing on per-student costs.

EVALUATING A TUTORIAL PROGRAM CONTAINING VOLUNTEER SUBJECTS

IN RESEARCH concerning the human subject, the traditional experimental approaches have been to match selected subjects on a series of variables or to assign them randomly into various groupings. It is not always possible or desirable, however, to as sign subjects. Often the biasing effect of the volun teer subject has been ignored in the classical or traditional experimental design when comparing a volunteer group with a non-volunteer group. In order to control the problem of the selection factor when working with volunteer subjects, exper imenters have at times utilized only volunteers in establishing experimental and control groups. Half of the group normally receives treatment, while the remaining group from which the applied technique is withheld serves as the control. But this experi mental design is not always possible, especially when an evaluation of an operating program is re quested. This study focuses on the problem of de veloping an appropriate control group with which to compare an experimental group composed of volun teer subjects. During the Fall of 1966, The University of Tenn essee initiated a tutoring program designed to act as a supplementary aid to corresponding par ent courses. All students who were enrolled in a parent course were eligible to enroll i n a tutoring course; furthermore, all students who participated in the sessions were volunteers. Due to the volun tary nature of the program, a modified design (as opposed to the traditional design) was considered essential for evaluation. Several researchers in the social sciences have grappled with the effect of volunteer subjects in ex perimental research. A lack of uniformity of ap proach and disagreement in results indicate that there remains room for improvement in experimen tal designs employed. The field of counseling has provided extensive research in this area, and some of it appears relevant to this discussion. Sear les (6), working with volunteer and non-vol unteer students in counseling sessions, has sug gested that research in evaluating counseling pro grams should be limited to volunteer subjects. In situations where students despite their wishes have been arbitrarily selected to be counseled, the ac crued results reflect dubious interpretative value at best (1, 9, 10). In past studies utilizing volunteer subjects, exper imenters have been aware that the selection factor represents an unknown variable influencing their re sults. Montgomery and Whitlock (5), studying the effects of pre-freshman courses on student academ ic achievement, compared an experimental group electing to take a how-to-study course with a matched set of controls who did not take the prepara tory courses. In that study, after one quarter of regular coursework the experimental group experi enced lower academic performance than did the con trol group. The authors wondered to what extent their findings were influenced by uncontrolled selec tion factors. Using selected variables in a study of tutoring at Parsons College, Etters (2) compared college-level student volunteers with students who elected not to attend the tutor ing sessions. The results re vealed that tutored students significantly improved their academic standing over non-tutored students; however, no attempt was made to measure the effect of volunteering as a selection factor in the improved performance. In attempting to measure the effect of the volun teer subject selection factor, Spielberger and Weitz (8) discovered that the act of volunteering can influ ence the relationship between anxiety and academic performance. Ivey (4) compared college student vol unteers with a matched group of students who elect ed not to attend a counseling program. The w ith drawal rate of the counseled group was significantly higher than among non-counseled students. When students attending four or more counseling sessions were compared with those attending three or fewer sessions, the withdrawal rate of the frequent attend ers was significantly higher than the group which

Boss sizing as a required skill in institutional research

[Editors Note: As a former president of AIR, Jim Montgomery is well known for his advice and counsel. The institutional researchers who have received his advice are indeed legion, and some recipients have occasionally benefitted therefrom. As an adviser, Dr. Montgomery does not limit himself. Along with another former president of AIR, James W. Firnberg, Dr. Montgomery has freely advised state legislators to establish their own form of formula budgeting for legislative enactments. The Montgomery/Firnberg formula, when adopted, would include as a basic unit the legislative session hour (LSH) and would incorporate the insights of a legislative activity factor (LAF). The former would determine the salary scale of legislators, and the latter would adjust salaries according to the bills introduced and enacted. Although unenacted in fifty state legislatures, the Montgomery/Firnberg proposal remains a classic in institutional research annals and may be read in Vol. 9, No. 2 of Research in Higher Education. In the following paper Dr. Montgomery freely advises institutional researchers on a mandatory skill that he aptly labels boss sizing.]

A STUDY OF CLUSTER GROUPING

The increasing size of most universities in the United States at times has led to efforts to counteract largeness by creating many small units within the larger one. The following study reports on a pilot study to evaluate the effectiveness of a grouping pattern in which freshman students had their class schedules arranged in such a way as to have at least three sections (courses) in common with others in their respective group.

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN DIFFERENT VARIABLES AND PERFORMANCE ON A JUNIOR-YEAR ENGLISH EXAMINATION

COLLEGES AND universities in the United States frequently require a written examination in English for upper-division students in order to assure that all graduates can express themselves satisfactorily in written communication. This evaluation, by its nature, is usually in the form ofatheme, often graded on a pass-fail basis. Such a test is often accepted at face value in the belief that it evaluates composition skills taught in freshman English. This study was designed to investigate one such examina tion, given at The University of Tennessee, and to review several related variables concerning it. The Faculty of The University of Tennessee re quires all students to pass, before graduation, The Junior English Examination. The Department of English, which administers the examination three times a year, allows a student two hours in which to organize and express his ideas in approximately 600 words on topics which hopefully have some relation ship to the college in which he is enrolled. An English instructor teaching freshman English marks each paper pass or fail. Instructors refer all papers which receive a failing grade to a profes sor for r??valuation. After the r??valuation, those students receiving failing grades are required to at tend Writing Laboratory where they are instruct ed in basic grammatical skills. A student must re main in Writing Laboratory until the instructors in charge believe the deficiency has been removed.

College Preparatory Course Work

FOR SEVERAL years The University of Tennes see has offered special summer courses for high school graduates planning to become college fresh men. 1 A student may elect to take any one (but not more than three) of the following non-credit courses (25 hours of classroom time each): How to Study, Developmental Reading, Prepara tory English, or Preparatory Mathematics. What effect, if any, do these courses have on college-bound students? Do they, as might be as sumed, assist a pre-freshman in his later college work? Since individuals enrolling do so in order to help themselves in their freshman year, it seems rea sonable to expect that such students would profit by the courses. At least they should do no worse in college than their counterparts, the freshmen who do not take these courses. Freshman orientation courses which give i n formation on study habits, reading practices, and use of a library are found in many institutions. 2 Based on the findings at The University of Tennes see, it seems that a note of caution is advisable and that such work should be evaluated in order to assure that the course is really helping the stu dents involved.