Joseph C. Bledsoe

Factorial Validity of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory.

A factor analysis of responses from 44 white female teachers to the 40-item Bern Sex-role Inventory yielded two factors, Masculinity and Femininity accounting for 20.7 and 16.2%, respectively, of the common variance. Of the 40 items 28 performed as hypothesized, suggesting sound construct validity for the total scales. 12 adjectives and phrases (gullible, flatterable, athletic, and ambitious, among others) were not perceived as associated with masculine or feminine roles, suggesting that perceptions of traditional sex roles are changing.

Factors Related to Pupil Observation Reports of Teachers and Attitudes Toward their Teacher

Perceptions of 4,368 pupils of the teacher behavior characteristics of 180 secondary teachers as measured by the Pupil Observation Report (POSR) and Scale for Measuring Attitudes Toward Any Teacher (SMAT) were analyzed by pupil characteristics: sex, age, grade, course mark, ability group; and teacher characteristics: age, certificate, sex, field of teaching, and years of teaching experience. Among numerous significant differences were the consistent patterns of higher course marks with more favorable pupil perceptions. High ability groups had more favorable perceptions. Science teachers consistently received the lowest ratings, and teachers with the least and the most experience were perceived more favorably except for Factors II and III. Teachers above the age of 35 received lower ratings than those below 35. Among significant interactions were pupil sex and pupil age, in which, except for 19-year olds, the older groups rated teachers higher. In three of five POSR factors, boys had more favorable opinions of men teachers, whereas girls favored women teachers. Girls favored social studies teachers, whereas boys had more favorable perceptions of science and mathematics teachers. A CONSIDERABLE body of published re search has pertained to student ratings of teachers. The pros and cons of student ratings have been argued over the past 40 years. Critics of the use of student ratings have pointed to the incompetence of the student as a judge of teach ing ability, emphasizing his lack of experience and difficulty of reporting objective judgments. Pro ponents have held that effective learning results from the interaction of student and teacher and that however biased ratings may be, they are valuable as a source of information concerning student reactions to the behavior of teachers. A major portion of the research in this area was conducted by Remmers and Bryan, strong advocates of student evaluation as a means of self-improvement for teachers. Research conclu sions pertinent to the present study may be briefly summarized as follows:

Prediction of Job Satisfactoriness and Job Satisfaction of Secondary School Teachers

A five-variable regression equation was developed to predict the job satisfactoriness of 146 secondary teachers as perceived by their principals; the model was then cross-validated on a calibration sample of 146 teachers. The screening sample gave a multiple R of .476, which held on cross-validation to .38. Best predictor was job satisfaction, followed by certification status, time of decision to teach, marital status, and GPA. A similar procedure attempted to build a model to predict job satisfaction but was not successful with these six variables.

Personality Correlates of Locus of Control among College Women

Personality correlates of locus of control were investigated for a group of 205 college women. Eight 16-Personality Factor variables were reliably correlated with scores on locus of control. Internal women were more likely to be controlled, emotionally stable, conscientious, trusting, shrewd, and sociable; external women were more likely to be excitable and insecure. A 6-variable stepwise regression model using will power, ego strength, sociability, trust, creativity, and shrewdness as variables gave a mutiple R of .442 and accounted for 20% of the variance.

Sex differences in self-concept: fact or artifact?

Responsss of 400 4th- and 6th-grade boys and girls to individual items of a 30-adjective Self-concept scale were treated by analysis of variance. 20 items favored girls; 1 item (brave) favored boys; no differences were found on 9 items. Because most items favoring girls connoted goodness reflecting possible cultural bias, the over-all sex difference favoring girls was judged to be probably an artifact of measurement.

IS SELF-CONCEPT A RELIABLE PREDICTOR OF ECONOMIC STATUS?

To determine the extent to which self-concept could reliably predict whether black high school students would be correctly classified as having advantaged (middle) or disadvantaged (lower) economic status 200 middle- and 200 lower-status boys and girls from five high school grades of a large southeastern city were given the Tennessee Self-concept Scale. The model utilizing 8 variables correctly classified 266 subjects as 180 advantaged and 220 disadvantaged. More correct classifications (143) were made for disadvantaged than for advantaged (123). More students in lower grades were correctly placed; more students in upper grades were classified as disadvantaged. Fewer misclassifications (30.5%) of girls were made than of boys (36.5%). Variables with the highest standardized discriminant coefficients were Identity and Personal Self.

Job satisfaction of school superintendents as related to perceptions of leader's behavior.

Four personal and situational variables and the Consideration and Initiating Structure variables of the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire were used to predict three indices of Job Satisfaction of 136 Georgia public school superintendents. Method of selection and Consideration were reliable predictors, with appointed superintendents reporting more satisfaction than elected ones. Correlations were relatively low with variance accounted for by independent variables only .045, .103, and .062 for Intrinsic, Extrinsic, and General Satisfaction, respectively.

Sex and Grade Differences in Children's Manifest Anxiety

Responses of 452 4th- and 6th-grade boys and girls to the individual dichotomous items of the Childrens Manifest Anxiety Scale were analyzed by factorial sex-by-grade analyses of variance. Sex and/or grade differences were obtained on 22 items. Girls manifested greater anxiety on items expressing fear, hurt feelings, being lonesome, nervous, having bad dreams. More boys could not keep their minds on schoolwork. Fourth graders expressed more anxiety on items suggesting physiological or psychosomatic areas such as fast heart beat, difficulty in swallowing, going to sleep, sick at stomach, etc. The significant grade difference in total score was attributed to greater maturity of 6th graders.

Insight into One's Own Teaching through Feedback from Students' Evaluations

Analysis of responses from self- and class-evaluations on two occasions (midterm and end-of-term) on a 26-item evaluation form showed nonsignificant respondent and occasion effects but a significant interaction. Quick feedback of midterm evaluations followed by dialogue between instructor and class produced a significant increase in mean class-evaluations, but the instructor decreased his self-evaluations. Class means (n = 31) for items correlated .93 on the two occasions and midterm self-evaluations correlated .60 and .65 with class-evaluations. Largest gains were made on items rated lowest at midterm.

CONSTRUCTION AND VALIDATION OF THE DALTON VOCATIONAL IMPORTANCE QUESTIONNAIRE: A TEST OF GINZBERG'S THEORY OF OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE

A 22-item questionnaire of elements (interests, capacities, and values) mentioned in the literature was pilot tested and checked for readability. Following revision, it was administered to 1,220 subjects from varied backgrounds from 5th to 12th grades and the responses factor analyzed. Three factors (Capacities, Interests, and Values) with 8, 5, and 5 items and .96, .94, and .94 reliabilities accounted for 32.4% of the total variance. Four items were discarded as not suitable. The revised questionnaire was used to test Ginzbergs theory of occupational choice at the Tentative period. No support for the theory was obtained.