Yoram Neumann

Comparison of Six Lengths of Rating Scales: Students' Attitudes toward Instruction

The characteristics of rating scales are very important in questionnaires on attitudes and satisfaction. In the construction of a rating scale, one is often concerned about the number of rating categories. Effects of scale length on relationships among variables are explored through a study of students satisfaction with college instruction. Six rating scales of length n are compared, for n = 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10. The results indicate that deviations of actual averages from the theoretical means increase as the number of choice points increase. Also, Pearsons correlations and etas generally increase with scale length.

Characteristics of academic areas and students' evaluation of instruction

This study examines the relationship between characteristics of academic areas and students evaluation of instruction. Based on Biglans model of subject matter and relevant studies of the role of instruction, a weak partial order model for classifying academic fields and predicting their relative ranking on instructional evaluation was tested. The findings of the study support the weak partial order model for all three criteria of instructional evaluation that are used in this research. Moreover, the major discriminant facet in this study is the knowledge base of the academic program (i.e., hard versus soft sciences). Based on the results of this research, an adapted model for understanding the role of academic areas in predicting instructional evaluation is proposed. The implications of this study are discussed and elaborated.

Determinants of students' satisfaction with course work: An international comparison between two universities

The present study attempts to develop a scale of students general satisfaction with college instruction, to empirically assess the dimensions behind the scale, and to examine four predictors (sex, major, school year, and academic performance) which may affect the various factors of students satisfaction with instruction. The study was conducted in two universities, one in Israel and one in the United States. The findings of this study indicate that the concept of students satisfaction is composed of four factors and that each of these factors is best predicted by a different combination of the independent variables. However, academic performance is a dominant predictor of all four factors. The pattern of the findings is similar for both countries.The policy implications of these findings for university decision making and institutional research are discussed and elaborated.

A Discriminant Analysis of Students’ Work Values: Differences between Engineering and Liberal Arts

This study examined the power of Super’s work values in discriminating between engineering and liberal arts students. Three analyses were performed, one for each of the different factors of the work values. The major findings were: all three dimensions discriminate effectively between the two programs, the work values which discriminate in favor of liberal arts students tend to focus on general aspects of the work, and the work values favoring engineering students are values relevant to specific aspects of their perceived jobs. The implications of the findings are discussed.

The work values and motivational profiles of vocational, collegiate, nonconformist, and academic students

Differences in achievement motivations and work values between various types of students are examined. The vocational model is contrasted with the collegiate and non-conformist groups.Using 276 students from Boston University and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the relationships between types of students and their work values and motivational profiles were investigated by means of factor and discriminant analyses.Both comparisons (the vocational vs. the collegiate and the vocational type vs. the nonconformist) were statistically significant. The comparison between the vocational and academic types was not statistically significant. The results indicate that student self-descriptions on the Clark-Trow typology of academic orientations are associated with different profiles of both achievement motives and work values.

Faculty Perceptions of Deans' and Department Chairpersons' Management Functions.

The present study examined the patterns of perceived management functions of deans and department chairpersons in three schools: social sciences, physical sciences and medical school. In all schools, deans were perceived as paying utmost attention to outside activities, and least attention to inside activities.The study explored the relationships between personal career data and scales of perceived managerial functions on one hand, and between job satisfaction and management functions on the other hand. Articles were found to be negatively correlated with perceptions of managerial functions in all schools. Seniority, rank, and tenure were positively associated with inside activities of the dean and the chairperson in the social sciences. Managerial functions were positively related especially to satisfaction with governance.The implications of the results were discussed and elaborated.

Organizational climate and faculty attitudes toward collective bargaining: A university in a major labor dispute

The present study attempts to broaden Neumanns (1979) original study, which included only universities with favorable labor relations, and to assess the role of organizational climate in predicting and explaining faculty attitudes toward collective bargaining at a college facing severe labor problems. The major findings of this study are the following. First, the perceived power structure is the dominant predictor of attitudes toward unionization at the university in a labor dispute. The magnitude of relationships between perceived power and collective bargaining attitudes is noticeably stronger at the university with unfavorable labor relations than at universities with favorable labor relations. Second, inequity is related to some aspects of collective bargaining and is not related to others. Third, perceived goals do not effect faculty attitudes toward unionization. The implications of these findings are discussed and elaborated.

Equity Theory and Students' Commitment to Their College.

The present study tested the power of equity measures to predict students commitment to college. Different patterns of results were observed across three academic disciplines (physics, economics, and political science), which are characterized by different levels of environmental uncertainty. Equity was found to be a more relevant predictor of students behavior and attitudes in fields with a high level of paradigm development. In political science, the major predictor of students commitment was the comparison of ones group with another. The dominant independent variable in economics was the comparison within the membership group, while in physics the main predictor was the internal standard. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Faculty work orientations as predictors of work attitudes in the physical and social sciences

Abstract This study examines the relationship between university professors work orientation and attitudes toward their work. Specific and global work orientations are related to extrinsic and intrinsic attitudes toward (1) career attraction, (2) work satisfaction, and (3) commitment to the profession. The major findings of the study are (1) global work orientation is a strong predictor of attitudes toward intrinsic aspects of work in the social sciences and is a moderate predictor in the physical sciences; (2) specific work orientation is a strong predictor of attitudes toward extrinsic aspects of work in the physical sciences and is a moderate predictor in the social sciences; (3) global work orientation is not related to extrinsic work attitudes in the physical and social sciences; and (4) specific work orientation is not related to intrinsic work attitudes in the physical and social sciences.

Three approaches to technology in science and their organizational correlates

Abstract Three alternative approaches to organizational technology and their application to science and university departments are examined. Perrows model of organizational goals provides the framework for generating and testing hypotheses regarding standardized units of production and their correlates on the one hand, and stability and change on the other hand. The results and implications of Perrows model to the science system are discussed and elaborated. Enough evidence is provided to suggest that the notion of technology might be intuitively well understood, but its construct validity is incomplete and needs further investigation. Even in the sciences, with a limited selection of fields, one finds considerable differences among the three approaches to technology.