The Development of a Device for Determining the Farm-Job Experiences of Students of Vocational Agriculture

144 Pages·7.765 MB·English

by  Clanin, Edgar Elvin

PURDUE UNIVERSITY
THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER MY SUPERVISION
BY Edgar Elvin Clanin
entitled "The Development of a Device for Determining the
Farm—Job Experiences of Students of Vocational Agriculture.”
COMPLIES WITH THE UNIVERSITY REGULATIONS ON GRADUATION THESES
AND IS APPROVED BY ME AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF
Doctor of Philosophy
/3.<z
Professor in Charge of Thesis
L/ Hear of School or Department
January /Ÿ 19 51
TO THE LIBRARIAN:--
THIS THESIS IS NOT TO BE REGARDED AS CONFIDENTIAL.
PHOFESa OK US' CHAHGE
GRAD. SCHOOL FORM 0

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DEVICE
FOR
DETERMINING THE FARM-JOB EXPERIENCES
OF
STUDENTS OF VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE
A Thesis
Submitted, to the Faculty
of
Purdue University
by
Edgar Elvin Clanin
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
of
Doctor of Philosophy
January, 1951
ProQuest Number: 27714139
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This siudy would have been impossible without the interest,
co-operation and assistance of school administrators, teachers of
vocational agriculture, vocational agricultural students, and parents
of vocational agricultural students who gave much of their time in
the trial and use of the device which was developed.
To Dr, B, L, Dodds, Director of the Division of Education and
Applied Psychology, special acknowledgment is due for the encourage­
ment given the author in planning for the completion of the study.
To Dr, B. C, Lawson, Professor of Education, the author expresses
his gratitude for the understanding and constructive guidance with
which he has directed the study.
To Dr. H. H. Remmers, Director of the Division of Educational
Reference; Dr, I, W, Burr, Professor of Mathematics; and Dr. S. E.
Wirt, Supervisor of the Tabulating Division, the author expresses
his thanks especially for assistance given in regard to statistical
procedures and analysis.
To my wife, Clarice, for her encouragement and her assistance in
scoring the device and in preparing the final report of the study; and
to my children for the inconveniences endured because of having a
parent who devoted so much time to a research study, the author wishes
to express his thanks and appreciation which he hopes will be a partial
compensât!on.
- ii -
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ABSTRACT.................................................... vi
CHAFTER I - INTRODUCTION................................ 1
Evaluation in Vocational Agricultural Education . . . 1
Some Limitations of Evaluation in Vocational Agri­
cultural Education . . . . . . . . . . . 4
An Educational Problem Needing Further Study • • . • • 6
Problem of This Study............... 9
Some Limitations of the Study.................... 11
Assumptions Underlying the Study * • • • • 11
Definition of Terms Used in This Study . . . . . . . 12
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
CHAPTER II - PROCEDURES USED IN THE STUDY.................... 16
Part A. The Preparation of the Device . . . . . . . . 17
Part B. Preliminary Trial and Revision of the
Device......... 25
Part C. Preparation of "Note to Teachers" and
“Note to Parents" . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Part D. Collection of Data........... 30
Part E. Scoring the Used Copies of the Device and
Analyzing the Data .................. 34
Part F. Summary................................ 36
CHAPTER III - ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA . . . . . . 37
Limitations of the Data ...................... 37
Reliability of the Device........................ 42
Validity of the Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
- iii -
TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued)
-P a g-e
CHAPTER. Ill - (continued)
Discriminative Power of the Device • • • • • • • * * • 54
Summary . . . . .. 78
CHAPTER IV - SUMMARY, IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATIONAL USE, AND
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY.............. 80
Summary of the Development of the Device . . . . . . . 80
Implications for the Educational Use of the Device • . 84
Suggestions for Further Study............. 85
APPENDIX A - TENTATIVE DEVICE NO. 1 .......................... 87
APPENDIX B - TENTATIVE DEVICE NO. 2 ..................... 96
APPENDIX C - NOTE TO TEACHERS................................ 106
NOTE TO PARENTS.......... ... ........... .. 108
FINAL FORM OF THE DEVICE:
Self-Rating F o r m ................... 109
Form for Rating byO thers................... 117
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CITED REFERENCES............................ 125
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SELECTED SUPPLEMENTARYR EFERENCES............. 129
- iv -
LIST OF TABLES
Table jfeg.®
1. The Number of Schools and Students Participating in
This Study . • • • • • ............................. 39
2. Coefficients of Correlation Between Odd- and Even-
Numbered Items Totalled into Half-Scores * * * * * * 44
3. Coefficients of Correlation Between Enterprise Total
Raw Scores Given by Paired Raters * * * * * * 47
4. Dependability Calculated from the Validity Coefficients
Given in Table 5 . . * . . . * * * * * * 48
5. Analysis of the Differences Between Mean Total Enterprise
Scores of Groups of Students Who Have Had Varying
Years of Vocational Agricultural Instruction * * * * 57
6. Analysis of the Differences Between Mean Total Enterprise
Scores of Groups of Students Who Have Had Varying
Years of Vocational Agricultural Project Experience
With the Selected Livestock Enterprises * * * * * * 60
7. Analysis of the Differences Between Mean Total Enterprise
Scores of Students Who Have Had No Project Experience
and Students Who Have Had Project Experience Only
In Vocational Agriculture with the Selected Livestock
Enterprise..............* ..........................63
8. Analysis of the Differences Between Mean Total Enterprise
Scores of Groups of Students Who Have Had Varying
Years of Ownership of Their Vocational Agricultural
Projects with the Selected Livestock Enterprises * * 65
9. Analysis of the Differences Between Mean Total Enterprise
Scores of Groups of Students Who Reported Varying
Places for Opportunity to Obtain Direct Experience
with the Selected Livestock Enterprises * * * * * * 69
10. Analysis of the Differences Between Mean Total Enterprise
Scores of Groups of Students Who Have Lived Varying
Lengths of Time on a Farm • • • • » ................ 71
11* Analysis of the Differences Between Mean Total Enterprise
Scores of Students Who Had an Agriculture Course in
the Seventh and/or the Eighth Grade and Students
Who Did Not Have Such a Course * * * * * * * 74
- V -
LIST OF TABLES (continued)
Table Page
12. Analysis of the Differences Between Mean Total Enter­
prise Scores of Groups of Students Who Reported
Varying Attitudes Toward Working with the
Selected Livestock Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . 75
ABSTRACT
Clanin, Edgar B*, The Development of a Device for Determining the
Farm-Job Experiences of Students of Vocational Agriculture.
January 1951. 133 pages (including the Appendices), 12 tables,
and 98 titles in the bibliographies.
The problem of this study was to develop an evaluation device
suitable for use by the student of vocational agriculture, the student's
parent, and the teacher of vocational agriculture in inventorying the
student's experiences with selected livestock enterprise farm jobs.
Dairy, poultry, and swine enterprise farm jobs were selected for the
device •
The development of the device involved the careful designing of
the parts of the device, the trial and revision of the tentative form
of the device, and the use of the revised device with a relatively
large population for the purpose of securing evidence regarding the
reliability and validity of the device.
The sample population from which data were collected consisted of
more than 900 students of vocational agriculture, their parents, and
teachers of vocational agriculture from fifty-one school-communities
in Indiana possessing the following characteristics $ (a) general
farming was the dominant type of farming in the area from which the
schools were selected; (b) the present teacher of vocational agriculture,
in each instance, had taught in the school for three or more years; and
(c) the school administrators, teachers, and others were willing to