In recent years researchers interested in family decision making have argued for the need to apply a conceptual framework to the study of parental decision making about child-rearing issues. This study is an attempt to construct a theory-based model of parental decision-making strategies. Two theoretical approaches were employed; a structural-developmental approach to provide an understanding of parental cognition, and an information processing approach to the study of decision-making strategies. Previous research has demonstrated that pressure of time and task complexity were important in influencing the selection and use of information. These two factors were manipulated by the researcher. A model of parental decision-making strategies was proposed and tested in a pilot study. The decision was made to reduce the number of variables to those which demonstrated the potential to make a significant contribution to an understanding of parental decision making. These variables were tested in the main study. Sixty mothers participated in the study. They represented a wide range of socio-economic and educational backgrounds as well as number of years of parenting experience and age. Participants completed Newberger’s Level of Parental Awareness Interview and four decision tasks about two childrearing issues. The decision tasks were presented on information boards. The model of parental decision-making strategies was tested using multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures. Significant effects were obtained for level of parental awareness, pressure of time, task complexity and number of years of formal education. The reduced model explained much of the variance in parental decision-making strategies (71%). Specific hypotheses concerning level of parental awareness and information use were supported. The results inform theory and practice. Support was found for the theory-based model and for Liben’s view of a rapprochement between developmental theory and information-processing theory. Parents with more knowledge about parenting used less information and more variability in their decision making. Support was found for Newberger’s measure and construct. Practical implications for parent education were curricula described.

In recent years researchers interested in family decision making have argued for the need to apply a conceptual framework to the study of parental decision making about child-rearing issues. This study is an attempt to construct a theory-based model of parental decision-making strategies. Two theoretical approaches were employed; a structural-developmental approach to provide an understanding of parental cognition, and an information processing approach to the study of decision-making strategies. Previous research has demonstrated that pressure of time and task complexity were important in influencing the selection and use of information. These two factors were manipulated by the researcher. A model of parental decision-making strategies was proposed and tested in a pilot study. The decision was made to reduce the number of variables to those which demonstrated the potential to make a significant contribution to an understanding of parental decision making. These variables were tested in the main study. Sixty mothers participated in the study. They represented a wide range of socio-economic and educational backgrounds as well as number of years of parenting experience and age. Participants completed Newberger’s Level of Parental Awareness Interview and four decision tasks about two childrearing issues. The decision tasks were presented on information boards. The model of parental decision-making strategies was tested using multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures. Significant effects were obtained for level of parental awareness, pressure of time, task complexity and number of years of formal education. The reduced model explained much of the variance in parental decision-making strategies (71%). Specific hypotheses concerning level of parental awareness and information use were supported. The results inform theory and practice. Support was found for the theory-based model and for Liben’s view of a rapprochement between developmental theory and information-processing theory. Parents with more knowledge about parenting used less information and more variability in their decision making. Support was found for Newberger’s measure and construct. Practical implications for parent education were curricula described. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This is a study of migration. The Report of the Federal Task Force of Agriculture in 1969 defined increased mobility out of agriculture as a farm policy goal. This goal was seen as a means to help reduce the incidence of poverty in farming. Economic theory identifies costs and benefits as deterring and motivating factors for migration respectively. This study is a study of individual decision making. Retaining a basic cost-benefit framework, decision making is examined with the aid of a model where a decision to migrate is some function of economic and non-economic expectations, and expectations in turn are some function of information about events, and finally information about events is a function of perception. A sample area was selected within Census Division 16 in Saskatchewan and two parallel surveys were conducted in July 1971. Residents of the sample area were interviewed, and outmigrants from the area during the previous five years were located and interviewed. Parametric variables were evaluated via one way analysis of variance producing the F statistic, and non-parametric variables were evaluated using cross tabulations producing the chi square statistic. The study findings and conclusions provide the following information. Rural people do expect a higher level of income as a result of migration. The experience of migrants seems to support these expectations but at a lower level. Job expectations are generally non-specific, any kind of steady employment is seen as desirable. Costs, particularly costs of moving are not perceived as a significant deterrent to moving. Failing health, low incomes and inadequate acreage are the most common motivating events (factors) towards the decision to migrate. Information about an urban environment is most effectively transmitted by personal contact, friends and relatives are most effective in transmitting relevant and reasonably accurate information. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

Communities with relatively undiversified economies are an intermediate category between the monolithic "company town" and the industrially diversified metropolis. A community with an undiversified economic base is influenced by factors external to it, including absentee ownership of industry and the international market. The part which the "company" plays in the decision-making process of such a community is examined. Propositions concerning the emergence and viability of decision-makers in this particular environment are considered. Research was carried out in a community- of 12,000 people which depends heavily on a single industry. Leaders were identified by a multi-step approach which, drew on a panel of knowledgeable persons in the community. Twenty-two men identified as leaders were interviewed. Their interrelationships and participation in decisions which affected the community were explored. The individual and collective resources available to leaders were considered. It was found that the major employer had made unilateral decisions on economic and organizational grounds. As long as these decisions resulted in stability and continuity for the community this activity was not recognized by the citizens as company participation in the decision-making process of the community. When these unilateral decisions adversely affected the community it became possible for new decision-makers to emerge from the most threatened non-company sector of the community. "New leaders" were instrumental in having the economic situation in the community redefined as problematic. Not only did new leaders emerge, but new organizations were created which, when they were defined as legitimate, provided a mechanism for tapping the resources already in the decision-making network. Brief consideration is given to the possibility that access to the decision-making process based on unusual circumstances can be transferred into more conventional positions of power in the community. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

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M.B.A. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

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published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

by Ho Siu-hung, Horace. / Bibliography: leaves 50-55 / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1986

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management