The primary purpose of this study was t determine the
difference in "career progress" and satisfaction between
cooperative education/internship graduates and non-coop/
intern graduates of a small, private, non-engineering
college. A secondary purpose was to determine which other
independent variables (age; gender; SAT score; GPA; percent
of related work) contributed significantly to any existing
differences.
The principle data gathering technique was a mail
questionnaire. Graduates from 1986; 1988; and 1990 were
sampled allowing for a cross-sectional overview of workforce
participation. A 61% usable response rate was achieved
using Dillman's (1978) Total Design Method.
In general, study data offered little direct evidence
supporting co-op/internship participation, although
participants held slight advantage.; in regard to length of
time to obtain employment; working within the field of
study; merit pay increases; job promotions; salary levels;
and responsibility levels.
Two outcomes, further analyzed, however, indirectly
supported co-op/intern participation.
1. Co-op/intern participants, in comparison to nonparticipants,
began college at a significant disadvantage in
terms of SAT score (866 to 922). At graduation, GPAs were
similar (3.14 to 3.19) and following graduation "career
progress" occurred at the same rate. How was the
disadvantage overcome? It is logical to assume, as
Siedenberg (1990) did for salary, that cooperative education
enabled "disadvantaged" students to catch up with their
peers and compete on an even basis following graduation.
2. Percent of related experience as an undergraduate is
a main predictor of "career progress." Those with a higher
percent of related work were more likely to be employed
within their field of study and were more satisfied.
Associated with this, co-op/intern students reported a
significantly higher percent of related experience.
In addition to the previous findings, gender provided
significant results in regard to salaries and promotions.
Males "outperformed" females, apparently continuing an
existing pattern of gender discrimination. Integrating all
of the study data, it seems plausible that females might
overcome this gender "disadvantage" by participating in coop
and increasing their percent of related work experience. / Graduation date: 1995
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/35073 |
| Date | 05 May 1994 |
| Creators | Kysor, Darwin V. |
| Contributors | LeMay, Morris |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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