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THE EFFECT OF AN EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENT ON MALE ATTITUDES TOWARD FEMALE-INTENSIVE BUSINESS OCCUPATIONS

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of one intervention strategy on the perceptions of male students enrolled in business education classes toward business and office occupations as a career. The study was based on the premise that male students, when exposed to new informational materials that minimized occupational differences in opportunities between men and women in business careers specifically, would change their attitudes toward considering a career in business, would score higher on criterion measures, and would be more favorably toward seeking out more information on business occupations that have been traditionally identified as female-intensive occupations than would male students who were not so informed. In addition, the study was designed to determine if attitudinal changes in male student toward non-traditional career choices occurred and to derive a list of factors that influence students' choices of business education programs or particular business classes. / An experimental instructional program packet, consisting of six separate business occupations and self-instructional modules was presented to two intact classes of 35 male and 54 female ninth grade students enrolled in business education classes in a Palm Beach County, Florida, high school. / Eighty-nine students of which 39 comprised the experimental group and 50 made up the control group. Pretests and posttests were designed to be parallel both within and across modules. An opinionnaire was given to all students to measure the overall effectiveness of the study. An assessment rating scale was given to the experimental group subjects to measure the effects of treatment materials. Both groups were given the pretests, one per week, and instructional materials were given to the experimental group subjects only. Posttests for each of the six modules were given to all students at the completion of each module. / A test of significance using Chi Square revealed increased scores for the experimental group students on four of the six posttest measures. This was supportive of the research strategy. Experimental males however, scored higher than males in the control group on only two of the six posttest measures. The control group students increased scores on two of the six posttest measures. There was insufficient evidence to conclude that males exposed to sex-free materials would be more favorable toward receiving more information on business occupations. Although findings were encouraging, in that students scored higher on four of the six posttest measures, the general conclusion was that some of the experimental materials were not powerful enough to introduce change. / The identification of attitudinal changes in male students toward non-traditional career choices was not substantiated. However, the introduction of sex-free information about careers emerged as being one factor that could influence students' choices of selecting business education programs and particular classes. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-02, Section: A, page: 0506. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74070
ContributorsBUTLER, VERNISE WILLIAMS., The Florida State University
Source SetsFlorida State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText
Format145 p.
RightsOn campus use only.
RelationDissertation Abstracts International

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