The purposes of this study were to investigate the effects of the Ragsdale Career Development Project on career maturity, locus of control and career development responsibility on secondary school students. / The efficacy of the project was measured by scores obtained from (a) the Career Maturity Inventory/Attitude Scale, (CMI/AS), (b) Career Development Responsibility Scale (CDRS), (c) the Internal-External Control Scale (I-E), and (d) subjective observations recorded by the researcher in daily sessions with students in the experimental group. / The 22 students (8 males, 14 females) selected for this study were chosen at random from a population of students assigned to a Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) project. Students were assigned at random to either a treatment group (13 students), or a control group (9 students). The Pretest-Posttest Control Group Design was utilized in the study. / The pre- and posttest scores on the CMI/AS, I-E Scale and CDR Scale were analyzed using ANCOVA and Pearson Product-Moment Correlation procedures. An analysis of the scores indicated no significant differences ((alpha) = .10) between treatment and control groups. A significant correlation (p= .05) was found between scores on the CDR scale and the I-E scale. / This finding tends to support other studies indicating that CDR scale measures locus of control in the career development domain. An examination of the case studies, however, revealed that some changes did take place in that students in the experimental group reported greater feelings of independence and decisiveness from having participated in the project. The general tone of the case study findings was that students in the experimental group had acquired greater self-knowledge and had become more mature in specific career attitudes (independence and decisiveness). / The current study primarily reinforces current findings in the literature indicating that short-term career development projects are not effective in facilitating such long-term attitudes as career maturity and locus of control as measured by the instruments utilized in this study. However, certain case study findings reported in this study lend credence to the theory that the case study approach is effective in helping teachers, counselors and others in the helping professions document attitudinal changes which might not show up using standardized testing instruments only. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.) / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-05, Section: A, page: 1260. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75584 |
| Contributors | CLARK, WILLARD JAMES, JR., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 142 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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