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A COMPARISON OF PERSONALITY TYPES AS DETERMINED BY THE
MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR WITH THE PROCESS OF
SEPARATE-KNOMING AND CONNECTED-KNOMING
PROCEDURAL PROCESSING AMONG FEMALE,
UNDERGRADUATE, NON-TRADITIONAL
STUDENTS

83!
Joyce Ann Carter

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Educational Administration

1989

(000 I545

ABSTRACT
A COMPARISON OF PERSONALITY TYPES AS DETERMINED BY THE
MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR WITH THE PROCESS OF
SEPARATE-KNOHING AND CONNECTED-KNOWING
PROCEDURAL PROCESSING AMONG FEMALE,
UNDERGRADUATE, NON-TRADITIONAL
STUDENTS
BY
Joyce Ann Carter

The primary purpose of this study was to explore the
relationship of personality types as indicated by the Myers-
Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) in relationship to the choice
of separate-knowing or connected-knowing procedural process
selected by white female non-traditional students to solve
empowerment issues which they perceived to be barriers to
their education at a four-year public university.

The sample consisted of 25 white females enrolled in an
undergraduate degree program at a four-year public
university. Participants were non-traditional students
ranging from 25 to 59 years of age. Participants completed
the MBTI and a demographic information sheet, as well as
participating in an interview. The responses to the
interview questions were coded to determine the procedural
process each participant selected. Participants were rated
as separate-knowers or connected-knowers.

A Pearson Product-Moment Correlation coefficient was
calculated to show the association between each pair of

MBTI pairings and the separate-knowing and connected-knowing

score. Chi-square values were also calculated to determine

the association between each MBTI pair and the separate-
knowing and connected-knowing scores. Specific responses to
the interview questions were discussed to further

illuminate the statistical findings and to illustrate the
process of change.

Statistical analysis showed the separate-knowers have a
preference for intuition rather than sensing and a preference
toward perceiving rather than judging. Connected-knowers
showed a preference for extroversion rather than intro-
version and a preference for feeling rather than thinking.
Personality type did have an impact on how the participants
in this study progressed through the procedural process of
acquisition of knowledge and the procedural process of
deepening their understanding.

An investigation of the interview responses indicated a
strong bias toward change on the part of the women in this
study. The transformational process was a powerful part of
their daily lives.

The statistical association of personality typing and
procedural processing proved to be a reasonable method for
identifying the process of meaning-making for women students.
Most relevant was the conclusion that women make a different
sense of experience based upon their knowledge of human
relationships. An educational system based on a connected
model rather than a separate model might reasonably be

expected to increase the educational gains of women students.

Copyright by

Joyce Ann Carter

1989

For Gerry
whose love and understanding

make all things possible.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My sincere appreciation to Kenneth Harding for his care
as major advisor and chairperson of my dissertation
committee. Many thanks to the other members of my
dissertation committee, Marylee Davis, Howard Hickey, and
James Snoddy, for their encouragement.

Special appreciation is extended to my professional
colleagues at Central Michigan University: Scott Hammontree
for his expertise, Susan Repp for support, Claudia Douglass
for statistical critique, Shirley Vonder Embse for editing,
Ira Rosenbaum for insight, Ulana Klymyshyn for deadlines,
Glenn Starner for enthusiasm, and to the fine folks in my
department for their encouragement and understanding.

I would also like to extend a heartfelt thanks to the
twenty-five women who gave a part of themselves in order to

make this research possible.

vi

TABLE OF

CHAPTER I . . . . . . . . .

The Problem . . . . .
Need for the Study . .
Purpose of the Study .

CONTENTS

Limitations of the Study .

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (

Hypotheses of the Study
Definitions . .

Overview of the Study . . .

CHAPTER II . . . . . . . .

Review of the Literature .

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Adult Development . .
Summary . . . . . . .

CHAPTER III . . . . . . .

Design of the Study
Sample . . . . . .
Research Design .
Analysis . . . . .
Summary . . . . .

CHAPTER IV . . . . . . . .

Results of the Analysis

Analysis of Demographic Information
Analysis of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Analysis of Interviews

Discussion of Interviews .

Summary . . . . . . .

vii

I I I ‘4' I I I

IIDVIIOI

HDQNOPNd

‘

12

12
12
16
44

45

45
45
46
51
52

54
54
63
71

85
110

CHAPTER V . .

Summary,

Procedures

Hypotheses .

Findings

Conclusions
Recommendation .
Implications for

APPENDICES

APPENDIX
APPENDIX
APPENDIX
APPENDIX
APPENDIX
APPENDIX

REFERENCES

'l'll'llUOW)

Conclusions and

Furthe

r

viii

Resea

rch

Recommendations

112
112
115
117
120
123
127

130
138
140
141
144
147

148

LIST OF TABLES

Four Preferences/A Person’s Type
Age Distribution . . . . . .

Marital Status . . . . . 2 Z . . : Z I I :
Number of Children . . . . . . . . . . . .
Age of Children . . . . . . . . . . . .

Participants Classified as Myers-Briggs Types.

Summary Data for Single Letter Preferences
Two-Letter Combinations for NTHG and CAPT

S-K/C-K by I/E . . . . .
C-K/S-K by S/N . . . .
S-K/C-K by T/F . . . .

ix

and

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure

4.1 MBTI Personality Type Profile for Each
Participant . . . . . . . . .

4.2 A Comparison of Percentage of Each MBTI Type
Participants with CAPT Estimated Frequencies
Each MBTI Type . . . . . . . . . . .

4.3 Participants Plotted According to
Connected-Knowing and Separate-Knowing . . .

4.4 Separate/Connected-Knowing vs.
Introversion/Extroversion . . . . . . . . .

4.5 Separate/Connected-Knowing vs.
Sensing/Intuitive . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.6 Separate/Connected-Knowing vs.
Thinking/Feeling . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.7 Separate/Connected—Knowing vs.

Judging/Perceiving . . . . . . . . . . . . .

65

67
74
76
79
81

83

CHAPTER I

The Problem

Women, like most adult students, re-enter the
educational process during or following a time of
transition. Sometimes the female student is deciding to
make a career change; more often she is deciding to enter
the professional world for the first time. In the case of
mothers, re-entry into higher education may be preceded by
the youngest child’s entry into the world of elementary
school or the youngest child’s exit from the world of high
school. Another transition which may precede the return to
university education for woman is the loss of a spouse,
either through divorce or death; this may also include the
loss of the ability by the spouse to fulfill his traditional
role of head-of-the-household through accident or illness.
Which transition or combination of transitions precipitates
the decision on the part of the returning woman is less
important than the understanding that most adult women re-
entering education begin the experience in a state of
internal chaos and change. Educational professionals who
work with the adult female student need to be cognitive of
the unsettledness of their students (Belenky, et al. 1986).
Adults who are in transition have, in a very real sense,
exchanged a clearly defined roadmap for a chance to grow and
change (Daloz, 1986). Their ontological sense of themselves
and the world in which they live undergoes transformation.

1

2
During this time of transformation, these women are in the
process of rediscovering themselves, forming new and
intrinsically different relationships with people and with
the world in which they live. Because this transformation
begins at the core of their being, they begin to struggle to
find their voice (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, Tarole,
1986; Gilligan, 1982; Josselson, 1987). William Bridges
stresses the importance of this state of confusion: “Chaos
is not a mess, but rather it is the primal state of pure
energy to which the person returns for every true new
beginning” (Bridges, 1980, p. 119).

Each returning woman student takes on a quest. While
the nature of each woman’s quest is individual, it is the
journey of a heroine. Daloz’s metaphor of journey is useful
here, for each female student becomes the traveler, the

seeker on her way to empowerment.

Need for the Study

Adult women are re-entering higher education and
beginning work toward higher education degrees in increasing
numbers as the population of the United States becomes
older. According to the National Center for Educational
Statistics (Golladay, 1976, p. 12), by the year 2000, "the
United States population will be dominated by persons in
their middle years." Our society is changing at an
increasingly rapid pace. Margaret Mead once remarked that

the world in which we are born is not the world in which we

3
will live, nor is that the world in which we will die. It
should come as no surprise that many adults choose to cope
with changes in society and with changes in both their inner
and outer worlds by re-entering a formal learning process.
As of 1987, forty-three percent of the higher education
students in the United States were over the age of twenty-
five and fifty-one percent of those students were female
(MASFAA, 1987, p. 19). It is imperative that educators
investigate the procedural process of education for the non-
traditional female student.

It is also important to understand that each adult
female student re-entering education chooses an educational
process to complete a task, to solve a problem, or to remove
a barrier that is in keeping with her style of learning
about and interacting with her ontological world. There is
a need for research to synthesize data which deal with
procedural processing and knowledge acquisition to
illuminate the transaction of empowerment for these
students. Teachers and mentors who are engaged with the
adult female in higher education will find this combination
of information useful in understanding the interaction
between personality typing, procedural processing and
empowerment within the process of education engaged in by
the adult female learner as she chooses to explore and
traverse a difficult education barrier. The lesson that
people are different in fundamental ways ”and that no amount

of getting after them is going to change them” (Keirsey,

4
1984, p. 2) is a valuable lesson for all educators who
interact with adult students. Educators should also
understand that there is no ”reason to change them, because
the differences are probably good, not bad“ (Keirsey, 1984,
P- 2).
Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to explore the
relationship of personality types as indicated by the Myers-
Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) in relationship to the choice
of separate-knowing procedural process or connected-knowing
procedural process selected by white, female, non-
traditional students to solve empowerment issues which they
perceive to be barriers to their education at a four-year
public university.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is based on Carl
Jung’s psychological types (Myers, 1980). It is designed to
investigate systematic preferences in an individual’s basic
approaches to life. It is also based on the assumption that
there is a relatively consistent pattern to most human
behavior and that this consistency is reflected in the ways
individuals perceive the world and arrive at preferences for
dealing with the world.

The terms “separate-knowing” and “connected-knowing”
are used to describe two different conceptions or
experiences of the self. The term “separate” is used to
indicate a relationship that is essentially autonomous or

separate from others, while the term ”connected“ is used to

5
denote a relationship that is essentially connected to
others (Belenky, 1986).

The perspective of the separate/objective self--is
based on impartiality, objectivity, and the distancing
of the self from others. It assumes an ideal
relationship of equality. When this is impossible,
given the various kinds of obligatory role
relationships and the sometimes conflicting claims of
individuals in relationships, the best recourse is to
fairness as an approximation of equality. This
requires the maintenance of distance between oneself
and others to allow for impartial mediation of
relationships. To consider others in a reciprocity
implies considering their situations as if one were in
them oneself. Thus, an assumption of this perspective
is that others are the same as self. (Lyons, 1983, p.
134)

Lyons further states:

The perspective of the connected self--labeled

response-—is based on interdependence and concern for

another’s well-being. It assumes an ideal relationship
of care and responsiveness to others. Relationships
can best be maintained and sustained by considering
others in their specific contexts and not always

invoking strict equality. (Lyons, 1983, p. 135)

Nel Noddings, the philosopher, says: “In the intellectual
domain, our caring represents a quest for understanding”
(Noddings, 1984, p. 169).

The terms ”separate-knowing procedural processing“ and
”connected-knowing procedural processing” are similar to the
definitions used by Lyons, and later by Gilligan, but take
on a more specific definition as they relate to the learner.

Similarly, we posit two contrasting epistemological

orientations: a separate epistemology, based on

impersonal procedures for establishing truth, and a

connected epistemology, in which truth emerges through

care. (Belenky, 1986, p. 102)

Underlying the purpose of this study is the hypothesis

that the female non-traditional student chooses a separate-

knowing process or a connected-knowing process of solving
barrier problems in parallel relationship to her personality
type. Particular attention will be paid to the relationship

between choice of barrier processing and type distribution.

Limitations of the Study

This study is delimited to the correlation of methods of
processing barriers with type distribution. Participants in
this study have been limited to include only white, female
students, aged twenty-five or over, enrolled in a
baccalaureate degree program in a four-year, mid-western,
state-supported university setting. A larger study could
have included male students, minority students, graduate
students, two-year college students, and/or students
enrolled in an extended degree program. An attempt has been
made, however, to delimit the scope and nature of the
participants in order to reduce the number of uncontrolled
variables. No attempt is made to equate these findings with
those relating to males. No attempt is made to equate these
findings with those relating to average-aged (18-22)
undergraduates. No attempt is made to equate these findings
to those found in either a community college setting or to
an external degree setting.

The outcome of this study is limited by the honesty of
the participants and the clarity of their responses within
the interview process. This study will deal only with the

relationship of personality types as determined by MBTI and

coded process choices as determined by the focused

interview.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

The MBTI is a forced-choice, self-report inventory
based upon the personality typology of Carl Jung (Jung,
1923, 1933, 1953) and is designed to investigate systematic
preferences in an individual’s basic approaches to life. The
MBTI yields measures on the following four dichotomous
dimensions: extroversion-introversion (E-I); sensing-
intuition (S-N); thinking-feeling (T-F); and judgment-
perception (J-P). Each scale reflects choices or
preferences between opposites and the score on each
dimension is indicated by the appropriate, corresponding
letter; numerical values are also obtained which reflect the
strengths of the particular preferences. Once the four
preference scores are obtained, they may be combined to form
a type profile. Type profiles include: ISTJ, ISFJ, ISTP,
ISFP, ESTP, ESFP, ESTJ, ESFJ, INFJ, INTJ, INFP, INTP, ENFP,
ENTP, ENFJ, and ENTJ. It should be noted that each of the
scales measures a preference only and does not imply a
fixation or an inability to function adequately in the
opposite direction. The only implication of any preference
score is that the subject typically prefers to behave, or

evaluate a situation, in a particular manner.

8
Hypotheses of the Study
The MBTI is not a “static, classificatory scheme, but a

dynamic process through which adaptation to the world
occurs“ (Quenk, 1984, p. 5). It is reasonable to assume a
strong correlation exists between the participant’s 'type’
and the participants’ choices of procedural process in
working through their perceived barriers to education.

The following hypotheses will be investigated:

391. There will be no significant difference between
the distribution of general MBTI types for females and
the distribution of types for participants in this

study.

392. There will be no significant difference in the
frequency of use of separate-knowing processing between

participants typing E and participants typing I.

HQ}. There will be no significant difference in the
frequency of use of connected-knowing processing

between participants typing E and participants typing I.

595. There will be no significant difference in the
frequency of use of separate-knowing processing between

participants typing S and participants typing N.

flog. There will be no significant difference in the
frequency of use of connected-knowing processing

between participants typing 8 and participants typing N.

flQ_. There will be no significant difference in the
frequency of use of separate-knowing processing between

participants typing T and participants typing F.

ugz. There will be no significant difference in the
frequency of use of connected-knowing processing
between participants typing T and participants typing
F.

uQ_. There will be no significant difference in the
frequency of use of separate-knowing processing between

participants typing J and participants typing P.

flgfi. There will be no significant difference in the
frequency of use of connected-knowing processing

between participants typing J and participants typing P.

Definitions
Agglt Student. There is no universally accepted definition
of an adult. Adulthood is a complicated concept involving
both age and maturity that varies with culture and time.
Consequently, the term ”adult” has biological, legal, social
and psychological definitions (Knowles, 1973). For the
purposes of this study ”adult student” is defined as a
person matriculated in undergraduate courses who is twenty—
five years or older. For the sake of variety, the term
“non-traditional student” will be used interchangeably with

the term ”adult student“.

10
Eggxis. Praxis is the action and reflection of people upon

their world in order to transform it (Freire, 1984).

Empdwggmgnt. Empowerment is the self power that a person
gains as she is a subject who acts upon and transforms her
world, moving toward ever new possibilities of a fuller and
richer existence. In particular, empowerment names the
process an adult student discovers and chooses for her own

as she integrates herself into the university environment.

Baggidgs td Educdtion. Situational, institutional, and
dispositional barriers are major types of barriers which may
obstruct the quest of the adult student. Situational
barriers are those which arise from the student’s situation
in life at a given time. Institutional barriers consist of
those practices and procedures on the part of the
institution that exclude or discourage adults from
participating. Dispositional barriers are those related to
the attitudes and self-perceptions the student feels about

herself as a learner (Cross, 1984).

ELQQQQQLQl Egddgss. Procedural process is that process
which is used in making meaning. It involves both
understanding and knowledge; it precludes evaluation

(Belenky, et al., 1986, p. 100-101).

degzdtdzkddwidg. The epistemological orientation of
separate-knowing is essentially autonomous; the relationship

between the knower and the object (or subject) is primarily

11
one of knowledge. This characteristic mode of describing
the self-in-relation-to-others is self-separate or objective
in its relations to others (Belenky, et al., 1986, p. 103-
112).

C n - wi . The epistemological orientation of
connected-knowing is essentially in relationship; the
relationship between the knower and the object (or subject)
is primarily one of understanding. This characteristic mode
of describing the self-in-relation-to—others is self-
connected or interdependent in its relations to others

(Belenky, et al., 1986, p. 112-123).

Overview of the Study

In Chapter Two, the review of the literature will
include a brief summary of adult development theories.
Literature pertaining to the basis for typology, review of
validity findings for the MBTI, and a summary of related
MBTI research will be presented. Literature pertaining to
empowerment and educational barriers of adult learners will
also be reviewed.

The methodology and procedures employed in this study
will be presented in Chapter Three.

Chapter Four will present the results of this study.

In Chapter Five the data will be discussed and
summarized. Conclusions will be drawn, implications for
action will be suggested, and recommendations for further

research will be made.

CHAPTER II

Review of the Literature
The review of literature is organized under three major
headings:
1. Research using the Myers-Briggs Indicator Type
2. A review of the major adult development theorists
leading to an explanation of the development and

use of procedural knowledge

3. Research relating to empowerment in the processing
of barriers in adult education.

Studies and citations relating to each of these topics are

reviewed, in turn, in this chapter.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

At Greenwich Observatory in 1796, an event occurred
which later had an effect on the study of personality and
individual differences. Maskelyne, the astronomer, fired
his assistant Kinnebrook for calibrating the observatory
clock incorrectly--or, at least, for not calibrating it
exactly as Maskelyne did. Bessel, reading about the
dismissal of Kinnebrook, began to study how different
individuals performed when calibrating clocks. He found an
array of differences and developed a formula he called the
”personal equation” to help remedy the situation. Edwin
Boring later suggested that this was the first attempt to
study individual differences objectively and to use that

information to improve the quality of life (Grasha, 1984).

12

13

In 1907 Adickes claimed that man is divided according
to four world views:

1. Dogmatic

2. Agnostic

3. Traditional

4. Innovative
Adler, around 1920, also spoke of four goals of human
beings, Spranger told of four human values, and thus the
early twentieth century saw a revival of a view of human
nature presented by Hippocrates almost twenty-five
centuries earlier, who spoke of four temperaments
(Keirsey, 1984).

Freud believed that human beings are fundamentally
alike, each driven from within by Eros but his student
and colleague Carl Jung disagreed. Jung claimed that:
People are different in fundamental ways even though they
all have the same multitude of instincts [archetypes] to
drive them from within. One instinct is no more important
than another. What is important is our preference for how
we 'function.’ Our preference for a given 'function’ is
characteristic, and so we may be ‘typed’ by this
preference. Thus Jung invented the 'function types’ or
'psychological types’. (Keirsey, 1984)

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is based on
Jung’s psychological types (Myers, 1980). It is designed to
investigate systematic preferences in an individual’s basic
approaches to life. It is further based on the assumption

that there is a relatively consistent pattern to most human

behavior and that this consistency is reflected in the ways

14
individuals perceive the world and arrive at conclusions
about it.

Since the implementation of the MBTI, it has been used
in essentially two ways. First, it has been examined in
many studies designed to assess the instrument in an
adequately reliable self-report inventory. (See Chapter 3
for studies on reliability and validity.) Second, it has
been used as a prediction instrument in research
predominantly in the fields of education, medical education,
and business.

McCaulley and Matter (1974) led a research team to
investigate the type differences in students labeled as
”disruptive“ in Florida schools. Their purpose was to
identify causal factors of disruption and to suggest
solutions. Data were collected in the spring of 1974 at the
Developmental Research School at Florida State University
for the Governor’s Ad Hoc Task Force on Disruptive Youth.
The sample population consisted of 521 students in the
seventh through twelfth grades. Predictions of type
differences in academic aptitude and achievement were
confirmed. The project demonstrated that different types of
students require different educational treatments.

Finally, knowledge of the distribution of types in any

given school or classroom can be helpful to teachers

and administrators planning for the instruction of the
students. The few schools who [sic] have longitudinal
data on the types of their students report that they
can forecast changes in materials and supplies years

ahead, based on the changes in distributions of their
classes. (McCaulley and Matter, 1974, p. 189)

15

A team of research-practitioners at Ball State
University matched sensing and intuitive types with selected
instructional strategies and student support services. They
used the MBTI as a diagnostic tool with high-risk students
and found that attrition was reduced from 28 percent to 9
percent after first using a program that included informing
these students of their MBTI type with an interpretation in
the context of learning (Price, 1985). Their data are
impressionistic; they worked with a large number of students
in a case-study setting (exact number of subjects not given)
and observed direct results, but without adequate research
controls.

In a study involving 401 freshmen, Provost used the
MBTI to determine college attrition. She was able to type
those students likely to have low persistence rates as well
as those students likely to have high persistence rates
(Provost, 1985). During Fall 1980 the MBTI was administered
to the entering freshman class of a private, four-year
liberal arts college. 0f the 401 entering freshmen the
ethnic and racial composition was 12 Black, 2 Asian, 9
Hispanic, and 378 White. These students were traced for
four years to observe their persistence or attrition,
academic performance, and involvement in college.

Provost cautions that her findings on persistence or
attrition types may not be generalized to all campuses. “If
the environmental characteristics are quite different,

certain types may more easily 'fit’ at certain institutions”

16
(Provost, 1985, p. 22). But in its broadest implication
this study provides colleges and universities with useful
information on how the MBTI can be used to assist high-risk
students in adapting self-understanding to their academic
environment.

A great deal of research has been done on typing
relative to career choice. This research includes a
longitudinal study on the selected specialty fields of over
five thousand medical students and ten thousand nurses
(Myers, 1980).

The information provided by the MBTI is useful in
helping students assess their strengths and in providing
them with suggestions and methods for developing areas which
are not preference areas. The MBTI is a good prediction
instrument in areas of study and career choice. Who an
individual is as a personality type is one area of
knowledge; how an individual develops in the adult life

cycle is another area of knowledge.

Adult Development
A review of the literature reveals a preponderance of
adult developmental theory. As this study deals, at least
in part, with developmental issues, it is highly
appropriate to review the foundations of adult development
theory which lead up to the more recent and, for purposes of
this research, the more pertinent investigations in the

field of adult growth and learning.

17

Adult development research began as early as the
1930’s when Carl Jung began to identify phasic aspects in
the development of adults (Lasker, 1980, p. 5). It is now
generally accepted that “The person who can justly be
considered the father of the modern study of adult
development is Carl G. Jung" (Levinson, 1978, p. 4).

Erik Erikson expanded the study of childhood
developmental theory to include the adult years. His
concept of emergent personal qualities--ego identity, loving
intimacy, caring creativity and wisdom-~relates to adult
dimensions of the development of choice, intention and
understanding in adult life. Erikson was one of the
earliest stage theorists. His Eight Stages of Life explain
the development of personal qualities through dichotomies on
an age-linked scale. Erikson’s theory begins with the
emergence of hope through the duality of trust versus
mistrust. The infant works through this stage of growth
between birth and one year of age. Second, the child
develops self control as she works through the duality of
autonomy versus shame between the ages of one and three.

The developing person then progresses through direction,
competence, fidelity and love until reaching the care stage.
Erikson gives the learning of care, the balance of
generativity versus stagnation, the longest time frame. His
theory supports the notion that the individual works toward
care from approximately age twenty-five until approximately

age sixty-four. At approximately age sixty-five, Erikson

18
believes, the individual enters the final stage of life, the
development of wisdom, a choice between ego integrity and
despair (Erikson, 1959).

William Perry’s research into intellectual and ethical
development in the college years was the first substantial
research on development with young adults. Perry’s study,
MQWMMWEMM
12858 (1968), links Erikson’s development theory to the
intellectual and ethical growth occurring during average
aged (17-22) college years. It was his intent:

To illustrate the variety in students’ response to the

impact of intellectual and moral relativism. Wishing

to secure this variety in a small sample of students,

[he] felt it best to obtain the largest possible range

between those freshmen bringing with them a strong

preference for dualistic, right-wrong thinking and
those bringing with them a strong affinity for more
qualified, relativistic and contingent thinking. [He]
considered such differences as a manifestation of
differences in 'personality.’ It had not yet occurred
to [him] that it might be more fruitful to consider
such differences primarily as expressions of stages in
the very developments [he] was setting out to explore.

(Perry, 1968, p. 7)

Interviews were conducted in late May or June of each college
year for each volunteer participant. Interviews included 17
complete four-year records. Within its own strictest limits
the study demonstrates the possibility of assessing, in
developmental terms, abstract structural aspects of knowing
and valuing in intelligent late-adolescents.

The study follows students through what Perry defines
as the main line of development; that is, a progression from

Position 1, where:

19

The student sees the world in polar terms of

we=right=good versus other=wrong=bad. Right answers

for everything exist in the Absolute, known to

Authority whose role is to mediate (teach) them.

Knowledge and goodness are perceived as quantitative

secretions of discrete rightnesses to be collected by

hard work and obedience. (Perry, 1968, p. 9)

The study continues through Position 9 in which the student:
Experiences the affirmation of identity among multiple
responsibilities and realizes Commitment as an ongoing,
unfolding activity through which he expresses his life
style. (Perry, 1968, p. 10)

At one level, Perry’s study outlines the sequential
forms of major personal development occurring as late as the
college years. At a deeper level this study makes:

Salient the courage required of the student in each

step in his development. This demand upon courage

implies a reciprocal obligation for the educational
community: to recognize the student in his courage and
to confirm the membership he achieves as he assumes the
risks of each forward movement. This is a creative
obligation: to find new ways to encourage. (Perry,

1968, p. 215)

Although Perry’s study deals only with regular-aged
college students, it is an imperative link in the chain of
adult development theory. Perry uses Erikson’s emergent
personal qualities to define and, therefore, understand
intellectual and ethical growth.

Abraham Maslow’s construction of the Hierarchy of Needs
brought the concept of self-actualization into the adult
consciousness in 1970. Lasker and deWindt discussed the
adult movement from one of ”self-protection“ (to get)
through the stages of 'conformist“ (to be) and
“conscientious“ (to do) to the final step of ”autonomy“ (to

become). Their theory of development is closely related to

20

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs which moves from the earliest
stage of physiological needs for shelter, air, rest and
food to safety-security needs for stability, order and law
to love-belonging needs for acceptance, respect and
responsibility and finally to self-actualization needs for
achievement of potential, expression and creativity.

Daniel Levinson’s intensive investigation of forty
middle-aged males, Ind §§§§Qfl§ Qfi d MgQL§ Lit; (l978),
discusses the age-linked components of physical functioning,
social relationships, occupations and self-understanding.
Levinson chose forty men for his intensive life study, the
largest sample size his resources could handle.

Despite [his] strong desire to include women, [he]

decided finally against it. A study of twenty men and

twenty women would do justice to neither group. The
differences between women and men are sufficiently
great so that they would have to become a major focus

of analysis. (Levinson, 1978, p. 9)

Levinson’s study included ten men from each of four

occupations:
1. Hourly workers in industry
2. Business executives

3. University biologists

4. Novelists
The sample men were distributed in age between thirty-five
and forty-five. All were American born; all lived in the
region between Boston and New York. Interviewer and
interviewee joined collaboratively in the process of

biographical interviewing to construct the story of each

21

interviewee’s life. The basic aim was to portray an
individual life as it evolved over the years (Levinson,
1978, p. 15).

It is now generally accepted that all lives are

governed by common developmental principles in

childhood and adolescence and go through a common

sequence of developmental periods. At the same time,

each individual life has its own special course.

(Levinson, 1978, p. 3)
Levinson attempts, as do other developmentalists, to examine
the lived life as it evolves rather than searching for a
single, specific criterion. From his collected data,
Levinson is able to divide the male life cycle into four
major eras:

1. Childhood and adolescence (ages 0-17)

2. Early adulthood (ages 22-40)

3. Middle adulthood (ages 45-60)

4. Late adulthood (ages 65-?)
Each era, according to Levinson, is separated from the next
by a transition period lasting from three to five years, and
each era is internally broken into three divisions. Within
these divisions Levinson discusses and explains the age-
linked dimensions of changes in physical functioning, social
relationships, occupational situations and self-
understanding.

Gail Sheehy’s journalistic book Edggdgdg: ELQQiQLBth
dgiggs 9: Adult Lite (1976) was published two years prior
to the publication of Levinson’s Ind Sgdgddg gt a MQQL§

Liifi- Sheehy draws heavily on Levinson’s theory but

22

conducted intensive interviewing of both men and women
herself. Edgsdggs: Prgdictddld Crises d: Addlt Lite is not
designed as a research study. Sheehy makes no attempt to
investigate thoroughly the lives of each participant, nor
does she attempt to control variables. Yet, Passagds is an
important step in the publication of materials on the theory
of adult development because it popularized it as a topic.
Written in an easily read and understood style, Edsddgds
became a best seller and brought the idea of adult growth
and change into the supermarket and thus into the living
rooms of many non-academic adults. Adults of all walks of
life could now discuss mid-life crisis, catch-30 and the
sexual diamond with assurance, and recognize that although
each is an individual, their crises of passage unite them
with other developing humans rather than isolating them.

Egggdgdg made an important impact on the adult

consciousness.
Inlmnsigcmatign: 42.111er andghmsajnm l __eL1'f.

Roger Gould combines adult development age-lined stage
theory with the pull of childhood reality into the growth
and change of adults.

To brew up an adult, it seems that some leftover
childhood must be mixed in; a little unfinished
business from the past periodically intrudes on our
adult life, confusing our relationships and disturbing
our sense of self. I call this unfinished business
childhood consciousness. Every time we feel anxious,
depressed, afraid, inadequate or inferior and say to
ourselves, 'There’s no good reason to feel this way,’
childhood consciousness has invaded our adult
consciousness. We won’t outgrow it, and we can’t will

23

it away. To achieve adult consciousness we must
overcome childhood consciousness. (Gould, 1978, p. 17)

One of the basic principles of Transformations is that as
adults we strive for a fuller, more independent adult
consciousness, and in doing so trigger the angry demons of
childhood consciousness. “Growing and reformulating our
self-definition becomes a dangerous act. It is the act of
transformation“ (Gould, 1978, p. 25). As children, Gould
claims, we are unable to confront the demonic reality so we
keep it at bay through protective devices. These protective
devices overcome our childhood feeling of total
vulnerability and seem to guarantee our complete safety; but
as an adult, these coping skills exact a tremendous toll
because they impose arbitrary outgrown rules of behavior and
thinking on us, and thereby limit our concept of who we can
be.

Gould began his research project at UCLA to explore his
hunch about childhood consciousness. He and his colleagues
began by sitting in on all therapy conducted in the
University’s outpatient department. This first project led
to a second, more clearly defined research project. Gould
constructed a questionnaire to be given to people aged 16 to
50 who were not therapy patients. The questionnaire forced
people to rank statements according to their personal
applicabilities. The ranking was a measure of each person’s
intuitive reading of themselves. The questionnaire was given

to 524 people. The results of the questionnaire matched the

24

observations the researchers had made of the therapy
patients. ”Patients and non-patients of the same age shared
the same general concerns about living“ (Gould, 1978, p.
14). Gould then made a rough catalogue of the march of
concerns in men and women between the ages of 16 and 50.

Gould tracks adult concerns on an age-linked pattern.
According to Gould, between the ages of 16 and 22, we leave
our parents’ world and confront the first major fake
assumption: I’ll always belong to my parents and believe in
their world. Between the ages of 22 and 28 the individual
confronts the second major fake assumption: doing things my
parents’ way, with willpower and perseverance, will bring
results. But if I become too frustrated, confused or tired
or am simply unable to cope, they will direct me toward the
right way. At ages 28 to 34 the adult confronts his third
major fake assumption: life is simple and controllable.
There are no significant coexisting contradictory forces
within me. And finally, at ages 35 to 45, the adult
confronts his fourth major fake assumption: there is no
evil or death in the world. The sinister has been
destroyed. Gould claims that adults carry with them these
assumptions about their world that were created in
childhood, do not accurately reflect adult reality, are
beyond conscious awareness and influence how adults respond
to present situations. Gould also presents a method for

helping the adult to learn to free himself from the tyranny

25

of childhood consciousness. In short, he says the adult

MUST. 2

1. Recognize his tension and confusion.

2. Understand that he responds to two contradictory
realities.

3. Give full intensity to the childhood reality; that
is, let it be real.

4. Realize that both contradictory realities still
exist. We’re not sure which one is real.
Confusion again, but more intense and better
defined.

5. Test reality. Take a risk that discriminates one
view from another.

6. Fight off the strong urge to retreat just on the
edge of discovery.

7. Reach an integrated, trustworthy view of a section
of reality unencumbered by the demonic past.
(Gould, 1978, p. 34)

Gould recognizes that he has “Come to understand

'growth’ in one special way: as the release from arbitrary

internal constraints” (Gould, 1978, p. 321).

What does it mean to have security? Most people would
say it means being sure of the love, loyalty or
protection of someone else. More precisely, it means
having a workable mental and emotional structure--that
is, a set of patterns of action and thinking that gives
us the sense of being grounded in and sheltered by a
familiar and comprehensible reality. We need to live
in some kind of reality structure. When we grow, we
wander in an uncharted area. But if we wander long
enough, we begin creating a new structure. That’s the
way we’re built; there’s no fighting it. (Gould, 1978,
p. 328)

Industdgmatidns is a highly psychological response to

adult development and growth, no doubt growing out of

Gould’s education and experience as a psychoanalyst.

26
Kohlberg’s theory about states of moral judgment (1981)
discusses adult male moral development from the stage of
obedience (punishment orientation) to the stage of

conscience orientation (universal ethical). In Robert
Kegan’s developmental study, Ind gxdlxing Sglfi: Problsm dud
E£Q§§§§ in Human udxdlddmdut (1982), he uses both men and
women as exemplary sources. Kegan develops a scheme
entitled the Helix of Evolutionary Truces. His theory of
development, founded primarily but not entirely on the works
of Kohlberg and Piaget, supports the notion of balances.
Kegan claims that as the individual goes through his life
there are times when he is preoccupied with self, balanced
by other times when he is preoccupied with interaction with
others. ”Our movement involves both a reaching out and a
letting go” (Kegan, 1982).
Kegan considers:
The meaning of each evolutionary truce for the basic
organization of the psychological self--a life span
developmental approach to object relations which
describes a sequence of emotional, motivational, and
psychodynamic organizations, as well as the now
familiar cognitive and sociomoral ones. (Kegan, 1982,
p. 74)

Kegan shows his evolutionary truces as balances between
psychologies favoring independence and psychologies favoring
inclusion. He believes the individual begins with the
incorporative evolutionary truce, a mothering culture. It
is here, Kegan explains, ”that the individual comes to

experience closeness and being taken care of highly

ambivalently--they are his fondest wish and his gravest

27

nightmare“ (Kegan, 1982, p. 128). The individual proceeds
to the first of the psychologies favoring inclusion, the
impulsive evolutionary truce, a parenting culture. It is
here that the individual begins to develop a sense of who he
is, a self with properties that persist through time. Now
the individual shifts toward a psychology favoring
independence, the imperial evolutionary truce, a role
recognizing culture. It is here that the individual begins
to take over the controls and authority that once were
exercised by the family and begins to bid for his own sense
of organization and role. The interpersonal evolutionary
truce, a culture of mutuality, moves the individual toward
an inclusion in the larger world. It is here that the
individual strives for self-authorship and psychological
autonomy within the larger community. As the individual
moves into the institutional evolutionary truce, a culture
of self-authorship, he attempts to develop autonomy. Of
course, to progress to the final truce, the individual must
fully develop his autonomy and then be prepared to give up
his self-possession as he moves into the interindividual
evolutionary truce which is the truce of intimacy. At each
evolutionary truce, Kegan says, we must confirm the reality,
contradict it and be prepared to continue to the next step
in our evolution.

The heart of the constructive-developmental framework--

and the source of its potential for growth--does not

lie so much in its account of stages or sequences of
meaning organizations, but in its capacity to

28
illuminate a universal on-going process (call it
'meaningmaking,’ 'adaptation,’ 'equilibration,’ or
'evolution’) which may well be the fundamental context
of personality development. (Kegan, 1982, p. 264)
At each balance, or rather unbalance, point,
It is a voice which says, 'I cannot recognize myself’--
and, I am going to suggest, this names very precisely
what is happening. One is unable to re-cognize, or re-
know, oneself and one’s world; one experiences, even
literally, being beside oneself. (Kegan, 1982, p. 265)
A discussion of the progression in the study of adult
development was necessary to show the strong research
background which provides a solid base of theory for the
more contemporary studies of female adult development.
Recently women theorists have begun to address female
needs for attachment and connection to others. They point a
way toward a new set of concepts with which to make sense of
the course of development in women (Gilligan, 1982; Belenky
et al., 1986; Josselson, 1987). Carol Gilligan began her
work on adult development with Robert Kegan. At a certain
point in her research she recognized that psychological
theorists had fallen into the habit of assuming that what
was true for men was equally true for women.
Implicitly adopting the male life as the norm, they
have tried to fashion women out of masculine cloth. It
all goes back, of course, to Adam and Eve--a story which
shows, among other things, that if you make a woman out
of a man, you are bound to get into trouble. In the

life cycle, as in the Garden of Eden, the woman has been
the deviant. (Gilligan, 1982, p. 6)

Gilligan’s 1n n Diffsrendg ydicg; Psydhologica] Ingdnx
and Wumean qugldnndnt integrates data collected during the

exploration of three research projects. Gilligan’s Tne

29

Cdllegd Student Study ”explored identity and moral
development in the early adult years by relating the view of
self and thinking about morality to experience of moral
conflict and the making of life choices“ (Gilligan, 1982, p.
2). Twenty-five sophomore students were chosen at random
from a group of students who had selected to enroll in a
course on moral and political choice. These subjects were
interviewed as seniors and than five years following
graduation. The second study, Ind Andrtion anisidn Study,
”considered the relationship between experience and thought
and the role of conflict in development” (Gilligan, 1982, p.
3). Twenty-nine women, ranging in age from fifteen to
thirty-three, diverse in ethnic background and social class,
some single, some married, a few the mothers of preschool
children, were interviewed during the first trimester of a
confirmed pregnancy at a time when they were considering an
abortion. Twenty-one of the twenty-nine were interviewed
again at the end of the year following choice.

The hypotheses which were generated by the first two
studies concerning different modes of this reality and their
relationship to different views of self were further
explored and refined through Ind Rjgnts dnd Respdnsibiljties
Study. “This study involved a sample of males and females
matched for age, intelligence, education, occupation, and
social class at nine points across the life cycle: ages 6-

9, 11, 15, 19, 22, 25-57, 35, 45 and 60 (Gilligan, 1982, p.

3O
3). Total sample size was 144 (8 males and 8 females at
each age) and included a more intensively interviewed
subsample of 36 (2 males and 2 females at each age).

In her work with both males and females (only The
Andntidn Ddgisidn Study was, understandably, limited to
females), Gilligan is able to come to a new understanding of
the differences in psychological and moral development in
men and women. Gilligan discovers a paradox:

For the very traits that traditionally have defined the

'goodness’ of women, their care for and sensitivity to

the needs of others, are those that mark them as defi-

cient in moral development. (Gilligan, 1982, p. 18)

The psychology of women has consistently been described
as distinctive in its greater orientation toward
relationships and interdependence. Women’s developmental
strength lies in its recognition of the continuing
importance of attachment in the human life cycle. “Woman’s
place in man’s life cycle is to protect this recognition
while the develOpmental litany intones the celebration of
separation, autonomy, individuation and natural rights
(Gilligan, 1982, p. 23). Gilligan reminds her readers that:

Only when life-cycle theorists divide their attention

and begin to live with women as they have lived with

men will their vision encompass the experience of

both sexes and their theories become correspondingly

more fertile. (Gilligan, 1982, p. 23)

Ruthellen Josselson claims that:

The most important developmental task facing women

today is the formation of identity, for it is in the

realm of identity that a woman bases her sense of

herself as well as her vision of the structure of her
life. (Josselson, 1987, p. 3)

31
Josselson’s research, using the focused interview,
explores female adult development from the concept of
identity formation. Josselson’s Finding Herself: Pathwgys
tn Iddntity ugydldnndnt in ndndn (1987) is a longitudinal
study. Josselson conducted intensive interviews with
sixty randomly selected senior women from four colleges
and universities. During the initial interview, Josselson
assessed each woman’s progress in formulating identity as
well as in aspects of her developmental history. Twelve
years later, Josselson was able to locate and interview
thirty-four of the original sixty women in an effort to
understand how their adolescent identity formation
influenced their lives.

There are two interrelated themes which underlie
Finding ngsdlf. Josselson makes an effort to extend the
theoretical understanding of the developmentally crucial
process of identity formation in response to Erik
Erikson’s statement that ”in order to describe the
universal genetics of identity, one would wish to be able
to trace its development through the histories of ordinary
individual” (Erikson, 1968, p. 155). The ordinary
individuals which she has chosen to study are women, and
it is this choice that forms the second motif.

Despite all that has been written about women, few

have studied women phenomenologically or have been

interested in their self-definition, allowing them to
tell their stories. In this respect, this work is
fundamentally heuristic, an effort to portray the whole

woman who is lost in statistical analysis. (Josselson,
1987, p. xiv)

32

Josselson uses an empirical research paradigm known as
identity-status research, a paradigm that she feels
preserves the nuances and subtlety of Erikson’s work.
Josselson’s approach identifies four divergent paths to
identity formation based on the presence or absence of
crisis about and commitment to specific identity elements.
The purpose of Josselson’s study is to explore the
internal differences among four groups of women that
explain why some ”resolve identity crisis and integrate
identities while others either avoid the task of creating
an identity or become unable to transcend crisis”
(Josselson, 1987, p. 33).

Nona Plessner Lyons, in an article entitled, ”Two
Perspectives; On Self, Relationships, and Morality“
concludes that there are two distinct modes of describing
the self in relation to others: separate/objective and
connected, as well as two kinds of considerations used by
individuals in making decisions--justice and care.

In contrast to the man’s notion of morality--as

’having a reason,’ 'a way of knowing what’s right,

what one ought to do,’--is the woman’s sense of

morality as a type of 'consciousness,’ 'a

sensitivity,’ incorporating an injunction not to

endanger or hurt other people. (Lyons, 1983, p. 126)

In the mode of separate/objective self, relationships
are experienced in terms of reciprocity between separate

individuals; that is, as a concern for others by

considering them as one would like to be considered, with

33
objectivity and in fairness. In this mode relationship is
mediated through rules that maintain fairness and are
grounded in roles which arise from duties of obligation
and commitment. In the connected-self mode, relationships
are experienced as responses to others on their terms; that
is, as a concern for the good of others or for the
alleviation of their burdens, hurt or suffering (physical
or psychological). In this mode, relationship is mediated
through the activity of care which maintains and sustains
caring and connection. This relationship is grounded in
interdependence which comes from recognition of the
interconnectedness of people.

There are several implications of Lyons’s study, but
two which seem pertinent to this study. According to
Lyons, psychological theories of development should
recognize a morality of care as a systematic, lifelong
concern of individual rather than temporary, stage- or
level-specific concern; and theories of ego and identity
development should consider a relational conception--the—
self-in-relation-to-others--as an intrinsic part of self-
definition.

Mary Field Belenky and associates take the concept of
separate and connected-knowing one step further in a study
entitled: WQMBDLE Weye Qt Knouing: Ine Qeyelenment 9:
Self, ydiee, end Mind. They 'show how women’s self-
concepts and ways of knowing are intertwined. [They]

describe how women struggle to claim the power of their

34

own minds“ (Belenky, 1986, p. 3). Their study is based on
extensive interviews with ordinary women living ordinary
lives. Their informants ”were rural and urban American
women of different ages, class and ethnic backgrounds, and
educational histories” (Belenky, 1986, p. 4).

The project began in the late 1970’s when Mary Field
Belenky, Blythe McVicker Clinchy, Nancy Rule Goldberger, and
Jill Mattuck Tarule, following in the footsteps of Gilligan
and Lyons, began to investigate epistemological perspectives
from which women know and view the world. It is only
recently that women have begun to play a role as theorists
in the social sciences. As Carol Gilligan (1979) has
pointed out, women have been missing even as research
subjects at the formative stages of our psychological
theories. Certainly there exists a potential bias on the
part of male investigators to limit their variables by
selecting exclusively or predominantly male samples for
research.

This omission of women from scientific studies is

almost universally ignored when scientists draw

conclusions from their findings and generalize what
they have learned from the study of men to lives of
women. If and when men turn to the study of women,
they typically look for ways in which women conform

to or divert from patterns found in the study of men.

(Belenky, 1986, p. 6)

Certainly, as we read adult developmental psychology,
we learn a great deal about the development of

independence and autonomy, abstract critical thought and

the exploration and choice of a morality of rights and

35

justice in both men and women. We learn far less about
the development of interconnectedness, interdependence,
intimacy, care and contextual thought.

Belenky, et al., adopted an intensive interview/case
study approach because they ”wanted to hear what the women
had to say in their own terms rather than test [the
researcher’s] own preconceived hypotheses” (Belenky, 1986,
p. 11). They interviewed women who were recent alumni or
currently students in formal educational settings as well
as women from what they came to call invisible colleges--
human service agencies supporting women in parenting their
children. In all, they interviewed one hundred thirty-five
women from nine dissimilar colleges and universities, a
community college, an alternative high school and three
different family agencies.

Using a sequence similar to Perry’s series of
epistemological perspectives (positions), Belenky grouped
women’s perspectives on knowing into five major
epistemological categories:

Silence, a position in which women experience

themselves as mindless and voiceless and subject to

the whims of external authority; received knowledge,

a perspective from which women conceive of themselves

as capable of receiving, even reproducing, knowledge

from the all-knowing eternal authorities but not
capable of creating knowledge on their own;
subjective knowledge, a perspective from which truth
and knowledge are conceived of as personal, private,
and subjectively known or intuited; procedural
knowledge, a position in which women are invested in
learning and applying objective procedures for

obtaining and communicating knowledge; and
constructed knowledge, a position in which women view

36

all knowledge as contextual, experience themselves as

creators of knowledge, and value both subjective and

objective strategies for knowing. (Belenky, 1986,

p. 15)

Of particular interest to this study is the
epistemological position of procedural knowledge. Belenky
divides procedural knowledge into two categories:
separate-knowing and connected-knowing. The procedures
which men and women use for establishing meaning, both
separate-knowing and connected-knowing, are similar and
equally reasonable but they are not identical. When
separate-knowing is utilized the orientation is toward
impersonal rules. When connected-knowing is utilized the
orientation is toward relationship (Belenky, 1986, p.
101). Both Gilligan and Lyons use the terms ”separate“ and
”connected“ to describe two different orientations or
experiences of the self, as ”essentially autonomous
(separate from others) or as essentially in relationship
(connected to others)“ (Belenky, 1986, p. 102). Those who
experience the self as predominantly separate tend toward
”a morality based on impersonal procedures for
establishing justice, while those people who experience
the self as predominantly connected tend to espouse a
morality based on care“ (Belenky, 1986, p. 102). Belenky
borrows the terms “separate” and ”connected“ from Gilligan,
but when she speaks of separate-knowing and connected-

knowing she makes a distinction between definitions. She

refers "not to any sort of relationship between the self and

37
another person but with relationships between knowers and
the objects (or subjects) of knowing (which may or may not
be persons)“ (Belenky, 1986, p. 102).

We are well-tuned to the voice of separate-knowing.
Developmentalists have instructed us well in this
analytical, logical, data-based, rule-orientated voice.
Some call it the voice of reason. The connected-knowing
voice is less easy to hear. “Connected-knowing builds on
the subjectives’ conviction that the most trustworthy
knowledge comes from personal experience rather than the
pronouncements of authorities” (Belenky, 1986, p. 113).
But experience is not self limiting.

Connected knowers develop procedures for gaining

access to other people’s knowledge. At the heart of

these procedures is the capacity for empathy. Since
knowledge comes from experience, the only way they
can hope to understand another person’s ideas is to
try to share the experience that has led the person

to form the idea. (Belenky, 1986, p. 113)

It is understood that connected knowers can only
approximate other people’s experiences and therefore have
only limited access to their knowledge. But they must act
as connected rather than separate selves in their attempt
to see and hear the other in the other’s terms. It is,
for some, a difficult game. The sociologist, Shulamit
Reinharz, writes:

I will never know the experience of others, but I can

know my own, and I can approximate theirs by entering

their world. This approximation makes tragic,

perpetually inadequate aspect of social research.
(Reinharz, 1984, p. 365)

38

In all procedural knowing, it is the process rather
than the content of knowing (knowledge) that is central.

“Separate knowers learn through explicit formal

instruction how to adopt a different lens--how, for

example, to think like a sociologist. Connected
knowers learn through empathy. Both learn to get out
from behind their own eyes and use a different lens, in
one case the lens of a discipline, in the other the

lens of another person“. (Belenky, 1986, p. 115)

Carol Pearson’s research on adult development takes a
somewhat different perspective. In Tne nero Witnin,
Pearson states that: “There is a need now to explore
female and male journey patterns together, giving serious
attention to ways we are the same and ways we differ”
(Pearson, 1986, xvi). Pearson’s research led her to explore
the archetypal level patterns of male and female heroism.
She discovered that while archetypes were quite similar for
men and women, they differed profoundly in detail, tone and
meaning. Pearson’s:

Theory departs from many stage theories in that it

dissociates stage from chronological age, it

de-emphasizes the importance of addressing each
learning task in sequence, and it recognizes cultural
relativity. It makes no claim to universal truth.

(Pearson, 1986, xviii)

This selective review of adult developmental
literature has explored, although briefly, the foundations
of adult developmental theory. With the advent of
Gilligan’s, Lyons’s and Belenky’s work we see a growth

toward the inclusion of interconnectedness and caring and

a movement away from the strict hierarchy, autonomy and

39
power which is more typical of studies designed with only

male subjects.

Procedural Processing and Barriers to Education

Carp, Peterson and Roelfs (1974) divided perceived
barriers to learning for non—traditional students into
three categories:

1. Situational

2. Institutional

3. Dispositional
In a national survey conducted for the Commission on Non-
Traditional Students, the authors asked respondents to
circle all of the items listed that they felt was
important in keeping them from learning what they wanted
to learn. The twenty-four items were grouped according to
situational, institutional and dispositional barriers.
Cross (1984) says that in all survey research, situational
barriers lead the list as reasons for non-participation;
these concerns range from roughly 10 percent of respondents
citing situational factors such as lack of child care or
transportation to about 50 percent mentioning cost or a lack
of time. The cost of education and lack of time lead all
other barriers of any sort by substantial margins.

Low-income groups are far more likely to mention

cost as a barrier than middle-income and upper-

income groups. Among actual learners, however,

public funding is supporting adult education for about

a third of the black learners, while employers are

supporting educational costs for about a third of the

white males. This leaves white females as the only
population subgroup presented in NCES data in which a

40
majority of learners (66 percent) are supporting
educational costs from their own family funds. No
doubt that is one reason why in almost all surveys,

women are more likely than men to cite the cost of
education as a barrier. (Cross, 1984, p. 100)

In addition, a comprehensive study of the college
attendance rates of New York youth (N.Y. State Education
Department, 1969) reported that the lack of money
continues to operate as a barrier to educational
opportunities for women. “Significantly more women than
men changed their college plans because of financial
limitation". (Cross, 1971, p. 143)

Lack of time vies with cost for first place among

obstacles to education. It is mentioned more often

by people in their 30’s and 40’s than by those
younger or older, more often by the highly educated
than by the poorly educated, and more often by those
in high-income occupations than by those in low-

paying jobs. (Cross, 1984, p.103)

It is not surprising that child care presents a
significant problem to women between the ages of 18 and 39
(and to few other population subgroups), and transportation
is a major problem to the elderly and the poor but seldom
to the middle class or middle aged (Cross, 1984, p. 104).

Despite concerns of cost and child care, Cross
indicates that women as a group are well qualified by
traditional standards to undertake college work.

Traditional tests of academic aptitude usually show a

slight female superiority in verbal abilities,

whereas men outscore women on quantitative measures.

When verbal and quantitative measures are combined, as

they usually are in the admission process, men have

slightly better test scores than women. On the other
hand, when grades are used as the measure of academic

accomplishment, women receive markedly higher grade
point averages than men. To give a very rough

41

example of relationships in the form of percentages,

49 percent of the college-bound males and 43 percent

of the females scored above the mean score of a

quarter million young people on the composite test

score of the American College Tests; 51 percent of
men and 68 percent of the women had high school
grade-point averages of 2.5 (0+) or better. (Cross,

1971, p. 135)

The second group of perceived barriers to education,
according to Carp, Peterson and Roelfs, are institutional
barriers. Institutional barriers include such items as:
”Don’t want to go to school full time“, "Courses aren’t
scheduled when I can attend“, “Too much red tape in
getting enrolled“. Reluctance to attend schools full time
leads the list of institutional barriers with 35 percent of
the respondents listing full time educational requirements
as a barrier to their pursuit of education.

Dispositional barriers, although the group least
often selected by potential adult learners as barriers to
their education, also includes several important factors.
Of the respondents, 17 percent listed “Afraid that I’m too
old to begin”, and 12 percent listed “Low grades in past,
not confident of my ability” (Carp, Peterson, and Roelfs,
1974).

Helping adult learners to successfully work their ways
through their barriers is an important facet of adult
education. Schlossberg uses the term ”transitions“ as
inclusive of not only obvious life changes such as high

school graduation, job entry, marriage, birth of the first

child and bereavement, but also such subtle factors as the

42

loss of one’s career aspirations and even the non-occurrence
of anticipated events (Schlossberg, 1979, p. 6). It is the
occurrence or non-occurrence of these life transitions that
often trigger a return to the educational process (Aslanian,
1980; Cross, 1984; Daloz, 1986).

Schlossberg distinguishes between successful and
unsuccessful transitions. She found three sets of
factors that affect how one adapts to a transition and
influences the outcome: First were the character-
istics of the transition itself, such as role change,
source, timing, onset, duration, affect, and degree of
stress; second were the characteristics of the
pretransition and posttransition environments, such as
interpersonal support systems, institutional supports,
and the physical environment; and third were the
characteristics of the individual going through the
transition, such as sex, age, state of health, race,
ethnic background, socioeconomic status, value
orientation, psychosocial competence, and previous
experience with a transition of a similar nature.
(Aslanian, 1980, p. 25)

Brookfield claims that

Adults learn throughout their lives, with the
negotiations of the transitional stages in the life-
span being the immediate causes and motives for much
of this learning. They exhibit diverse learning
styles—-strategies for coding information, cognitive
procedures, mental sets--and learn in different ways,
at different times, for different purposes. As a
rule, however, they like their learning activities to
be problem centered and to be meaningful to their
life situation, and they want the learning outcomes
to have immediacy of application. (Brookfield, 1986,
p. 31)

It is during times of transition that a cognitive
dissonance enters the awareness of the adult learner and
widens the expectation of awareness. This often results

in a feeling of unbalance.

43

In social science language, it means creating a

cognitive dissonance, a gap between one’s perceptions

and expectations: I think I should be there, but I

see myself here. Leon Festinger (1957), who first

invented the term cognitive dissonance, maintains

that there is an intrinsic human need to close such a

dissonance, to harmonize it again with our own inner

selves. That, he says, is what learning is about.

We move to close gaps. (Daloz, 1986, p. 223)

When we speak of transitions, we speak of finding our
own voices or of helping others, in this case adult
learners, to empower themselves so that they may find
their own voices. Freire explains:

That man’s ontological vocation is to be a subject

who acts upon and transforms his world, and in so

doing moves toward ever new possibilities of fuller
and richer life individually and collectively. This
world to which he relates is not a static and closed
order, a given reality which man must accept and to
which he must adjust; rather, it is a problem to be

worked on and solved. (Freire, 1984, p. 13)

Daloz reminds us that “people best develop under their own
power” (Daloz, 1986, p. 187). Some of the great thinkers

of our times, Joseph Campbell (mythologist) and Carl Rogers
(psychologist) agree with the words of Paulo Freire, that

we change ourselves and, in changing ourselves, we change the
world.

The use of the metaphor of voice to denote
transitional growth in women is current with the literature
(Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, and Tarule, 1986; Gilligan,
1982; Josselson, 1987). During the process of
transformation, women begin to reject the voice of reason
and select instead between separate-knowing and connected-

knowing as ways of working through the chaos of change.

44
Gilligan (1982) first used the terminology “separate-
knowing” and ”connected-knowing” to distinguish two ways for
the learner to empower herself. Belenky and others (1986)
expanded and clarified the terms ”separate-knowing“ and
“connected-knowing” within the epistemological study of

procedural knowledge in relation to women and learning.

Summary

The review of literature has discussed the Myers-
Briggs Type Indicator and some of the research which has
been done in using personality types as indicated by the
MBTI to predict behavior. A review of adult development
theory began with the formation of adult development as
an area of study and progressed through the major
theories. This section ended with research in female adult
development and a discussion of women’s ways of developing
their voice and interaction with their ontological world.
Procedural processing and barriers to education included
the major surveys delineating barriers (situational,
institutional and dispositional) and ended with a
discussion of the two types of procedural knowledge most
often used by women to process their perceived barriers to

the educational process.

CHAPTER III

Design of the Study
In this chapter, the design of the study is presented.
The population and samples are identified. The procedures
for data collection are described. The tabulation of
demographic information is explained. A discussion of
reliability and validity for both the Myers Briggs Type
Indicator (MBTI) and the interview coding is provided. A

discussion of the statistical analysis is provided.

Sample

This study was conducted using twenty-five white
females enrolled in undergraduate degree programs at a
four-year public university. Participants were adult or
non-traditional students ranging in age from twenty-five to
fifty-nine years of age. Participants reside in the medium
sized city containing the university or come from the
surrounding rural area within a commuting distance of sixty
miles. All participants had an accumulated grade—point
average of 2.5 or above (on a 4.0 scale). Subjects were
randomly selected from those female students who chose to
enroll in a course specifically designed for non-traditional
students. Participants had completed at least one full

semester at the university.

45

46
Research Design

Subjects were typed according to the MBTI. The MBTI,
form F, is a 166 item, paper and pencil, self—administered,
forced-choice, untimed questionnaire having no right or
wrong answers. The questions were chosen to represent a
major effort to capture Jungian personality types in a
psychometric instrument; they represent the everyday
preferences which show Jung’s more basic preference types
(see Appendix A).

The MBTI was scored for four preferences which
structure the individual’s personality. Points for each
pole of the preference were totaled, and a preference
score was obtained by applying a formula to the differences
between the points for the more—preferred and less—preferred
pole. For easy reference, a letter designating the
direction of preference is used (see Table 3.1).

Since there is a choice of four preferences, a type can
be identified by the four letters which show the way the
subject prefers to function. The characteristics of the
preferences are EI, SN, TF and JP. These four scores
combine to generate 16 types, shown in Table 2, each with
its own descriptions and gifts, its own journey to excel-
lence, and its own potholes to be avoided (see Appendix 8).

Because the MBTI is a self-report inventory it was not
necessary to have the participants experience the MBTI as a
group. Participants took the MBTI in the counseling center

of the university which is certified to give the MBTI. In

47

Table 3.1

Four ErefereneeezA Eerson’s Iyne

Interest EXTROVERSION

INTROVERSION

Outer world of
actions, objects
and persons

Inner world of
concepts and ideas

 

 

Perception SENSING

INTUITION

Immediate real
facts of experience

Possibilities,
meanings and relation-
ships of experience

 

Judgments or THINKING
Decisions

FEELING

Objectively and
impersonally analy-
zing facts and
ordering them in
terms of cause and
effect

Subjectively and
personally weighing
values and the
importance of choices
for one’s self and
other people

 

Living JUDGING
Preference

PERCEIVED

Planned orderly way,
aiming to regulate
and control events

Flexible, spontaneous
way, aiming to under-
stand and adapt to
events

 

SOURCE: Myers, I & McCauley (1985).

48
order to limit the subjective influence of the research, the
MBTI was neither scored by the counseling center nor
collected by the researcher until after the interview
process and interview coding were completed.

It is important to note that the stability of these
preference scores, split-half and test-retest reliabilities
has been reported to range between .44 and .94 for various
subject populations (Stricker and Ross, 1963; Stalcup, 1968;
Levy, Murphy, and Carlson, 1972; Howes 1977). A review of
these studies finds that the Thinking-Feeling dimension
coefficient fluctuates the most and is the only one which
falls below an index of .66 in the cited literature. Of all
samples tested, the consistently highest indices of
stability have been obtained from those studies composed of
college students. For college samples, Myers (1962) reports
coefficients ranging from .80 to .94 for all four scales.
According to Nunnally (1959), reliability figures for the
better-established, self~descriptive inventories usually
range between .75 and .85. Therefore, the MBTI appears to
be reliable for research purposes with college populations.
Specific indices of intercorrelation are reported in the
manual (Myers, 1985) for samples of male and female college
students.

Although evidence for the validity of the MBTI is not
overwhelming, a number of studies have found significant
indices of concurrent and construct validity. In an

examination of the MBTI, Sundberg (1965) indicated that the

49

relationships of its scores to a large number of tests of
interest, value and personality, such as the Strong
Vocational Interest Blank (Strong, 1959) and the Edwards
Personal Preference Schedule (Edwards, 1954), were largely
in the predicted direction.

In summary, while the psychometric support for the MBTI
is not overwhelming, there is ample evidence in the
literature to-suggest that it is a reasonably reliable and,
to a somewhat lesser extent, valid measure of individual
preference.

Demographic information on the participants was
collected via a questionnaire completed by each subject (see
Appendix C). Demographic information was tabulated in terms
of age, marital status, number and age of children and
time and type of high school completion; also university
credit hours earned, university credit hours per semester
and cumulative grade-point average were figured. A
tabulation of work in/out of the home, enrollment in
community college, commuter versus university housing,
career expectations and majors and minors were tabulated.

Each participant was interviewed using the focused
interview as a means of measuring the degree of separate-
knowing and/or connected-knowing procedural processing in
her acquisition of knowledge and understanding (see Appendix
0). Each interview response was rated as voiced by the

subject. The response to each question was used as an

50
indicator in determining the procedural process each
participant selected to attempt a solution to the perceived
barrier. The nature of this research dictated the use of
open questions during the interview. The questions were
organized within a given area of investigation and followed
the accepted format of moving from general to specific.
Each interview began with an “opener” question designed to
assist the informant in feeling at ease and to elicit non-
directed, unstructured replies. The open question provided
background for the more detailed and specific questions
which followed. Further information was gained by asking
”follow-up" and “reason-why” questions. ”Probe“ questions
were used to obtain additional ideas which the subject had
not immediately stated (Merton, 1956).

The interview questions which were used in this study
were correlated by Clinchy. Specific sections were designed
by Gilligan and Kohlberg. The section questions entitled
"Women’s Ways of Knowing” were designed by Clinchy (1986).
Specific barriers to education questions were designed for
this research. This interview format, with the exception of
barriers to education, was used in its entirety by Belenky,
Clinchy, Goldberger, and Tarule to conduct an in-depth study
involving 135 women dealing with the issue of women and
learning (Belenky et al., 1986). Sections C, D, G, and
H of the interview format were omitted in this research
since the information sought in these sections was not

pertinent to this study.

51

Interviews were scheduled for a length of one hour.
All interviews were tape recorded.

Results of the interview information were coded to
establish process patterns for each participant. A coding
response form was designed to determine the procedural
process of the interviewee’s response to each question. The
code response form is a Likert scale of five. One end of
the scale represents extreme separate-knowing procedural
process preference, while the other end of the scale
represents extreme connected-knowing procedural process
preference. The coding response is similar in design to the
coding used by Lyons (1983) and Belenky (1986) (see Appendix
E).

All twenty—five of the interviews were also scored by
an independent male investigator in an attempt to reduce
subjectivity, both on an individual basis and in terms of
gender subjectivity. The inter-reader reliability was
calculated.

The procedural processing results were then correlated

with the results of the MBTI.

Analysis
MBTI scores of the participants were compared to the
percentages of each type found in the general population.
Individual indicator scores were compared to the percentage

found in the female college population.

52

A separate-knowing procedural processing (S-K) and a
connected—knowing procedural processing (C-K) score were
established for each participant. S-K and C-K scores were
graphed; clusters of homogeneous grouping occurred; and each
participant was classified as either a separate-knower or a
connected-knower.

Chi-square was used to graph the frequency count and
percentages of each MBTI individual indicator. Chi-square
was also used to determine frequency count percentages for
the sixteen MBTI indicators.

Analysis consisted of statistical evaluation of
relationships found between specific modes of processing and
specific types as determined by the MBTI in the form of
Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Chi-square.
Descriptive statistical data were presented in the forms of
tables and graphs.

The number of participants in this study (n=25) is not
exclusive; therefore, a discussion of the participants’
ontological relationships with their abilities to process
barriers and solve problems by procedural knowledge,
separate-knowing procedural knowledge, and connected-knowing
procedural knowledge are discussed in relationship to their

indicator types. This discussion concludes the analysis.

Summary
The ability to process procedural knowledge in

education and in life is an important skill for adult

53
students returning to the educational process. Adult
students who do not learn ways appropriate to themselves of
reading the road map abandon the journey and do not reach
their destination.

This research correlates theory of personality typing
and types of procedural processing used by female adult
students to overcome problems which they have identified as
barriers to their own educational progress. It is expected
that a discussion of the relationship between type and
process will add to the literature on how female adults

succeed in the educational process.

CHAPTER IV

Results of the Analysis

Twenty-five white, female non-traditional students
enrolled in a baccalaureate degree program in a four-year,
midwestern, state-supported university participated in this
study. The underlying assumption of this study is that the
female, non—traditional student chooses either a separate-
knowing procedural process or a connected-knowing procedural
process to work through her perceived barriers to education
in parallel relationship to her personality type as
determined by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Participants
completed a demographic information questionnaire (See
Appendix C.) and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (See
Appendix A.); they also participated in an interview (See
Appendix 0.).

Demographic information was tabulated in terms of:

1. Age distribution

2. Marital status

3. The number and ages of any children

4. Time and type of high school completion

5. Community college attendance

6. Number of college credit hours earned

7. Average number of credit hours per semester

8. Grade point average

9. Housing

10. Commuting distance

54

55

11. Prior work experience

12. Career expectations

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator was scored, and the
participants were categorized by personality type.

The interview responses were divided into those
characteristic of separate-knowing procedural process and
those characteristic of connected-knowing procedural
process. Then the subjects were divided into two
homogeneous groups (e.g., separate-knowers and connected-
knowers).

The MBTI personality types and the interview procedural
process analysis were analyzed using a Pearson Product-
Moment Correlation and Chi—square. Specific interview
responses were discussed to illuminate the statistical

results.

Analysis of Demographic Information

The participants in this study were twenty-five white
females enrolled in an undergraduate degree program at a
four-year public university. Participants were non-
traditional students ranging in age from 25 to 59 years.
The median age was 37. The mean age was 38. Distribution
of participants by age were skewed. The greatest percentage
of participants was in the 30-39 years of age range, with
52% of the participants falling into that range. The lowest
percentage of participants (4%) fell into the 55-64 years of

age range (see table 4.1).

56
Table 4.1

Age Distribution

% of National

 

 

 

Frequency % of This Samplet
Age (N=25) Sample (N=744)
25-29 3 12% 20%
30-34 6 24% 17%
35-39 7 28% 13%
40-44 4 16% 8%
45-49 3 12% 8%
50-54 1 4% 7%
55-59 1 4% 6%
60+ - - 20%

*Aslanian, 1980, p. 139.

In contrast to national figures (Aslanian, 1980, p.
135), the percentage of participants in this study was
substantially higher in the 30-34, 35—39 and 40-44 age
ranges. All the women in this study were seeking degrees
in order to enter a professional career. These women
desired to enter the work force for three major reasons:

1. The economic pressure on their family was

substantial whether the woman was married or the
single adult in the household

2. All these women felt that they should do more

than maintain a household

3. All these women desired to lead lives which

would intimately connect them to society
Aslanian claims that these are three of the most powerful

forces bringing women into the workplace (1980, p. 29).

57
Because all the women in this study were career seekers,
it is not surprising that the percentage of women in the
youngest group is lower than in Aslanian’s study. Many
women of this age are experiencing the transition to
marriage and the birth of children, and thus much of their
learning is oriented toward learning about family and child-
rearing. Much learning about family issues is done outside
the perimeters of the four—year university. It is equally
understandable that the percentage of women in this study
within the last two age groups, 50-54 and 55-59, is also
smaller. Nationally, most women within these age groups are
not seeking professional careers. Age limits the ability to
complete a four-year degree, obtain a professional
appointment and allow for enough years to be productive and
acquire eligibility for retirement.

Some problems surfaced when the participants were
categorized according to marital status. Marital status
varied among the participants with the greatest percentage
(52%) in the divorced category. Kelly was divorced and
remarried. She chose to use married as her indicator as it
is her current status. Esther claimed three marriages and
three divorces. Helen claimed two each of marriage and
divorce. Jamie was both widowed and divorced with the
divorce being the more current. In tabulation, the

current marital status was used (see Table 4.2).

58
Table 4.2

Marital Status

% of National

 

 

Frequency % of This Sampler

Marital Status (N=25) Sample (N=744)
Single/never

married 3 12% 12%
Married 9 36% 67%
Separated - — 2%
Divorced 13 52% 10%
(not remarried)
Widowed - — 9%

(not remarried)

 

*Aslanian, 1980, p. 142

A far greater percentage of the participants in this
study were divorced than in Aslanian’s study, 52% of the
study sample group as compared with only 10% in the national
adult learner survey. Several rationales seem reasonable
in accounting for this differential. The percentage of
participants in this study in the 25-29 age range was
substantially smaller than the percentage of participants in
the national study falling into the same age range, 12% as
compared with 20%. Thus, the participants in this study had
had more years in which to both marry and divorce. It is
true that the national study also included women in the 60+
age range while this study did not. These older women
certainly had had time for both marriage and divorce, but
social norms dictated a lower percentage of divorce for
these women. An additional difference between the two

groups studied is the type of education the learners are

59

pursuing. All the participants in this study are engaged
in acquiring a four-year undergraduate degree, while the
learners in the Aslanian study were engaged in a wide
variety of educational programs including high school
completion, community college, community education, as well
as college and university degree programs. It may be that
divorced women have a greater participation in an under-
graduate degree program for financial reasons. All the
participants in this study were seeking a degree which they
hoped would lead them into stable and financially secure
careers.

The number of children per participant varied. No
participant had more than 4 children. Two of the
participants had 4 children each with all the children

being above the age of majority (see Table 4.3.).

Table 4.3

Numner e: Children

 

% of National

 

 

Number of Frequency % of This Sample!
Children (N=25) Sample (N=744)
0 4 16% 23%

1 7 28% 16%

2 6 24%

3 5 20% T8;
4 3 12% 10%
5 or more - - 5%

*Aslanian, 1980, p. 142

60

Having, one, two or three children does not appear to
limit a woman’s ability to pursue an education. Having four
children seems to be a slight deterrent and having five or
more children appears to be a substantial deterrent. These
findings are similar to the profile developed in the
Aslanian study.

Participation in learning drops sharply among adults

who have five or more children. The learning of adults

with fewer than five children is unaffected by the

number. (1980, p. 46)

The total number of children for the 25 women engaged in
this study was 47. The mean number of children was 1.88.

The age of the children is also a factor in the return
of women to the educational process. The mean age of the
children of participants was 15.8 years. The youngest child
in this group was 3 years old; the oldest child was 37 years
old. Two children, belonging to two different women, were
of preschool age (see Table 4.4). This study sample has a
substantially lower percentage of children in the 25+ age
group. This difference might be expected since the study
group was also significantly younger than the national
sample.

Twenty-three of the twenty-five women (92%) in this
study graduated with their high school diplomas on time with
their classmates. One woman completed her high school
education in the local adult education high school

completion program, and another received a high school

equivalency by completing the G.E.D. exam.

61
Table 4.4

Age 9: Children

% of National

 

 

Age of Frequency % of This Sample*
Children (N=47) Sample (N=744)
2 or under - - 3%
3-4 2 4% 5%
5-8 9 19% 9%
9-12 7 15% 12%
13-17 10 21% 18%
18-21 8 17% 14%
22-24 5 11% 8%
25+ 6 13% 37%

 

*Aslanian, 1980, p. 142

Twelve of the twenty-five women (48%) attended either
community college or a different university for a length of
time ranging from one semester to four years before
attending this university. Thirteen of the women (52%) had
no prior higher education experience before enrolling at the
university level.

At the time of their interviews, participants had
attended the university from 2 to 10 semesters. The mean
number of semesters attended was 4.3. University credit
hours completed ranged from 30 to 172 semester hours. The
mean semester hours earned by this group was 87.48. The
average number of semester hours completed per semester
ranged from 6 to 15. Three of the participants consistently
took a six-hour/part-time credit load. Two of these three

were the two women with preschool-aged children; the third

62
woman was one of the two participants who had full time
employment.

Grade point averages for this group ranged from 2.50 to
3.96 on a 4-point scale; the mean grade point average was
3.26.

Six (24%) of the women in this study chose to live in
university housing; five of them occupied family apartments,
while one of them lived in a residence hall. Eight others
(32%) chose to live in off-campus housing in the same city
where the university is located. This group included both
renters and women living in their own homes. Eleven (44%)
of these women commuted to the university. Commuting
distance ranged from ten to sixty miles one way.

Only one woman in this group had no work experience
before entering the university. The work experience of the
remaining 24 women varied. One woman had worked in a
factory; one had been a waitress; one had owned her own
business; one had served in the 0.3. Army; three of the women
had worked in the medical field; eight had held secretarial
or clerking positions; nine had worked in non-professional
helping positions with the elderly, the disadvantaged, or in
a school setting as an aide.

Although the career expectations of the women in this
study varied, 10 (40%) of them anticipated a career in
education. Seven of the ten were interested in elementary
education; one was interested in secondary education; and

two felt that special education would be their niche. Other

63

women sought four-year terminal degrees in fields which
included: journalism, health fitness, social work,
counseling, broadcasting, accounting, and cartography. One
aspired to an advocacy position for women’s rights. Two of
the women were undecided regarding their career choices.
Three women felt they would seek additional post-graduate

education in psychology, law and the ministry.

Analysis of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

The participants in this study competed the 166—item,
paper and pencil, forced-choice, untimed Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator (MBTI). The MBTI was scored to determine the
individual’s personality type. Of the 16 types possible
within the format for the MBTI, 11 types were represented in
this sample. The personality types, ESFJ and ENFP,
represented 40% of the participants. Each of these types
was the type scored by five of the participants. Four of
the participants (16%) type INFP. The types ISFP, INTP and
ESTJ were each represented by two participants (8%). Five
types, ISFJ, INFJ, ISTP, ENTP and ENFJ, were represented by
one participant each (4%). Types ISTJ, INTJ, ESTP, ENTJ and
ESFP were not represented by this sample. The strength of
types ENFP and ESFJ is not surprising. Eleven women typed
both E (extroversion) and F (feeling), while only three
women typed both I (introversion) and T (thinking). The
word-letter combinations of NF (intuition-feeling) and SF

(sensing-feeling) were also strongly represented by this

64

sample. Nineteen women (76%) were typed either NF or SF.
Eleven women typed NF (44% of the subjects), and eight women
typed SF (32% of the subjects). The combinations of NF and
SF are well represented in the career fields of education
and other liberal arts majors (Myers, 1980, p. 159). The
majority of women in this study were training for careers in
those fields. Figure 4.1 represents the MBTI type profile
for each participant. The distribution of participants
across the MBTI types is shown in Table 4.5.

The distributions across MBTI types for the study sample
and the national data bank are compared in Figure 4.2. The
MBTI data bank is maintained at the Center for Applications
of Psychological Type (CAPT). The national data used for
comparison included the records of 32,731 women evaluated
between March 1978 and December 1982. The data were
collected from women in conjunction with some educational
experience. Fifty percent of the cases used in the CAPT
scores were from women who had completed at least one year
of higher education, while the remaining 50% were from women
with more limited formal education. (See Table 4.6: Summary
Data for Single-Letter Preferences and Two-Letter
Combinations for NTWG and CAPT.)

Participants in this study showed a high correlation
with the subjects in the CAPT data bank, particularly in the
E-I pairing. Women in this study were well-balanced in the

typing of extroversion versus introversion. Fifty-six

65

, , , I
énémmmimawrr ,, .1

v v

v

v v

v

fi

1

v

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 910111213141516171819202122232425

v

v

 

 

 

1

II Extroversion—Introversion

EB Sensing—Intuitive

I! Thinking-Feeling

Ea Judging-Perceiving

Figure 4.1

MBTI Personality Type Profile for Each Participant.

66

Table 4.5

Perticinants Classified ee Myers-Briggs Tynes*

Sensing Types : Intuitive Types

 

 

With Thinking With Feeling : With Feeling With Thinking

 

 

 

 

 

ISTJ ISFJ : INFJ INTJ
N=0 N=1 : N=1 N=0
=0 %=4 : %=4 %=0
ISTP ISFP : INFP INTP
=1 N=2 : N=4 N=2
=4 %=8 : %=16 %=8
ESTP ESFP : ENFP ENTP
N=O N=0 : N=5 N=1
=0 %= : %=20 %=4
ESTJ ESFJ : ENFJ ENTJ
N= N=5 : N=1 N=0
=8 =20 : %=4 %=0

 

 

 

 

 

 

Number Percentage
E 14 56

I 11 44

S 11 44

N 14 56

T 6 24

F 19 76

J 10 40

P 15 60

 

*N=25

67

 

 

 

 

25
20..
15 '

a g,;
sz’é, g C
.5" " g I /- .‘
“magma-142:1..AZ

O _ 4 ‘ n
ISTJ ISFJ INFJ INFJ ISTP ISFP INFP INTP ESTP ESFP ENFP ENTP. FSTJ ESFJ ENFJ ENTJ

- Series 1: Participants (N=25)
W Series 2: CAPT Study (11:32, 731)

Figure 4.2.
A Comparison of Percentage of Each MBTI Type of Participants

with CAPT Estimated Frequencies of Each MBTI Type.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 4.6
Summary Deta for Single-Letter Preferences and Two-Letten
Combinations for NTWS and CAPT

E I S N T F J P
NTWG 56% 44% 44% 56% 24% 76% 40% 60%
CAPT 55.7% 44.3% 56.4% 43.6% 34.6% 65.4% 59.5% 40.5%

IJ IP EP EJ ST SF NF NT
NTWG 8% 36% 24% 32% 12% 32% 44% 12%
CAPT 27.6% 16.7% 23.8% 31.9% 20.2% 36.1% 29.2% 14.4%

SJ SP NP NJ TJ TP FP FJ
NTWG 32% 12% 48% 8% 8% 16% 44% 32%
CAPT 40.1% 16.3% 24.3% 19.4% 23.9% 10.7% 29.8% 35.6%

IN EN IS ES ET EF IF IT
NTWG 28% 28% 16% 28% 12% 44% 32% 12%
CAPT 17.4% 26.2% 26.9% 29.5% 18.6% 37.1% 28.3% 16.0%
Note: NTWG = Non-traditional women who participated in this

study (N=25).
CAPT = CAPT Data Bank Form F cases; women only

(N=32,731).

69
percent typed as extroverts while 44% typed as introverts.
CAPT data is surprisingly similar with a ratio of 55.7%
extroversion to 44.3% introversion.

The T-F pairing showed a 10% difference between the
women in this study, 24% thinking and 76% feeling, as
compared with the women in the CAPT data, 34.6% thinking and
64.4% feeling. The ratio for both groups was high on the
feeling scale supporting Isabel Myers’s early estimates that
65% of the female population would type as feeling while 35%
would type as thinking (McCaulley, et al., 1985, p. 3).
Among the four pairings of the MBTI, E-I, S-N, T-F, and J-P,
the results showed the least amount of balance within the T—
F pairing. This imbalance is equally true for participants
in this study and participants in the CAPT data.

The S-N pairing and the J-P pairing showed reverse
percentages in a comparison of scores for the women in this
study with the scores for the women in the CAPT data bank.
The S-N pairing showed a nearly equal balance with 8
representing 44% of the participants and N representing 56%
of the participants, while the CAPT data bank reported 56.4%
S and 43.5% N. Both sets of ratios show a clear difference
from Myers’s estimate that 75% of the general population
would score on the S scale. It is important to remember
both that the participants in the CAPT data were engaged in
some level of education and that the participants in this
study were seeking higher education degrees because earlier

MBTI studies (McCaulley, 1974) indicated that S’s are the

70
most likely to drop out of school and the least likely to
return. A higher ratio of N’s is to be expected among the
women in this study since all but two of these women
completed their high school education at the usual time
(were not drop-outs) and all of them have returned to formal
education. It is not surprising that the J-P pairing showed
a similar reversal with the women in this study scoring 40%
J and 60% P, while the CAPT data reports 59.5% J and 40.5%
P, since S-N and J-P are positively correlated (McCaulley,
et al., 1985, p. 8).

While the two groups of women are comparable in a
general sense, it is important to remember that all the
women in this study were engaged in higher education, while
only fifty percent of the CAPT scores were obtained from
women who had had at least one year of higher education.

It is also important to recognize the limitations of
the CAPT study.

The data bank has a bias, of undetermined amount,
toward introversion and intuition--the two preferences
most associated with attraction to higher education.
Even the adults with lower educational levels in the
data bank are included because their answer sheets
were submitted in conjunction with some professional
activity, so they may be somewhat atypical of their
types. Most of the cases in the data bank are scored
for professionals working in educational institutions
or in settings where psychological or personality
variables are considered relevant. We assume that
types more likely to drop out of school (the SP types),
and types with relatively less interest in matters
psychological (the ST and SJ types) are under-
represented in the MBTI Data Bank in comparison to
their frequencies in the general population. The data
bank does not include types for persons too young or
too low in reading ability to answer the MBTI. At the
other end of the age range, records answered when the

71

respondents were over forty account for only 13% of the
data bank. (McCaulley, 1985, p. 3)

The most general hypothesis to be investigated (H01)
states that there will be no significant difference between
the distribution of the general MBTI types for a large
population of women and the distribution of the general MBTI
types for participants in this study. Inspection of Figure
4.2 (A Comparison of Percentage of Each MBTI Type with CAPT
Estimated Frequencies of the MBTI Type) indicated that
differences existed. Statistical analysis comparing the two
distributions was not pursued since only 25 women
participated in this study and a type change for one of
those would initiate a 4% change. The women in the CAPT
data bank and the women in this study were dissimilar in a
number of ways which could bias the distributions. Some
differences may be attributed to the larger percentage of
N’s among the participants of this study (56%) compared with
CAPT (43.6%) and the larger percentage of P’s (60%) as
compared with CAPT (40.5%). Other differences may occur
because the participants in this study were all career
oriented and because the participants had an established
solid grade point average. Women represented in the CAPT
data bank had less formal education and were not necessarily

on a professional career track.

Analysis of Interviews
Interviews were conducted with the participants during a

several month period. Participants also completed the

72

Demographic Information Sheet at this time (see Appendix
C). All Interviews were tape recorded, and interview
questions were asked in the order in which they appear on
the Interview Schedule (see Appendix D).

A coding response sheet was designed to assist the
interviewer in decoding the responses (see Appendix E).
Responses were coded on a Likert scale ranging from 1
through 5. In an attempt to reduce confusion the Coding
Response sheet was designed so that the numeral 1 always
represented a connected-knowing response and the numeral 5
always represented a separate-knowing response. The
numeral 3 represented a response which balanced connected-
knowing process and separate-knowing process. Occasionally
a participant’s response was not applicable to the question
and those responses were coded N.A.

Each question response was coded individually; thus each
informant was rated on 20 answers. The final question in
the interview was an open—ended question designed to give
the participant an opportunity to discuss anything she
wished and an opportunity to bring satisfactory closure to
the interview. Since these responses varied enormously,
they were not included in the coding process.

The coding process began with a discussion between the
primary researcher and the independent investigator. Clear
definitions of separate-knowing procedural processing and

connected-knowing procedural processing were established.

73
An understanding of the relationship of each question to the
terminology was also established. The primary researcher
and the independent investigator coded all interviews
independently. Results were compared, differences in
interpretation were discussed and conclusions were drawn. A
connected-knowing/separate-knowing score (C-K/S-K) was
determined for each participant. Not applicable responses
were removed from the data.

Connected-knowing, separate—knowing and not applicable
responses were tallied for each question for the total sample
to check for potential bias of the questions. Each question
contained responses on the connected-knowing end of the scale
and on the separate-knowing end of the scale. No question
elicited inappropriate responses from more than four of the
participants.

Connected-knowing responses and separate-knowing
responses were tallied for each participant and plotted on a
scattergram (see Figure 4.3). Two distinct clusters
became evident. Participants were rated as connected-
knowers if they had more connected-knowing responses than
separate-knowing responses. This was the case for nineteen
participants. Participants were rated as separate-knowing
if they had more responses than connected-knowing responses;
this was the case for six participants.

A Pearson Product-Moment Correlation coefficient was
calculated to show the intercorrelations between each pair

type on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (extroversion/

74

 

154

Connected-Knowing

 

 

 

' j l U l'fi ' I I I I V ' I ' V I I I I l V I I V I V I V l

l
0123156789101112151415
..Separate:Knowing '

Figure 4.3
Participants Plotted According to Connected-Knowing and

Separate-Knowing.

75
introversion (E/I), sensing/intuition (S/N), feeling/
thinking (F/T), and judging/perceiving (J/P)). Correlations
were also calculated to show the association between each
pair of MBTI pairings and the connected-knowing and
separate-knowing score.

The only significant intercorrelation (r=.58, n=25,

p > .01) was found between the sensing/intuition pair and the
judging/perceiving pair. Participants who typed intuitive

on the S/N scale also typed perceptive on the J/P scale.

This correlation is supported by the research literature on
the MBTI (Myers, 1985).

Chi—square values were calculated to determine whether
an association between each MBTI pair and the separate-
knowing and connected-knowing scores existed. It is
important to note that the number of participants was small
(n=25) and the distribution of subjects between connected—
knowing and separate-knowing was disproportionate. However,
interesting relationships emerged upon close inspection of
the data.

Since each of the eight remaining hypotheses is paired,
they will be discussed in pairs.

The second and third hypotheses to be investigated
were the following:

neg. There will be no significant difference in the

frequency of use of separate-knowing processing between

participants typing extroversion (E) and participants

typing introversion (I).

76

03. There will be no significant difference in the

frequency of use of connected-knowing processing

between participants typing extroversion (E) and

participants typing introversion (I).

A scattergram was drawn using the El! typing pair and

the separate-knowing/connected-knowing methods of

processing (see Figure 4.4).

 

~l.0-

O

m
1

*

A

c
.5
1

Separate/Connected-Knowing
c: .
En

 

0.2+

 

 

Introversion

Figure 4.4

Separate/Connected-Knowing vs.

Extroversion

Introversion/Extroversion.

Although there is a loose cluster in the upper right-hand

quadrant, there was no statistically significant correlation

(r=.18, n=25, p > .05).

77
The Chi-square of C-K/S—K by I/E was not statistically
significant (X2=1.65, n=25, p > .05), but the frequency

table presents some useful information (see table 4.7).

Table 4.7

S-K C-K Q1 IZE

 

Twelve participants (48%) are extroverted with connected-
knowing processing. Only 7 participants (28%) are
introverted with connected-knowing processing. Of the 6
separate-knowing processing participants, twice as many
(67%) are introverts. There is a positive relationship
between participants typed as extroverts on the MBTI and
participants who are classified as connected—knowers. In
addition, there is a positive relationship between
participants rated as introverts on the MBTI and
participants who are classified as separate-knowers.

Therefore, it is reasonable to ask E-I questions to
determine whether a woman student is a connected-knower or
separate-knower. Several discerning questions from the MBTI
include:

1. When you have to meet strangers, do you find it:

a. Pleasant or at least easy?
b. Something that takes a good deal of effort?

78

2. Are you:

a. Easy to get to know?
b. Hard to get to know?

3. Do you tend to have:

a. Deep friendships with a very few people?
b. Broad friendships with many different people?

The next pair of hypotheses to be investigated
correlates the relationship between processing and the
sensing and intuition pair typing.

SSA. There will be no significant difference in the

frequency of use of separate-knowing processing between

participants typing sensing (S) and participants typing

intuitive (N);

SSS. There will be no significant difference in the

frequency of use of connected-knowing processing

between participants typing sensing (S) and

participants typing intuitive (N).

A scattergram of the separate-knowing and connected-
knowing score and the sensing/intuitive pair typing was
plotted (see Figure 4.5). The connected-knowers are
fairly evenly distributed across the S/N scale, while the
separate-knowers are grouped on the intuitive end. There
was no statistically significant correlation (r=-.35, n=25,
p > .05).

This relationship is more clearly evident in the Chi-

square table (X2=2.39, n=25, p > .05) (see Table 4.8).

79

 

 

 

 

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é ’ +
I 1 i i ,
o J +
Q) i 1 i 1
u i
a: * .
g DIG ‘ * 1 1
o
c:
B +
E +
g_0d1:
OJ +
v: , +
i +
Del 7 I I I ' l I ' I I I y T T I I I I U l I
-1 0 I
Sensing Intuitive
Figure 4.5

Separate/Connected—Knowing vs. Sensing/Intuitive.

Table 4.8

C-K S-K Qy SZN

Nine of the connected-knowing participants (47%) were also
intuitive, while 10 connected-knowing participants (53%

typed as sensing, striking a near balance. But separate-

80
knowers showed a different distribution pattern; five
separate-knowing participants (83%) also typed intuitive,
while only one separate-knowing participant (17%), was rated
as separate-knowing and typed sensing. It follows that if a
woman student is classified as a separate-knower then she
probably also prefers to think in intuitive ways. Questions
on the MBTI which differentiate between sensing thinkers
and intuitive thinkers include these three:
1. Do you admire more the people who are:
a. Conventional enough never to make themselves
conspicuous?
b. Too original and individual to care whether
they are conspicuous or not?
2. In deciding something important, do you:
a. Find you can trust your feeling about what is
best to do?
b. Think that you should do the logical thing, no
matter how you feel about it?

3. Is it higher praise to say someone has:

a. Vision?
b. Common sense?

The third pair of hypotheses to be investigated
correlates the relationship between the thinking/feeling type
pairing and separate/connected-knowing process.

SSS. There will be no significant difference in the

frequency of use of separate-knowing processing between

participants typing thinking (T) and participants

typing feeling (F);

flul. There will be no significant difference in the

frequency of use of connected-knowing processing

81
between participants typing thinking (T) and
participants typing feeling (F).
A scattergram shows the relationships of the S-K/C-K
rating with the MBTI typing of thinking/feeling (see Figure

4.6).

 

1.04

0.84 ,
. i

C
C!
1
¢
us-
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Separate/Connected-Knowing ‘

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Thinking Feeling
Figure 4.6

Separate/Connected4Knowing vs. Thinking/Feeling

An examination of the scattergram shows a concentration
of participants in the upper right—hand quadrant and a
feeling dominance on the thinking/feeling type scale. There
was no statistically significant correlation (4=.10, n=25, P
> .05). Nineteen participants, 76%, typed F on the
thinking/feeling scale. The distribution of participants on

T/F is not unusual. Isabel Myers estimates that 75% of the

82
female population is feeling with the remaining 25%
thinking. This distribution would likely be different if the
sample size contained an equal number of male participants.
The Chi-square table illustrates this distribution of
connected-knowers and separate-knowers on the F/T scale

(x2=.37, n-25, p > .05) (see Table 4.9).

Table 4.9

S-K C-K Q1 TZF

 

 

A substantial percentage (76%) of the participants were
typed as feeling on the FIT scale, and a considerable
percentage (79%) of the participants typed feeling were also
connected-knowers. Since connected-knowers frequently
exhibit a strong sense of relationship with others and women
typed as feeling demonstrate warmth and Openness in their
inter-personal relationships, it is reasonable to see a
connection between participants typed as feeling and
participants rated as connected-knowers.

The final hypotheses to be investigated explored the
relationship between separate-knowing and connected-knowing

and the judging/perceiving type pairing:

83
_SS. There will be no significant difference in the
frequency of use of separate-knowing processing between
participants typing judging (J) and participants typing
perceiving (P).
SSS. There will be no significant difference in the
frequency of use of connected-knowing processing
between participants typing judging (J) and
participants typing perceiving (P).
A scattergram shows the relationship between the

separate and connected-knowing rating and the

judging/perceiving type pair (see Figure 4.7).

 

 

 

 

1.01

m 4 A I

.E

3

J .

:4 +

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a, 1

4..) 1 10

u + 9 ,

m o

g 0.6~ , * ,

o

c:

\

m

u 1

m 1

I.

a 0.4-

.2

o . .
o
0624 y I I I I I I
I I U U I U I I I I I I l I
-1 0 I
Judging Perceiving
Figure 4.7

Separate/Connected-Knowing vs. Judging/Perceiving

84
The scattergram shows a cluster of eleven participants
classified as connected-knowers and typing as strong
perceivers. There was no statistically significant
correlation (r=.04, n=25, p > .05).
The Chi-square shows a similar distribution of
connected-knowers and separate-knowers across the J/P scale

(x2=.15, n=25, p >.05) (see Table 4.10).

Table 4.10

S-KZC-K Sy JZP

L
'D

 

 

Eight connected-knowing participants (42%) typed as J, while
eleven connected-knowing participants (57%) type as P. Four
separate-knowing participants (66%) typed as P, while only
two separate-knowing participants (33%) typed as J.

There exists a positive relationship between
participants typed as perceiving and participants rated as
separate-knowers. It has already been established that
participants typed as intuitives tend to be separate-knowers
also; it is reasonable to see a trend toward separate-
knowing on the part of participants typed as perceiving and

participants typed as intuitive since there is a positive

85
correlation between individuals typed as perceiving and
individuals typed as intuitive.

In general, participants who are rated as connected-
knowers tend to be extroverts. It is likely that connected-
knowers may also tend toward feeling on the FIT scale, but a
larger sample size would be necessary to determine this
relationship. Participants who are rated as separate-
knowers tend toward introversion on the E/I scale, intuitive
on the S/N scale, feeling on the FIT scale and perceiving

on the J/P scale.

Discussion of Interviews
The interview process was used:
1. To identify barriers to learning; and
2. To reveal the procedural processing each
participant preferred to use to work through her
perceived barriers to achieving her educational
goals.
This is an accepted method of investigation.
Several methods have been used to study barriers to
adult learning. The most common method is to ask
people directly through interviews or questionnaires to
identify barriers to learning. (Cross, 1984, p. 97)
It is also a general assumption of this research:
That the way people talk about their lives is of
significance, that the language they use and the
connection they make reveal the world that they see and
in which they act. (Gilligan, 1982, p. 2)

Seminal to this study is the process of change and

whether that change takes place through acquisition of

86
knowledge and information by a separate-based process or by
a connected-based process. Nowhere was the transformational
process of change more apparent than within the context of
the words of the interviewees.

The interview format was constructed in such a way as
to allow each respondent to begin by reviewing her life.
What kinds of things had been important to her, what had
stayed with her, allowed a view of the transitional process
she had begun. Each participant was then asked to talk
about her current circumstances. She was asked to tell
something about what her life was like right now. She was
asked what she cared about and thought about. Women who saw
themselves as essentially separate from others and who had
gained a knowledge perspective were rated as separate
knowers, while women who felt that they gained a connection
with self and/or others were rated as connected-knowers.

Separate-knowing answers tended to include statements

about logical goals, steps taken and steps to be taken:

Ellen. "What stands out for me is that I decided to go
back to school. Just that I made the decision and I
did it. I care about getting that degree. [Pause] And

I care about my daughter and my husband.”

Brenda. ”I set goals for the first time in my life. I
left a boyfriend of eight years, got my G.E.D., and
applied to college. Making it here is the most

important thing to me.”

87

Goldie. "My three goals are what I care most about. I
care about remaining chemically free and independent.
I care about my education. I care, too much, about my

grade-point average.”

Connected-knowing answers tended to revolve around self-

understanding and interaction with others:

Seun: ”What strikes me is the way my whole life has
changed in the past couple of years. It’s the growth.
The growth in myself and the growth I see in my kids.
My whole family interacts differently now. Even my

brothers and sisters treat me differently.”

Selen: “What stands out in my life? There’s been a
lot of changes since my divorce. I moved away from my
home town and went back to school. A lot of changes in
my family--my family being me and my three kids. My
daughter got married, my son left home, and my fourteen-
year-old child came with me. I moved away from friends
and family, and coming to school was a big adjustment
for me. The kinds of things that have been important
are really the emotional things right now. I miss
being close to my daughter being that she is pregnant
with my first grandchild, and I recognize that she
would feel more comfortable if the miles were less.
That’s important to me. And having my fourteen-year-

old son here is important. He’s settled in school and

88

beginning to deal with himself. The adjustment at
fourteen is difficult, and I worried more about that
than the adjustment for me, because I felt I could
handle it, but I was afraid for him. Feelings are what
stay with me. I’m a feeling person; I like to be with
people. I like to get to know them. Things that
people say and do are what stays with me. The
interaction I have with people, that’s important. Even
though I’m in school and in classes, that isn’t near as
important as people are to me. I find friends stay

with me more than college. More than bookwork."

In regard to their current lives, the interviewees were
expressive. There was no differentiation between separate-
knowing answers and connected-knowing answers. In response
to the request to "Tell me something about what your life is

like right now,‘ the participants talked about the chaotic

process of transformation:

Martha: "Confusing. Kind of messed up.”

Ellen: ”Chaotic. I really care about getting this

 

degree . . . and my daughter . . . and my husband.

Priorities are tough.”

Esther: "Hectic. Really, it’s just run, run, run.“

89
Diane: "Frantic. You get through the day and then
you get through the next day. Some days you’re not

sure who you are."

Helen: [a sigh] "That’s a loaded question. Hectic,
crazy, kind of frustrating. I’ve changed a lot. Some
days I don’t know who I am. [A laugh] But there’s a lot

of growth here. I love it.”

Sheri: “Confusing, rewarding, exhausting."

In a time of crisis these women are also engaged in the
process of development. Conflict is the harbinger of growth
and Erikson (1964, p. 139), in charting development through
crisis, demonstrates that vulnerability signals the emergence
of potential strength, creating a dangerous opportunity for
growth, "a turning point for better or worse”. Underlying
these messages of confusion and chaos is the voice of
potential and achievement. "But I like the analogy drawn
from the Chinese language, in which the same character
stands for two meanings: 'crisis’ and 'opportunity’”
(Rogers, 1980, p. 339).

In the midst of the chaos it is clear that these women
see the potential for growth and opportunity. The woman who

stated this ambiguity most clearly was Darby:

SenSy: "Turning forty stands out for me. It was the
best thing that ever happened to me. I prepared for it

for a whole year. When I was thirty-nine I knew I was

90

going to be forty. Forty is mid-life crisis year and I
decided I wasn’t going to have a mid—life crisis; I was
going to have a mid—life opportunity. And I was not
going to live the last forty years of my life like I’d
lived the first forty years. I was a wimp and I was
sick of it. I was going to become Darby, and I had to

find out who she was."

Janice also saw her life in a holding pattern with an

optimistic outcome:

Janice: ”I don’t know who I am. This is a neutral
stage. I know I’m going to end up being someone. It’s

exciting. I have no idea today who that is.“

Great writers have often speculated about the
transitional process. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1965, p. 38)
reminds us that, "Not in his goals but in his transitions
man is great." Change and transition are important concepts
in most studies which deal with the education of adults.
Beginnings and endings which initiated the transformational
process surfaced and re-surfaced throughout the
interviewing, but the feelings associated with the state of
being in transition surfaced most clearly in the self-
description (Section 8) portion of the interviews.

Separate-knowers tended to describe themselves as
separating from others in order to discover who they were,

what they wanted, and where they were going:

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Tonie: ”I see myself now as being a go—getter. I am

much more independent."

Ellen: "I am more flexible. I just keep adding

 

things: a part-time job, school, another baby."

Bcenda: “It’s a holding pattern. I don’t allow all of
it out. People don’t see me. I don’t let them. I
don’t go with the crowd. It’s taken me a lot of years
to see that I might be an okay person. I’m not sure

yet. I’m cautious.”

DaSn: “When I want something, I go after it. This is

new to me.

Nearly all the participants who responded to the self
description section of the interview with connected-knowing
answers expressed a confusion similar to the puzzlement of
Alice in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventuree in Wonderland
(1965, p. 50):

”Who are you?“ asked the Caterpillar. This was
not an encouraging opening for a conversation.

Alice replied, rather shyly, ”I--I hardly know,
Sir, just at present-~at least I know who I was when I
got up this morning, but I think I must have changed
several times since then.”

"What do you mean by that?“ said the Caterpillar,

sternly. ”Explain yourself!”

“I can’t explain myself, I’m afraid, Sir, because
I’m not myself, you see.”

Like Alice, many of the participants struggled to name
themselves; they struggled to find their voice; they

struggled to define their role. In the self-description

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section each woman was requested to talk about what her life
was like right at this time, and connected knowers tended to

talk about new connections:

Ienni: “Sometimes my life is quiet. I’m super
sensitive. I’ve always put barriers between myself and
other people. I used to throw out a lot of garbage to
see if others would see through it. I’ve always looked
to see what others thought. Now I look to myself and
try to make a connection with other people from this
viewpoint. I worry about my daughter’s psychological
health and mine. Making real friends--friends based on

honesty--is tough. But rewarding."

Helena: "I’m a person who wants to do things well, and
I always put other people before myself. I used to
think this was wrong, but now I’ve learned to get done
what I need to and still have time to help the world.

I am helpful and caring. It’s an important part of me."

Denise. "I’m right in the middle of a big change.

Yes, yes, I’ve really changed. I used to be a doormat.
I look at my children and I see that they are doing

all right. I look at myself and see that I am doing
all right. I’m more sure of who I am and the impact I
can make. My world is less rocky boat and more

stable. I love my children, education, the whole

world. I care about the world."

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These women have begun to find their own voices and have
connected with the world in which they live. They have
begun to recognize the impact they can make and the value
of that impact. As they broke free of their isolation,
pulled away Belenky’s culture of silence, each participant
became:

A subject who acts upon and transforms [her] world, and

in doing so moves toward ever new possibilities of a

fuller and richer life individually and collectively.

This world to which [she] relates is not a static and

closed order, a given reality which [woman] must accept

and to which [she] must adjust; rather, it is a

problem to be worked on and solved . . . Each [woman]

wins back [her] right to say [her] own word, to name

the world. (Freire, 1984, p. 13)

Not only is learning to name the world a difficult
task, but it also brings with it a new level of
responsibility. In the third section of the interview
(Section E), participants were asked to discuss a real life

moral dilemma.

Ellen: "My second semester at school I enrolled for a

 

full load. During the second week my husband hurt his
knee and had to have knee surgery. There was a lot of
pressure on me to withdraw from school or at least drop
part of my course load. The conflict was family or
school. I weighed all the options, and I listened to
others’ points of view. I’d always been the member of
the family who gave up what I was doing to keep things
going. This time I was convinced they could make it at

home. I chose to stick with my classes. It was a hard

94
decision. I stuck with my own needs. I was fair to me.

It was my turn."

In the midst of a tough decision, Ellen chose her own sense
of being. She chose self-development over self-sacrifice.
She listened to her own voice. Ellen was able to name the
myth that had governed her life. Until this time she and
her family believed that she must always drop her own goals
for the goals and needs of her family. Once she developed
enough confidence in her own ability to understand and
reason through a situation, she was able to make a
responsible alternate decision.
When we do not name them [myths], we are hostages
to them and can do nothing else but live out their plots
to the end. When we name them, we have a choice about
our responses. We can extricate ourselves from
undesirable myths and/or we can respect the archetypal
pattern that is exerting control over our lives and
learn its lesson. (Pearson, 1986, p. XVI)
In The Hero with e Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell
defines the hero as:
The champion not of things become but of things
becoming; the dragon to be slain by him is precisely
the monster of the status quo: Hold fast the keeper of
the past.
Pearson (1986, p. 151) reminds us that “the hero’s task
always has been to bring new life to a dying culture."
Janice finds herself immersed in what is, for her, a

stagnant culture. She discusses her moral dilemma in terms

of her decision to return to school:

95
Janice: "In weighing the odds on returning to school,
I wasn’t sure what was the right thing to do. I had a
lot of turmoil with the decision. Letting go of a
company I had worked for for eight years. I’ve given
up a lot of the financial security, but still being in
that environment I was very unhappy and stagnant. The
biggest fear was financial. There’s a lot of
uncertainty in letting go and taking a step back and
trying to change. The biggest issue that I considered
was myself. I knew I could stay in the company. I had
to take a look at what school offered me. I did a lot
of soul searching into my own identity. I went back to
school. I needed to grow. I am growing. It’s very
hard, but the self satisfaction is very rewarding. One
of the biggest lessons that I learned is that you have
to take the risks. You have to be willing to make the
risks. You have to follow your heart to find your

direction.“

While Ellen and Janice looked to themselves for their
solutions, Sheri turned both toward herself and toward her

child’s needs:

Sneni: “A moral dilemma? The first one that comes

into my head is about my marriage. I kept feeling the
need to take responsibility for his actions. I tried
looking at it from his point of view. I tried looking

at it from everyone else’s point of view. But when I

96

got to it, it had to be what I thought was the most
important thing. I was the only person in the
relationship capable of making a responsible decision.
I had to come to that conclusion. I had a baby to take
care of. The baby was my deciding factor. She had to
be. I learned that I do have more choices than people
normally consider, that you can be a complete and

whole person although you go against what society deems
right. I felt horrible guilt about the marriage
breakup. But then I realized that I had to do that in
order to survive. I am capable of doing good things--

difficult things--but good things."

Goldie turned toward her instinctive gift as a mother,
too, considering the needs of the rest of the family when

she had to make a decision regarding her son:

Goldie: "Some months ago, my son, who is an alcoholic,
had three felony charges against him, and has been in
recovery programs twice, turned eighteen. He’s been
going downhill. He gets better, then he just goes out
and gets into trouble. It had gotten to the point that
I had to decide if I wanted him staying with me now
that he had turned eighteen. It’s caused me a lot of
emotional problems and a lot of trouble with school.

Or if it was time for him to move out on his own and

find out. The conflict was between the motherly

97
instinct in me saying, 'No, I can’t do this, I have to
stick by him, it’s my responsibility, and I love him.’
There was a big battle in me saying which is best for
him--let go of the apron strings or hold him close
right now. I decided to hold him close but gave him an
ultimatum. He could stay only if he re-entered a
rehabilitation program. And he had to take the
initiative. I considered my son in this decision. I
considered my husband. I thought about how it would
affect our family life. I thought about how it would
affect me. I learned that with patience and love

things can work out."

In making decisions that affected their lives and the
lives of others, each of the participants in this study
weighed the role of responsibility and care. Autonomy, the
pinnacle of Maslow’s hierarchy, was seldom a consideration.
Their connection with themselves, their children, their
spouses, the world in which they live and the world that
they wished to create was given considerable weight. They
began, some for the first time in their lives, to make
choices in values. They began to live existentially. Malik
reminds us that:

The aim of existential education is not to produce

merely well-informed men and women, but to educate a

generation that is aware of its potentialities for

freedom, making decisions, and living those decisions
in their own individual lives. In living an authentic
life man freely makes certain choices from a number of

alternate values. The fact that he is free to choose
makes him fully responsible for his own life which he

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lives in accordance with his freely-chosen values. His

life gives substance to these values; and as such makes

him creator of those values. He brings those values
into existence by the mere act of living them. (Malik,

1966, p. 353)

What impressed these women about themselves was not
what life had brought to them, but rather what they had been
able to do with it. They capitalized again and again on
Aldous Huxley’s (1972) statement: "Experience is not what
happens to you, it’s what you do with what happens to you."

The final two sections of the interview process dealt
with education (Section F) and barriers to education
(Section FA). As the women reflected upon themselves, it is
not surprising that they voiced a strong preference toward
the people involved in and with their educational process.
Especially if, as current research is increasingly
demonstrating, women define themselves differently than men
do, it becomes necessary for women to stress an
interconnectedness with their environment and the people
within it rather than a close allegiance to separateness and
autonomy (Choderow, 1978; Gilligan, 1982; Belenky, et al.,
1986). Asked to reflect on what they felt would stay with
them about their experiences in education, the women turned
their thoughts toward the individuals who had impact on
their learning. This remained true whether they expressed

an essentially internal growth and self-discovery or an

essentially external connection with the world of ideas:

99
Esther: “What stays with me is the kindness people
have shown me. The willingness some of my professors
have had to help me through material I had difficulty

understanding."

Anite: “I will remember the people who have allowed me
to be an adult, let me create my own space [A laugh],
and of course I will also remember the people who have
been directive and parental--not, though, with the same

admiration.“

yieSy: “I have special regard for one of my journalism
professors. I never thought I was a creative person.

I decided on journalism because I write fairly
competently and the field would allow me to do what I
like best—~travel. But this professor showed me that I
was creative. She made me expand my abilities. She
was tough, but she taught me a lot about myself. She

worked with me.”

Heather: "Learning that I can learn, even from bad
instructors. This has really changed how I think about
the world. That people who are different from me have
important things to offer, and I can learn those things
if I put my judgment on hold and take their view for

a while."

Bonnie: "The whole world changed for me because I had

this history professor who taught me that history is a

100
matter of interpretation. My God, I thought, life is a

matter of interpretation."

For most of the participants, involvement in the higher
educational process broadened and deepened their perspective
of society and their role in society. Some saw a very real

change in the way they participated:

Martha: "During my first semester here I walked from
married housing to my classes on the railroad tracks.

I didn’t want to meet any of the other students along
the way. I was too intimidated by them. They all
seemed to know who they were and where they were going,
and I felt so lost that I was sure my confusion showed
on my face. Now I spend at least an hour every day in
the student union meeting other students. They are
just like me. Some are younger, some are smarter, lots
of them have nicer clothes--but basically we are all

just people.“

Helena: “In an odd way, my experience at the
university has returned to me some of my father’s
ideas. My dad always tried to expose us kids to the
world. When we would travel across the United States
he would stop the car and we’d all pile out and talk
with the farmer in his field or the old man sitting on
the front stoop whittling. My dad always said that

everyone has something important to offer and sometimes

101
you have to go out of your way to discover what it is.
I’d lost that focus. Here I have found it again. The
other students, the professors——they all have something
to offer, something important to me. I am a part of

the world again.”

Participants were asked what had been most helpful
about the institution. Overwhelmingly they named specific
people who had taken the time to find the information they
needed and specific advisors, counselors and professors who
had willingly given their time and attention to explain
specific information and/or had engaged in discussion with
them about their own concerns (careers, current life

confusions, etc.):

Barbara: “This woman in the PhilOSOphy Department was
really able to help me get centered. I really didn’t
know what to do for a major or what kind of career I
wanted. I didn’t know what my interests were. And she
listened and gave me some suggestions--you know, things
to think about. Then I talked with a couple other
people, got some direction. But I made my own choice--
my own decision. On this time I had the correct

information and good people to bounce my ideas off.”

Marilyn: "I enrolled in the class for non-traditional
students for selfish reasons. I wanted a little self

improvement. The interaction was terrific. I gained a

102
lot of self-esteem, and I learned how the system works.
I learned to go to bat for myself, and I found that I
am worth going to bat for. This was all new to me. I
could not have done this without the personal attention.

I found out that I counted."

For these women, what they had learned about the world,
the ideas which they came into contact with, their sense of
self growth, all revolved around a connection to
individuals. Mostly they had been impressed with, inspired
by and learned from a relationship with individual
university related personnel (faculty, administrators and
fellow students). These women chose not to become
increasingly autonomous, but rather to follow an alternate
map, suggested by Gilligan (1982) toward ever-increasing
connectedness and relationship.

Participant responses fell into two groups when they
were asked if there were important things that the
institution had not provided for them, and if there were
things that they felt they could not learn at this
institution. Students with only enough credit hours to be
classified as sophomores and juniors felt that everything
they wished to learn was provided somewhere in the
university structure. They could not conceive of ideas or
disciplines which were not available. Students who had
obtained senior status talked about the desire for graduate

education in specific fields. Because the institution they

103
currently attend is predominantly an undergraduate
university, they felt that they might seek additional
education at other institutions. Responses did not either
support or negate connected-knowing processing or separate-
knowing processing, but differentiated participants
depending on the number of credit hours they had achieved.

All the participants addressed the issue of being
non-traditional students at a university where the students
are predominantly traditional in age. The women felt that,
as an institution, the university did not address their
needs as well as they wished. They concluded that while
many professors were sensitive to their priorities and their
time commitments, others were fairly insensitive and
unavailable to them as people. University business offices
which are closed during the lunch hour and after five
o’clock were occasionally a problem. The non-traditional
student organization was beneficial but unable to meet all
their needs. The course designed to address the needs of
older students was valuable but also met during regular
daytime hours. In all, they simply wished the institution
would more effectively recognize their existence.

The final section (Section FA) of the interview dealt
with barriers to education. While the literature on adult
student barriers to education illustrates several methods of
obtaining educational barrier information, "The most common
method is to ask people directly through interviews or

questionnaires to identify barriers to learning" (Cross,

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1984, p. 97). Participants were asked what barriers and
problems they faced in returning to school, how they worked
through those barriers and what success they felt they had

had. Obstacles fell into three categories:

1. Situational barriers
2. Institutional barriers
3. Dispositional barriers

Situation barriers were nearly always mentioned first
by the participants. Situational barriers "are those
arising from one’s situation in life at a given time"
(Cross, 1984, p. 98). It is not surprising that twenty-four
of the women listed financial concerns as one of their
biggest problems. Only two of the participants currently
worked full-time. One of these women worked as a secretary
for the university and, as such, received tuition benefits,
so the economic cost of education was not critical for
her. Four of the participants worked at minimum wage part-
time jobs (teacher’s aide, clerk, receptionist). These
women struggled to maintain a household and pay educational
fees. Three women supplemented governmental educational
assistance grants as work-study students within the
structure of the university. One woman qualified for
educational monies from the Michigan Rehabilitation
Commission. The majority of the women in this group were
currently in a tenuous economic situation, although all but
two of the women’s original core families had been middle-

income families. This corresponds to Cross’s findings:

105

Because low family socioeconomic status is still a
barrier to college for women, college women as a group
tend to come from a slightly higher socioeconomic
status than men. (Cross, 1972, p. 142)

Due to life situations these women had serious economic
difficulties and claimed financial problems as a major
concern.
Despite the fact that college women come from higher
SES homes than do college men, women are a little more

likely than men to list financing their education as
a major concern. (Cross, 1971, p. 142)

Ellen: "Money was my biggest problem. I didn’t even

 

have a car to get here.”

Heather: "Finances. My old job hardly paid the rent.
I had not been able to save any money for education.
I also realized that I wasn’t going to be able to

save.”

Anite: Money. I went to financial aid and applied

for Fall grants and Perkins loans. I got them. Then I
applied for food stamps. This was a real come-down for
me. I used to be a real pillar of this city. I got to
the point where I thought my husband had made a good
salary all his life and paid a lot into the system.

But it’s not good, the way they do it. It really takes
your pride away. You use these food stamps in front of
people and you feel humiliated. For a while I would go
out of town to shop and cry all the way home, but I

got over that."

106

A second major situational concern for many of the

women dealt with child—care issues:

Denise: "I had these young children. They are the
most important people in my life. How was I going to
balance all of this? Now I look at them and see that

they are all right."

Jamie: "Balancing the need of myself and my child has

been difficult at times.“

dudy: "Juggling everyone’s schedule. I didn’t want
the kids to suffer. Here I was working two part—time
jobs, going to school and still being a mother. I only
take six credits at a time. It will take me forever to
finish, but the kids are important. They need time and

energy too."

For these women, the toll their educational time and
expenses would take on the family was a critical factor in
determining when they returned to school and the number of
credit hours they attempted to handle. They had a very real
need to balance the demands of their families and their
concerns for their education. Certainly, the women in this
group tended to weigh repeatedly the cost to others against
the benefit to self. This scenario is not unlike Evans’
(1985) observation:

. gender differences would seem to suggest that
when study is seen as demanding a choice between cost

107

to others and benefit to oneself, women are likely to
sacrifice their studies more often than men.

And there lies in this a paradox, as Gilligan points out:
For the very traits that traditionally have defined the
'goodness’ of women, their care for and sensitivity to
the needs of others, are those that mark them as
deficient in moral development. (Gilligan, 1982, p.18)

Certainly, addressing issues of care are critical for women

returning to the educational process.

Institutional barriers were not a strong concern for
this group. Their perception of the limitations of their
particular institution has been previously discussed.
Perhaps their lack of concern about institutional barriers
at this point in the interview indicates a two-fold process.
Early in the interview these women were asked to address the
limitations of the institution and had, at that time,
expressed their concerns and, second, they had already
completed a substantial portion of their undergraduate
education. It seems reasonable to assume that they had come
to terms with the institutional limitations. For women who
were working, the major limitation of the institution was a
noticeable lack of evening classes; for women with small
children the lack of reliable child care was a concern. But
full—time workers and mothers with young children were both
minorities within this particular study sample.

Dispositional barriers were listed as a strong second
to situational barriers. Dispositional barriers are those
barriers ”related to attitudes and self-perceptions about

oneself as a learner” (Cross, 1981, p. 98). Unlike Cross

108

(1981, p. 106) who indicates that dispositional barriers are
mentioned by only 5 to 15 percent of survey respondents,
this group felt quite comfortable discussing their self-

perceptions as learners.

§h§£i= ”Myself. I’ve been my biggest barrier.
Everything else is petty. It gets to me, gets
frustrating. I get overwhelmed. But I have been my
biggest barrier. The bottom line is that it’s my
responsibility, and that’s scary. Mostly I am trying

to give myself credit for what I have done.”

Marilyn: "I was afraid to come back to school. I
never thought I was very smart. And at first I felt
like I didn’t know anything. I sat in this English
class just feeling ignorant. I thought, 'Oh my God,

this guy is going to find out that I’m just dumb.

Helena: "My biggest problem was psychological. I had
had two bad marriages, and I had no self-confidence. I
drove two hours one way to this university three times
before I could get out of the car and go into the
admissions office and ask for an application. I was

sure they would take one look at me and say 'No way’."

Again and again lack of self-confidence surfaced as a
major fear for these women returning to school. Grades were

important to them. High marks helped to build their sense

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of confidence; low marks confirmed their own belief that
they were not very bright. Critical to building a sense of
self-esteem was a willingness on the part of professors and
administrators to spend time with them, to listen to their
concerns and to respond in a positive and helpful manner.
Many of the women spoke of self-growth. A few of them spoke
of being reborn, of finding their path, of using, some for
the first time, their own voice. Most of these women
appeared to be in a state of transition; validation for them
had come from the outside; now they were beginning to
believe in an inner sense of validation.

One of the final questions they were asked was, ”What

successes do you feel you have had?“

Barb: “I went into that first classroom, and I came out

 

breathing.“

Bonnie: "I’ve got a high grade-point average. I’ve
proved to myself that I can do it. I’m getting a lot
of respect from my husband, my daughter, and my

friends.”

Kelly: ”I have had a 3.0 G.P.A. and three healthy and

happy kids. I’m a success!”

Terri: "I’ve come to grips with myself. I lost forty

pounds and quit smoking. I’m proud of me.”

Denise: ”I’ve survived. I’ve gained a sense of self—

110
confidence. My kids are doing well. We’re putting
down roots for the first time in our lives. We’re a

working piece of the world. I love it."

flglgfle: "I made it. I’ve really made it!"

Their enthusiasm for themselves and their places in
the world is impressive, as well it should be, for some of
them have struggled through serious barriers to arrive at
the point of success. Recently women theorists have begun
to address female needs for attachment and connection to
others. They point a new way toward a new set of concepts
with which to make sense of the course of development in
women (Gilligan, 1982; Belenky, et al., 1986; Josselson,
1987). These women are heroines. A historical survey of the
patterns of male and female heroism shows that at the
archetypal level they are quite similar, but the female’s
journey differs "profoundly in detail, tone, and meaning
from analogous stories about men. Moreover, the female
hero’s journey was more optimistic and more democratic and
equalitarian than her male counterpart’s" (Pearson, 1986, p.

xvi).

Summary
In this chapter, the demographic information was
tabulated and summarized, the MBTI was scored and
participants grouped according to their personality types,

the interview was rated and two homogeneous groups emerged.

111
The personality types and connected-knowing processing and
separate-knowing processing groupings were analyzed and the
associations between the interview responses were discussed
as they applied to the major issues of concern for the
participants. In Chapter V, the study is summarized,
conclusions are drawn from the results are discussed, and

recommendations for further study are made.

CHAPTER V

Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations

The primary purpose of this study was to explore the
relationship of personality types as indicated by the Myers-
Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) with the choice of separate-
knowing procedural processing or connected-knowing
procedural processing as selected by white, female, non-
traditional students enrolled in a degree program at a four—
year university. The focus of this exploration was the
pairing of personality types with the selected method used
to solve empowerment issues which the participants perceived
as barriers to their education. Seminal to this study was

the issue of change.

Proceduree
Data on twenty-five individuals were collected. The
first step in the analysis was to synthesize the demographic
information. The participants were discussed in terms of:
1. Age distribution
2. Marital status

3. The number and age of any children

4. Time and type of high school completion
5. Community college attendance
6. Number of credit hours earned

7. Average number of credit hours per semester
8. Grade point average

112

113

9. Housing

10. Commuting distance
11. Prior work experience
12. Career expectations

Over half the participants were between the ages of
30 and 39 years. Of the 47 children of the participants
only 2 were below school age. Many of the women had waited
to continue their formal education until they had
established their family and their youngest child had
entered school. These women had set aside their own desire
for education and career until the early child-rearing years
had passed. This perspective accounts for the low number of
women participants (only 3) in the 25 to 29 age range.
There were also few women in this study (only 5) who were
over the age of 45. The participants were seeking education
which would allow them to pursue a professional career. Age
does limit the number of years in which one can hope to
obtain an education, acquire a professional position, reach
a level of productivity in the career and acquire
eligibility for retirement. Therefore, it is not surprising
that the majority of these women in the process of obtaining
a baccalaureate degree were in their early—middle adult
years.

Thirteen of the women participants were divorced.
Nearly all these women spoke about the importance of the
divorce as a motivating force or trigger event to their

decision to re-enter education.

114

The participants completed the Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator. Of the sixteen types possible within the format
of the MBTI, 11 types were represented in this study. The
personality types ESFJ and ENFP were each scored by five of
the participants; four of the participants type as INFP;
ISFP, INTP, and ESTP were each scored by two of the
participants; and types ISFJ, INFJ, ISTP, ENTP and ENFJ
were each represented by one participant. Types ISTJ, INTJ,
ESTP, ENTJ and ESFP were not represented by this sample
(see Appendix G).

Interviews were conducted and the responses to the
questions were coded. Participants were rated as either
separate-knowers or connected-knowers, depending on the
number of their responses falling into each of the two
categories. Six participants were classified as separate-
knowers, while nineteen participants were classified as
connected-knowers.

A Pearson Product-Moment Correlation coefficient was
calculated to show the intercorrelations between each pair
type on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and to show the
association between each pair of MBTI pairings and the
separate~knowing and connected-knowing score. Chi-square
values were calculated to show association between each MBTI
pair and the separate-knowing and connected-knowing score.

Specific responses to the interview questions were

discussed to further illuminate the statistical findings

115
and to discuss the process of change and whether that change
takes place through acquisition of knowledge and information

by a separate-based process or by a connected-based process.

Hypotheses

Nine null hypotheses were tested. The first hypothesis
to be investigated was that there would be no significant
difference between the distribution of national MBTI types
for females and the distribution of types for participants
in this study. A comparison of percentages for each
national, female MBTI type with percentages for each
participant MBTI type revealed some differences. The
percentage of women in the National Center for Application
of Psychological Type study typing S and typing J was higher
than the percentage of those women typing N and typing P,
while the percentage of women in this study typing N and
typing P was higher than the percentage of women typing S
and typing J. Since the pairing of S and J and the pairing
of N and P are positively correlated, it was expected that a
shift occurring in one pair would result in a corresponding
shift in the second pair. The differences between the two
groups was not large and is probably accounted for by the
differences in the educational backgrounds of the two groups
of women.

The second and third hypotheses to be investigated were
that there would be no significant difference in the

frequency of use of separate-knowing processing between

116
participants typing E and participants typing I, and that
there would be no significant difference in the frequency of
use of connected-knowing processing between participants
typing E and participants typing I. The study indicates
that H02 and H03 were false. There was a positive
relationship between participants typed as introverts on the
MBTI and participants classified as separate-knowers. In
addition, there was a positive relationship between
participants typed as extroverts on the MBTI and
participants classified as connected-knowers.

The fourth and fifth hypotheses to be investigated were
that there would be no significant difference in the
frequency of use of separate-knowing processing between
participants typing S and participants typing N, and that
there would be no significant difference in the frequency of
use of connected-knowing processing between participants
typing S and participants typing N. The study indicated
that separate-knowers tended to be intuitive, while
connected—knowers were balanced between sensing and
intuitive types.

The sixth and seventh hypotheses to be investigated
were that there would be no significant difference in the
frequency of use of separate-knowing processing between
participants typing T and participants typing F, and that
there would be no significant difference in the frequency of
use of connected-knowing processing between participants

typing T and participants typing F. The findings of this

117

study indicate that there was a positive relationship
between participants typed as feeling on the MBTI and
classified as connected-knowers.

The final hypotheses, hypotheses eight and nine, to be
investigated were: that there would be no significant
difference in the frequency of use of separate-knowing
processing between participants typing J and participants
typing P and that there would be no significant difference
in the frequency of use of connected-knowing processing
between participants typing J and participants typing P.
Findings from this study indicate that there was a positive
relationship between participants classified as separate-
knowers and participants typing P on the MBTI. There was no
difference between participants classified as connected-

knowers and participants typing either J or P on the MBTI.

Findings

The twenty-five participants ranged in ages from 25 to
59 years. The median age was 37. The mean age was 38.
Although marital status was varied, the greatest percentage
(52%) was in the divorced category. The number of children
per participant varied. No participant had more than four
children. Three of the participants had four children each;
four of the participants had no children; the mean number of
children for_this group of women was 1.88.

The participants were nearly equally divided between

those who had attended a community college or another

118
university before coming to this university (48%) and those
who had begun their higher education at this university
(52%). The participants were also almost equally divided
between those who lived in campus housing and the university
town (56%) and those who chose to commute (44%).

Only one of the participants had no work experience
prior to attending the university.

The participants had attended the university for a
varied length of time (2 to 10 semesters). The average
number of semester hours completed per student per semester
ranged from 6 to 15. Grade-point averages for this group
ranged from 2.50 to 3.96 on a 4 point scale; the mean grade-
point average was 3.26.

The career expectations of the women in this study
varied, with the largest percentage (40%) anticipating a
career in education. Other women sought four-year terminal
degrees in fields which included:

1. Journalism

2. Health fitness

3. Social work
4. Counseling
5. Broadcasting
6. Accounting
7. Cartography

Two of the women remained undecided about their career
choices. Three of the women felt they would seek additional

post-graduate education in psychology, law and the ministry.

119

As a result of personality typing via the Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator, the participants were represented in 11
types. The participants were fairly evenly divided on three
of the four scales; extroversion was represented by 56% of
the participants, while its counterbalance, introversion,
was represented by 44% of the participants; sensing was
represented by 44% of the participants, while intuition was
represented by 56% of the participants; and judging was
represented by 40% of the participants, while perceiving was
represented by 60% of the participants. The scores of the
participants showed the most diversity on the thinking/
feeling scale; 76% of the participants represented feeling,
while only 24% of the participants represented thinking.
This diversity is usual among the typing of women on the
feeling/thinking scale of the MBTI.

Following the analysis of interview responses, the
participants were divided into two groups: separate-
knowers and connected-knowers. The majority of the
participants (19) were rated as connected—knowers, while
only 6 participants were rated as separate-knowers.

A Pearson Product-Moment Correlation coefficient was
calculated to show relationship between the classification
of either separate-knowing or connected—knowing and the
typing within each of the four component pairs of the MBTI.
Separate-knowers showed a strong preference toward
introversion rather than extroversion, a preference for

intuition rather then sensing and a preference toward

120
perceiving rather than judging. Connected-knowers showed a
strong preference for extroversion rather than introversion,
a preference for feeling rather than thinking, no preference
between intuition and sensing and no preference between
perceiving and judging.

Personality type did have an impact on how the
participants in this study progressed through the process of
acquisition of knowledge and the process of deepening their
understanding; but perhaps their being women had the most
significant impact on the choices they made and the ways in
which they integrated and connected with those choices.

An investigation of the participants’ interview
responses indicated a strong bias toward change on the part
of the women in this study. It was evident from their
responses that they were engaged in the process of finding
their own voices and connecting with the world in which they
live. The transformational process was a powerful part of
their daily lives. They voiced a concern with self—
development and the ways in which their development could
help them form stronger, but more egalitarian relationships,

with the other people in their lives.

Conclueions
Most adult women re-entering education begin the
experience in a state of internal chaos and change.
Clearly, adults who are in a transitional state have

exchanged a defined road map for a chance to grow and change.

This

121

is a time when their ontological sense of themselves

and the world in which they live undergoes transformation.

This

is a time of empowerment for these students. Certainly

there is a need to synthesize the data which deal with

procedural processing and knowledge acquisition for the

re-entry woman.

The terms “separate” and "connected” were used by Gilligan

(1982) and Lyons (1983):

To describe two different conceptions or experiences of
the self, as essentially autonomous (separate from
others) or as essentially in relationship (connected to
to others). The separate self experiences relationship
in terms of reciprocity, considering others as it
wishes to be considered. The connected self
experiences relationships as responses to others in
their terms. (Belenky, 1986, p. 102)

When the terms "separate" and “connected” are used in

reference to knowledge and knowing, they contrast two

epistemological orientations: a separate epistemology which

is based upon impersonal procedures for establishing truth,

and a connected epistemology in which truth emerges through

care.

hear.

Although our use of the terms separate and connected is
similar enough to Gilligan’s to warrant our adopting
them, when we speak of separate and connected-knowing
we refer not to any sort of relationship between the
self and another person but with relationship between
knowers and the objects (or subject) or knowing (which
may or may not be persons). (Belenky, 1986, p. 102)

Certainly, the voice of separate-knowing is easy to

It is the voice of logical reason. It is objective

and tough—minded; it is the voice of much of the educational

process. ”Separate-knowing is large an adversarial form"

122
(Belenky, 1986, p. 106). The procedures separate—knowers
use for making meaning are strictly impersonal.

The voice of connected—knowing is more difficult to
hear because, as educators, we are not schooled to hear it.
”connected—knowing builds on the subjectivists’ conviction
that the most trustworthy knowledge comes from personal
experience rather than the pronouncements of authorities"
(Belenky,1986, p. 113). To expand their knowledge base,
connected-knowers:

Develo access to other people’s

knowledge. Since knowledge comes from experience, the

only way they can hope to understand another person’s

ideas is to try to share the experience that had led

the person to form the idea. (Belenky, 1986, p. 113)

Separate-knowers suppress the self, taking as
impersonal a stance as possible toward the knowing. They
attempt to weed out the self. Connected-knowers gradually
shift their focus from their own experiences and ways of
thinking to other people’s ways of thinking.

As in all procedural knowing, it is the form rather

than the content of knowing that is central. Separate-

knowers learn through explicit formal instruction how
to adopt a different lens--how, for example, to think
like a sociologist. Connected knowers learn through
empathy. Both learn to get out from behind their own
eyes and use a different lens, in one case the lens of

a discipline, in the other the lens of another person.

(Belenky, 1986,p. 115)

Of the 25 participants in this study, 19 women (76%)
were classified as connected-knowers, while 6 women (24%)
were classified as separate-knowers. It is possible that

the resulting imbalance of separate-knowers and connected-

knowers in this study is due, at least in part, to the

123
female gender of all the participants. Separate- and
connected-knowing are not gender-specific, but as Belenky
points out, may be gender-related:

The two modes may be gender-related. It is possible

that more women than men tip toward connected-knowing ‘

and more men than women toward separate—knowing. Some
people, certainly, would argue that this is so, but we
know of no hard data (to use a favorite separate-knowing
term) bearing directly on the issue, and we offer none

here because we interviewed no men. (Belenky, 1986,

p. 103)

Most studies of adult development have been conducted
by male psychologists using male participants. Clearly
their work establishes a growth pattern toward autonomy and
power. But female psychologists studying the growth and
development of female participants point toward a different
pattern of integration, a pattern which moves toward
interconnectedness and care rather than autonomy and power

(Gilligan, 1982; Lyons, 1983; Belenky, 1986; and Josselson,

1987).

Recommendation

Given these differences, women re-entering education may
respond to the acquisition of knowledge by using a procedural
process which differs from that of the male student.

First, connected—knowers have a strong sense of the
importance of experience, an interconnectedness with others,
and a tendency to process decisions based on feeling. They
do not wish to be told that they have the potential to
become knowledgeable; they need to know that their past

experiences have already made them knowledgeable and that

124
the knowledge that they have already acquired is of value.
Women students need to make sense of their own experiences.
They need to find their voices and use their own words for
meaning-making. Marquerite Duras, the French feminist
writer, says that men have all the old words on the tips of
their tongues, while:

Women have been in darkness for centuries. They don’t

know themselves. Or only poorly. And when women

write, they translate the darkness. Men don’t
translate. They begin from a theoretical platform that
is already in place, already elaborated. The writing

of women is really translated from the unknown, like a

new way of communicating, rather than an already formed

language. (Duras, 1975, p. 174)

The interviews of the participants in this study
illuminated the need on the part of these women to grasp a
sense of their own value and to build on that base an
ability to be confident in themselves.

Secondly, traditional forms of education, such as
banking education, may not be highly productive methods of
education for connected-knowers. Freire says:

Whereas banking education anesthetizes and inhibits

creative power, problem-posing education involves a

constant unveiling of reality. The former attempts to

maintain the submersion of the consciousness. (Freire,

1984, p. 68)

Belenky discusses a different mode of teaching; one she
calls the midwife-teacher. A midwife-teacher is one who
helps the student to articulate and expand her already
formed core of knowledge.

Midwife-teachers are the opposite of banker-teachers.

While the bankers deposit knowledge in the learner’s

head, the midwives draw it out. They assist the
student in giving birth to their own ideas, in making

125

their own tacit knowledge explicit and elaborating it.
(Belenky, 1986, p. 217)

The women in this study were elegant in their praise of
teachers who connected with them. "She [a philosophy
professor] listened and gave me some suggestions. You know,
things to think about” (Barbara). ”In that class, the
professor taught me how to go to bat for myself. I learned
that I was worth going to bat for" (Marilyn). “This
professor showed me that I was creative. She made me expand
my abilities,” (Vicky). ”I will remember the people who
allowed me to be an adult. Let me create my own space"
(Anita). The teachers who were spoken of by these women
with respect and care were the teachers who had connected
with them, helped them to believe in themselves, and showed
them their own pattern of growth. They were connectors.
They were midwife teachers.

In view of the evidence that women perceive and

construe social reality differently from men and that

these differences center around experiences of
attachment and separation, life transitions that
invariably engage these experiences can be expected

to involve women in a distinctive way. And because

women’s sense of integrity appears to be entwined with

an ethic of care, so that to see themselves as women is
to see themselves in a relationship of connection,

the major transitions in women’s lives would seem to

involve changes in the understanding and activities of

care. (Gilligan, 1982, p. 171)

Thirdly, women reach mid-life with a psychological
history that is different from men’s; they make a different

sense of experience based on their knowledge of human

relationship.

126
Since the reality of connection is experienced by women
as a given rather than as freely contracted, they arrive
at an understanding of life that reflects the limits of
autonomy and control. As a result, women’s development
delineates the path not only to a less violent life but
also to a maturity realized through interdependence and

taking care. (Gilligan, 1982, p. 172)

Freire (1984, p. 62) says that as we abandon the
banking model of education in favor of the problem-posing
model, we will ”Undermine the power of oppression.

Through communication the human life holds meaning:

The teacher’s thinking is authenticated only by the

authenticity of the students’ thinking. The teacher

cannot think for his students, nor can he impose his
thought on them. Authentic thinking, thinking that is
concerned about reality, does not take place in ivory
tower isolation, but only in communication. (Freire,

1984, p. 64)

In summary, communication and interconnectedness are
the links to processing the acquisition of knowledge for
connected—knowers. ”If we replace the separate model with
the connected model we can spare women the alienation,
repression, and division their schooling currently confers
on them” (Belenky, 1986, p. 228). Certainly, it seems
likely that education conducted on the connected model would
help to alleviate some of the fear and uncertainty with
which women often view the process. Such an educational
process could “help women toward community, power, and
integrity. Such an education could facilitate the
develOpment of women’s minds and spirits“ (Belenky, 1984,

p. 228).

A connected-knowing process of education would function

toward helping the learner to return to herself. It is an

127

educational process which plays the believing game rather
than the traditional educational process of playing the
doubting game. The essence of this connected process is
beautifully illuminated in the final pages of Cat’s Eye by
the contemporary Canadian writer, Margaret Atwood. The
central character, Elaine, now approaching fifty years of
age, sees clearly the central core of her being and extends
the care needed to free herself.

I am the older one now, the stronger. If she stays

here any longer she will freeze to death; she will be

left behind, in the wrong time. It’s almost too late.

I reach out my arms to her, bend down, hands open
to show I have no weapon. It’s all right, I say to
her. You can go home now.
The snow in my eyes withdraws like smoke. (Atwood,

1988, p. 419)
At the end of her interview, Helen says, “My professor at
the community college told me I could do it. And I made it.
I really made it!“ Marilyn says, "I am trusted at work and
because of that trust I find confidence and self-
fulfillment.” Martha claims, ”I always thought I was nobody,
and then I started school and this one teacher took time

with me and listened. Everyday I gain some more self-

confidence. I’m a person too."

Implications for Furthe; Research
Educational research by, with and for women has
increased during the last several years. Lyons suggests
that:
Psychological theories of moral development should

recognize a morality of care as a systematic, lifelong
concern of individuals. It should not be identified

128

solely as a temporary, stage- or level-specific

concern, or as subsumed within a morality of justice,

as Kohlberg’s work posits. (Lyons, 1983, p. 141)

It is reasonable to assume that theories of moral
development will become more inclusive as research into
the development of women adds to the data base of
psychological development theories.

First, research into separate-knowing and connected-
knowing procedural processing in the acquisition of
knowledge and the search for understanding is only in the
infant stage. Significant research is needed in order to
investigate whether and how gender differences affect the
individual’s responses to processing. Research studies in
separate-knowing and connected—knowing including male
participants need to be defined and carried out. Although
there is inherent difficulty in understanding sex
differences, "sex as a variable for study ought to be
included in research designs and methodologies as a matter
of course” (Lyons, 1983, p. 142).

Secondly, this study dealt only with white
participants; it is possible that minority women interact
with their ontological worlds in ways which differ from
white women. Research comparing and/or contrasting majority
women with minority women, in regard to procedural
processing in the acquisition of knowledge, ought to be
helpful to educators at all levels of adult learning.

Thirdly, the goals and mission of community colleges

frequently differ from those of universities. Research

129

studies which explore the similarities and differences
between female students enrolled at community colleges and
female students enrolled at universities, within the
processing of knowledge acquisition and development of
understanding, should provide reliable information for
educators at those levels.

Fourthly, research dealing with young women progressing
through the primary grades should look at separate-knowing
and connected-knowing as methods girls use during their
educational development; research might synthesize process
theory with development theory.

Exploration into the relationship of personality types
with separate-knowing and connected-knowing procedural
processing is only in the beginning stages of investigation.
The idea that there are two different and equally valid
modes of meaning-making, separate-knowing and connected-
knowing, is becoming increasingly prominent in the research
literature of adult development. As further research into
adult development is conducted with women, we will gain the
depth of understanding necessary to work collaboratively
with adult women students as they acquire knowledge and
deepen their awareness and understanding.

Women’s concerns are centered on care and
interconnectedness. This essential difference from autonomy
and power imparts a richly empathic approach to gaining

knowledge and understanding.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

 

 

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ya

  

 

 

 

 

 

‘ll‘e'

by Katharine C. Briggs and lsabel Briggs Myers

'DIRECTIONS:

There are no “right" or “wrong" answers to these
questions. Your answers will help show how you like
to look at things and how you like to go about decid-
ing things. Knowing your own preferences and learning
about other people's can help you understand where
your special strengths are, what kinds of work you
might enjoy and be successful doing, and how people
with different preferences can relate to each other and
be valuable to society.

Read each question carefully and mark your answer
on the separate answer sheet. Make no marl-s on the
question booklet. Do not think too long about any
question. if you cannot decide on a question, skip it
but be careful that the next space you mark on the
answer sheet has the same number as the question you
are then answering.

Read the directions on your answer sheet, fill in your
name and any other facts asked for. and work through
until you have answered all the questions.

Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc. 511 College Ave.. Palo Alto,
California 94.106. 0 Copyright 1976 by Isabel Briggs Myers. Copyright
1943. I944. 1957 by Katherine C. Briggs Ind Isabel Briggs Myers. No
reproduction is lawful without written permission of the publisher.

 

130

 

 

J.

7.

9.

131

Which answer comes closest to telling how you usually feel or act?

Does following I schedule
(A) appeal to you, or
(II) cramp you?

Do you usually get along better with
(A) imaginative people, or
(II) realistic people?

If strangers are staring at you in a crowd,
do you

(A) often become aware of it, or

(I!) seldom notice it?

Are you more careful about
(A) people 'a feelings, or
(8) their rights?

Are you

(A) inclined to enjoy deciding things. or

(8) just as glad to have circumstances
decide a matter for you?

When you are with a group of people, would
you usually rather
(A) join in the talk of the group, or
(B) talk individually with people
you know well?

When you have more knowledge or skill in
something than the people around you, is it
more satisfying
(A) to guard your superior knowledge, or
(I!) to share it with those who want

to learn?

When you have done all you can to remedy
a troublesome situation, are you

(A) able to stop worrying about it, or
(8) still more or less haunted by it?

If you were asked on a Saturday morning
what you were going to do that day,
would you

(A) be able to tell pretty well, or

(8) list twice too many things, or

(C) have to wait and see?

If

[2.

l3.

l4.

l6.

17.

Do you think on the whole that
(A) children have the best of it, or
(8) life is more interesting for grown-ups?

In doing something that many other people
do, does it appeal to you more to

(A) do it in the accepted way, or

(8) invent a way of your ’own?

When you were small. did you
(A) fccl sure of your parents' love and
devotion to you, or

(I!) feel that they admired and approved
of some other child more than they
did of you?

Do you

(A) rather prefer to do things at the last

minute, or
(8) find that hard on the nerves?

If a breakdown or mix-up halted I job on
which you and a lot of others were working,
would your impulse be to

(A) enjoy the breathing spell, or

(I!) look for some part of the work where
you could still make progress, or

(C) join the ”trouble-shooters" who were
wrestling with the difficulty?

Do you usually

(A) show your feelings freely, or

(ll) keep your feelings to yourself?

When you have decided upon a course of

action, do you _
reconsider it if unforeseen disadvan-

(A)
tagcs are pointed out to you. or
(8) usually put it through to a finish,

however it may inconvenience yourself
and others?

In reading for pleasure, do you

(A) enjoy odd or original ways of saying
things, or

(8) like writers to say exactly what
they mean?

ll.

' (8)

l9.

11.

1’.

24.

15.

21.

1..

In any of the ordinary emergencies of
everyday life. do you prefer to

(A) take orders and be helpful. or
give orders and be responsible?

At parties, do you

' (A) sometimes get bored, or

(I!) always have fun?

Is it harder for you to adapt to
(A) routine, or - -
(ll) constant change? .

Would you be more willing to take on a
heavy load of extra work for the sake of
(A) extra comforts and luxuries, or
(I!) a chance to achieve something
important?

Are the things you plan or undertake
(A) almost always things you can finish, or
(I) often things that prove too difficult to

carry through?

Are you more attracted to

(A) a person with a quick and brilliant
mind, or

(B) a practical person with a lot of
common sense?

Do you find people in general

(A) slow to appreciate and accept ideas
not their own. or

(I!) reasonably open-minded?

When you have to meet strangers, do you
find it
(A) pleasant. or at least easy. or
(I!) something that takes a good deal
' of effort?

Are you inclined to
(A) value sentiment more than logic, or
(I!) value logic more than sentiment?

Do you prefr. to

(A) arrange dates, parties, etc. well in
advance, or

be free to do whatever looks like fun
when the time comes?

(I!)

In making plans which concern other people,

do you prefer to

(A) take them into your confidence, or

(I!) keep them in the dark until the last
possible moment?

132

29.

30.

"O

32.

33.

34.

,5.

36.

31.

Is it a higher compliment to be called
(A) a person of real feeling. or
(B) a consistently reasonable person?

When you have a decision to make, do

you usually

(A) make it right away. or

(B) wait as long as you reasonably can
before deciding?

When you run into an unexpected difficulty
in something you are doing, do you feel it
to be

(A) a piece of bad luck, or

(ll) a nuisance, or

(C) all in the day's work?

Do you almost always
(A) enjoy the present moment and make
the most of it, or

(I!) feel that something just ahead is
more important?
Are you

(A) easy to get to know, or
(I!) hard to get to know?

With most of the people you know, do you
(A) feel that they mean what they say. or
(ll) feel you must watch for a hidden
meaning?
0
When you start a big project that is due in a
week, do you
(A) take time to list the separate things to
be done and the order of doing them,

or
(B) plunge in?

In solving a personal problem, do you

(A) feel more confident about it if you
have asked other people's advice. or
feel that nobody else is in as good a'
position to judge as you are?

(8)

Do you admire more the people who are
(A) conventional enough never to make '
themselves conspicuous. or

too original and individual to care
whether they are conspicuous or not? '

(I!)
Which mistake would be more natural

for your

(A) to drift from one thing to another all
your life, or

to stay in a rut that didn't suit you?

Go on to the next page.

(B)

39.

4'.

' 41.

4!.

44.

45.

46.

41.

When you run across people who are
mistaken in their beliefs, do you feel that
(A) it is your duty to set them right, or
(I!) it is their privilege to be wrong?

. When an attractive chance for leadership

comes to you. do you

(A) accept it if it is something you can
really swing, or

(I!) sometimes let it slip because you are
too modest about your own abilities.

(C) or doesn't leadership ever attract you?

Among your friends, are you

(A) one of the last to hear what is going
on. or
(8) full of news about everybody?

Are you at your best

(A) when dealing with the unexpected, or

(I) when following a carefully worked-
out plan?

Does the importance of doing well on a test

make it generally
(A) easier for you to concentrate and do

your best, or

(I) harder for you to concentrate and do
yourself justice?

In your free hours. do you

(A) very much enjoy stopping somewhere
for refreshments, or

(8) usually want to use the time and

money another way?

At the time in your life when things piled
up on you the worst. did you find ‘

(A) that you had gotten into an impossible
situation, or a
(B) that by doing only the necessary

things you could work your way out?

Do most of the people you know

(A) take their fair share of praise and
blame, or

(I!) grab all the credit they can but shift
any blame on to someone else?

When you are in an embarrassing spot, do

, you usually

change the subject, or

turn it into a joke, or

days later, think of what you should
have said?

(A)
(B)
(C)

133

48.

49.

$0.

52.

54.

$6.

57.

Are such emotional “ups and downs” as you
may feel .

(A) very marked, or

(ii) rather moderate?

Do you think that having a daily routine is

(A) a comfortable way to get things done,
or

(B) painful even when necessary?

Are you usually
(A) a “grand mixer". or
(I!) rather quiet and reserved?

In your early childhood (at six or eight),
did you

(A) feel your parents were very wise
people who should be obeyed, or
find their authority irksome and
escape it when possible?

(I!)

When you have a suggestion that ought to be
made at a meeting, do you
(A) stand up and make it as a matter of
l course, or
(I) hesitate to do so?

Do you get more annoyed at
(A) fancy theories. or
(II) people who don 't like theories?

When you are helping in a group undertak-
log. are you more often struck by

(A) the cooperation, or
(II) the inefficiency,
(C) or don't you get involved in group

undertakings?

When you go somewhere for the day, would
you rather
(A) plan what you will do and when, or

(I!) just go?

Are the things you worry about
(A) often really not worth it, or
(I!) always more or less serious?

In deciding something important, do you
(A) find you can trust your feeling about
what is best to do, of

think you should do the logical thing.
no matter how you feel about it?

(I!)

SI.

59.

6|.

6!.

g as.

Do you tend to have
(A) deep friendships with a very few

people, or

(I) broad friendships with many
different people?

Do you think your friends

(A) feel you are open to suggestions, or
(II) know better than to try to talk you
out of anything you've decided to do?

Does the idea of making a list of what you
should get done over a week-end

(A) appeal to you, or

(ll) leave you cold, or

(C) positively depress you?

In traveling. would you rather go

(A) with a compassion who had made the
trip before and “knew the ropes", or

(I) alone or with someone greener at it

than yourself?

Would you rather have

(A) an opportunity that may lead to
bigger things, or

(I) an experience that you are sure
to enjoy?

Among your personal beliefs. are there
(A) some things that cannot be proved, or
(I!) only tltings than can be proved?

. Would you rather

(A) support the established methods of
doing good. or

(I) analyze what is still wrong and attack
unsolved problems?

IIas it been your experience that you

(A) often fall in love with a notion or
project that turns out to be a disc
appointment-so that you "go up like
a rocket and come down like the
stick", or do you

(I) use enough judgment on your enthus-
iasms so that they do not let you
down?

13k

66.

67.

63.

69.

70.

71.

Do you think you get

(A) more enthusiastic about things than
the average person, or

(8) less enthusiastic about things than
the average person?

If you divided all the people you know into
those you like. those you dislike, and those
toward whom you feel indifferent, would
there be more of '
(A) those you like, or

(B) those you dislike?

[On this next question only, if two answers
are true, mark both.)

In your daily work, do you
(A) rather enjoy an emergency that makes
you work against time. or
(II) hate to work under pressure, or
(C) usually plan your work so you won't
need to work under pressure?
I

Are you more likely to speak up in
(A) praise. or
(B) blame?

Is it higher praise to say someone has
(A) vision, or
(II) common sense?

When playing cards. do you enjoy most
(A) the sociability,

(If) the excitement of winning,

(C) the problem of getting the most out
of each hand,

the risk of playing for stakes,

or don 't you enjoy playing cards?

(D)
l 3)

Go on to the next page.

11.
1 3.
14.
75.
16.
l7.
1!.
79.
30.
CI.
81.
IS.
84.
8!.
86.
.7.
8..
I9.
90.
9 l.
91.
93.
94.
93.
96.

91.

(A) firm-minded
(A) imaginative
(A) systematic
(A) congenial
(A) theory
(A) party
(A) build
(A) analyse
(A) popular
(A) benefits
(A) casual
(Al active
(A) ' uncritical
(A) scheduled
(A) convincing
(A) reserved
(A) statement
(A) soft
(A) production
(A) forgive
(A) hearty
(Al who
(A) impulse
(A) speak
(A) affection
(A) punctual

warmohearted (B)

matter-of-fact (B)

spontaneous

effective
certainty
theater
invent
sympathise
Intimate
blessings
tlDfICGNI
intellectual
critical
unplanned
touching
talkative
concept
hard
design
tolerate
quiet

what
decision
write
tenderness

leisurely

(B)

(B)

(II)

(8)

(ii)

' (It)

(I!)

(B)

(I!)

(B)

(B)

(B)

(8)

(ii)

(8)

(B)

(B)

(3)

‘(B)

(B)

(B)

(B)

(I)

135

 

99.
too.
tot.
not.
I03.

' not.
not.
nos.
I01.
nos.
109.
no.
m.
In.
m.
us.
its.
m.
:11.
us.
us.
no.
m.
122.

I23.

(A)
(A)
(A)
(A)
(A)

(A)

(A)

(A)
(A)
(A)
(A)
(A)
(A)
(A)
(A)
(A)
(A)
(A)

(A)

w ,

(A)
(A)
(A)
(A)
(A)

(A)

Which word in each pair appeals to you more?
Think what the n'erda mean. not how they leak or how they sound.
98.

sensible
changing
determined
system
facts
compassion
concrete
justice
calm

make

wary
orderly
approve
gentle
foundation
quick
thinking
theory
sociable
sign
systematic
literal
peacentaker
accept
agree

executive

fascinating
permanent
devoted
seat

ideas
foresight
abstract
mercy
lively
CICIIC
trustful
«Iv-sow
question
firm

spire
careful
feeling
experience
detached
symbol
casual
figurative
judge
change
discuss

scholar

(II)
(fl)
(Ill
(Ill
(II)
(II)
(II)
(fl)
(Ii)
(ii)
(ii)
(ii)
(ii)
(II)
(II)
(If?
(Ill
(II)
(II)
(II)
(II)
(Ill
(II)
(II)
(II)

(B)

124.

125.

I16.

I11.

136

Which answer comes closest to telling how you usually feel or act?

Do you find the more routine parts of
your day

(A) restful, or

(II) boring?

If you think you are not getting a square

deal in a club or team to which you

belong. is it better to

(A) shot up and take It, or

(ll) use the threat of resigning If
necessary to get your rights?

Can you

(A) talk easily to almost anyone for as
long as you have to. or

(I!) find a lot to say only to certain
people or under certain conditions?

When strangers notice you, does it
(A) make you uncomfortable, or
(Ill not bother you at all?-

If you were a teacher, would you rather

I 19.

III.

'31.

I”.

1".

(A) fact courses, or
(II) courses involving theory?

When something starts to be the fashion,
are you usually

(A) oneofthefirsttouyit.“

(ll) not much interested?

In solving a difficult personal problem,

do you

(A) tend to do more worrying than is

useful in reaching a decision, or

feel no more anxiety than the

situation requires?

If people seem to slight you, do you

(A) tell yourself they didn't mean any-
thing by it. or

(B) distrust their good will and stay on
guard with them thereafter?

(I)

When you have a special job to do, do you

like to

(A) organise it carefully before you start,
or

(I!) f'md out what is necessary as you go
along?

Do you feel it is a worse fault

(A) to show too much warmth. or

(I) not to have warmth enough?

When you are at a party, do you like to

(A) help get things going, or

(II) let the others have fun in their
own way?

”6.

U1.

Ill.

l,,.

I40.

I41.

I42.

I43.

When a new opportunity comes up, do you

(A) decide about it fairly quickly, or

(B) sometimes miss out through taking
too long to make up your mind?

In managing your life, do you tend to

(A) undertake too much and get into a
tight spot. or

hold yourself down to what you can
comfortably handle?

(I!)

When you find yourself definitely In the
wrong, would you rather

(A) admit you are wrong. or

(I!) not admit it, though everyone
knows it.

(C) or don't you ever find yourself in
the wrong?

Can the new people you meet tell what you
are interested in '
(A) right away, or
(II) only after they really get to

know you?

In your home life. when you come to the
end of some undertaking. are you
(At clear as to what comes next and ready
to tackle it, or
(II) glad to relax until the next Inspiration
‘ hits you?

Do you think it more important to

(A) be able to see the possibilities in a
situation, or
(B) be able to adjust to the facts as

they are?

Do you feel that the people whom you
know personally owe their successes more to

(A) ability and hard work, or

(I!) lock, or

(C) bluff, pull and shoving themselves
ahead of others?

In getting a job done, do you depend upon

(A) starting early. so as to finish with time
to spare, or
(B) the extra speed you develop at the

last minute?

After associating with superstitious people,
have you
(A) found yourself slightly affected by
their superstitions, or
remained entirely unaffected?
Go on to the next page.

(B)

I44.

- I43.

I46.

I47.

I46.

I49.

I 9..

I54.

When you don't agree with what has just
been said, do you usually

(A) let It go. or

(II) put up an argument?

Would you rather be considered
(A) a practical person, or
(II) an ingenious person?

Out of all the good resolutions you- may ' ‘
have made, are there

(A) some you have kept to this day, or
(II) none that have really lasted?

Would you rather work under someone
who is

(A) always kind. or

(II) always fair?

In a large group, do you more often
(A) Introduce others. or
(ll) get introduced?

Would you rather have as a friend someone
who

(A) Is always coming up with new Ideas, or
(II) has both feet on the ground?

When you have to do business with

strangers, do you feel

(A) confident and at ease, or

(B) a little fussed or afraid that they
won’t want to bother with you?

Whenltissetdedwellinadvance thotyou
wdl do a certain thing at a certain time, do
you find it

(A) nice to be able to plan accordingly, or
(II) a lltde unpleasant to be tied down?

Do you feel that sarcasm

(A) should never be used where It can
hurt people’s feelings, or

(I) is too effective a form of speech to be
discarded for such a reason?

When you think of some little thing you
should do or boy. do you

(A) often forget it till much later, or
(II) usually get It down on paper to
remind yourself, or

always carry through on It
without reminders?

Do you more often let
(A) your heart rule your head. or
(8) your head rule your heart?

In listening to a new idea, are you more
anxious to

(A) find out ah about It, or

(II) judge whether it Is right or wrong?

(0

137

I 36.

I”.

I6I.

I62.

I64.

"5.

I66.

Are you oppressed by
(A) many different worries, or
(II) comparatively few?

When you don't approve of the way a friend
la acting, do you

(A) wait and see what happens. or

(II) do or say something about it?

Do you feel it is a worse fault to be
(A) unsympathetic. or
(II) unreasonable?

When a new situation comes up which
conflicts with your plans, do you try first to
(A) change your plans to fit the

situation. or

(I) change the situation to fit your plans?

Do you think the people close to you know

how you feel

(A) about most things. or

(II) only when you have had some special
reason to tell them?

When you have a serious choice to make,
do you
(A) almost always come to a clear-cut
decision, or
(B) sometimes find it so hard to decide
that you do not wholeheartedly
I follow up no... choice?

On most matters, do you
(A) have a pretty definite opinion, or
(II) like to keep an open mind?

As you get to know people better, do you

more often find that they

(A) let you down or disappoint you in
some way. or

(II) improve upon acquaintance?

When the truth would not be polite, are you
more likely to tell

(A) a polite lie, or

(II) the impolite truth?

In your way of living, do you prefer to be

(.A) original, or
(II) conventional?-

Would you have liked to argue the meaning
of

(A) a lot of these questions, or

(I!) only a few?

APPENDIX B

EFFECTS OF THE COMBINATIONS OF ALL FOUR PREFERENCES
IN YOUNG PEOPLE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOURCE: MYERS,

1976, PAGE 7

I NTUITIVES
WITII FEELING WITII TIIINKINO
IN F J INT J
Succeed by perseverance. original- Ilsve original minds and great drive
ity and desire to do whatever b which they use only for their own
needed or wanted. for their best In fields that appeal
efforts into theh work. Quietly to them they have a fine power to
forceful. conscientious. cones organise a job and carry it through
for others. Ilmpeeted for theb with or without help. Skeptical. a
firm prhtelplea Likely to be critical independent. deter
boomed and followed 1.. one .u... stubborn. Must I...» to yield 0
clear convictions as to how bmt less Important points in order to Q
to serve the common good. win the most important. 3 "‘
Uvethehouterhlemorawith IJvothelrouterIlsmorewlth g
lest-g. hose more with Intuition. thinking. Inner more with Intuition. o
<
INF? INTP "’
Fol of enthusiasm and loyalties. Quiet. reserved. brilliant h '1! 5
but seldom talk of these until they seams especially to theoretical t'l
know you well Care about learning. or scientific subjects. Logical x
Ideas. language. and independent to the point of hair-splitting. 0
projects ol their own. Apt to be on Interested mainly in Ideas, with M
yearbook stall. perhaps as editor. httlo hklng for parties or small :3 -
Tend to undertake too much. then tall Tend to have very sharply '-
somehow get It dons. friendly. but defined Interests Need to choose 3
often too absorbed in what they are careers where some strong interest
domgtohosociableornoticemnch. althoirecanbousedaoduaeful.
Dvotheheuterllfemorowtth lesthehoutarlfemeeewith
htultlsn. boar more with feehng. Intuition. Inner more with thinking.
, ENFP ENTP
Warmly enthusiastic. high-sphlted. Quick. hgenloua. good at many
btgenioua. lmadnatlve. Able to things. Stimulating company,
do almost anything that interests alert and outspoken. argue for
these Quick with a solution for fun on either side of a question. 1
any difficulty and ready to help Ilmoureeful in solving new and pg
. anyone with a problem. Often rely challenging problems. but may x
on theb sbiflty to lrnprovias neglect routine assignments. O
hatead of preparing in advance. Turn to one new interest after PI
Can always find compeling tease. another. Can always find logical
for whatever they want. reasons for whatevu they want.
' I'l
Livothebooterlfsmorewith Urethekooterllsmerewlth "X
htuttlsn. hner more with feeling. hstuttian. Inner more with thinkhtg. ;
O .
EN FJ ENTJ <
Ileapandvo and responsible. feel Ifssrty. hank. able In stories. :3
real concern for what others thhth leaders in activities. Usually a
and want, and try to handle thing good In anything that requires 3
. with due regard for other people‘s reasoning and intelligent talk. a
feelings. Can present a proposal such as public speaking. Are 0
or load a group discussion with well-informed and keep adding to '2‘
ease and tact. Sociable. popular. their fund of knowledge. May 0
active In school affairs. but put sometimes be more positive and
time enough on their stumes to do contldent than their ssperienca
-goodworh. ' banarsa warrants.
Uvothehooterlfemorewith Ivathebooterhfsmorswlth
feel-g. beer more with hstultlon. thinking. inner more with Intuition.

EXTROVERTS

JUDGING

INTROVERTS

PERCEPTIVE

JUDGING

PERCEPTIVE

SOURCE :

139

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SENSING TYPES
WITII THINKING WITII FEELING
181'.) ISFJ
Serious. quiet. earn auccem by Quiet. friendly. responsible and
euncentration and thoroughness. conscientious. Work davotedly to
Practical orderly. matter-of-faet, meet their ohlll'ifm "I" 04""
logical. realistic and dependable. their friends and school Thorough,
Bee to It that everything Is well pahtatsking. accurate. May need
organised. Take reaponaibillty.- time to master technical subjects.
Make up their own minds as to as the'n interests are not often
what should be accomplished and technical. Patient with detail and
work toward It steadily. regard- routine. Loyal. considerate. cone
less of protests or distractions. cerned with how other people feel.
Live theh enter his more with live their outer life more with
thinking. inner more with sensing. feedng. Inner more with sensing.
ISTP ISFP
' Cool anIaskern quiet. reserved. Nothing. quietly friendly. renal-
obasrving and analysing life with live. modest about their abilities.
detached curiosity and uncspeeted Shun disagreements. do not force
flafiea of original humor. Usually theh opinions or values on others.
hteraated hr Impersonal principlm Usually do not care to lead but are
cause and effect. or how and why often loyal followers. his y be rather
mechanical things work. Brett relaxed about assignments or getthsg
themselves no more than they tldnk things done. because they enjoy the
necemary. because any waste of present moment and do not want to
energy wouldboineffsctenh spedltbynnduohaatesreasrtlsn.
Dvotheboutsrlfamorewith IIvothelrouteeIfemerewlth
mom-phraermorowiththlnkhtg. madnannermorawithfeeling.
ESTP ESFP
Matter-of-fact. do not worry or Outgohg. easygoing. secepthg,
hurry. enjoy whatever comm along. - friendly. fond of a good tlrna.
Tend to like mechanical things and Like sports and making things.
sports. with friends on the aide. Know what's going on and join 5
hiay he a bit blunt or insensitive. eagerly. I” ind remembering facts
Can do math or science when they easier than mastering theories.
are the need. Dislike long espla- Are beet In dtuatlons that need
notions. Ara best with real things sound common sense and practical
that can be worked. handled. taken abiflty with people as well as
apart or put back together. with things.
Livothelreutorllfemorowlth IJvethebouterIlomorewlth
sensing, hsner more with thinking. sensing. knee more with losing.
. ESTJ 3er
Practical realists. matter-offset. Warm-hearted. talkative. popuim.
with a natural head for business conscientious. born cooperatore.
or mechanism. Not interested In active committee members. Always
subjects they see no use for. but doing something nice for someou.
can apply themselves when necessary. Work best with plenty of encourage-
IJke to organise and run activities. rnent and probe. Little interest
Tend to run things well. especially ks abstract thinking or technical
I they remember to consider other subjects. Main interest is in
people's feelings and poinu of things that directly and vbihly
view when making their decisions. . affect people's Ives.
Live theb outer his more with Live theh outer Ifs more with
thinkhg. inner more with sensing. foolhsg. inner more with soaring.
MYERS, 1976, PAGE

 

APPENDIX C

DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

Name:

Age:

Marital Status:

Do you have children?

What are their ages?

In what year did you graduate from high school?

In the years between high school and coming to college, did
you work in and/or out of the home?

If you worked out of the home, what did you do?

Did you attend a community college? If so, for how long?

Do you live in university housing? Do you live in town?

If you commute, about how many miles do you drive to campus?
How many semesters have you been attending this university?
How many credit hours have you completed?

How many credit hours do you usually take each semester?
What is your G.P.A.?

What is your career expectation?

What are your major and minor areas of study?

140

APPENDIX D

INTERVIEW SCHEDULE
(revised)
Section A--Background

A1. What stands out for you in your life over the past few
years?
What kinds of things have been important?
What stays with you?

A2. Tell me something about what your life is like right
now.
What do you care about. think about?

Section B—-Self-Descriptions (Gilligan)

B1. How would you describe yourself to yourself?
If you were to tell yourself who you really are, how
would you do that?

82. Is the way you see yourself now different from the way
you saw yourself in the past?
What led to the changes?
Have there been any other turning points?

83. How do you see yourself changing in the future?

Section E--Real Life Moral Dilemma (Gilligan)

Everyone has had the experience of being in situations where
they had to make a decision but weren’t sure what was the
right thing to do. Could you describe to me a situation
where you weren’t sure what was the right thing to do?

E1. What was the situation? What was the conflict for you
in the situation?

E2. In thinking about what to do, what did you consider?
Why? Were there other things you thought of in trying
to decide what to do? How did you weigh each
alternative?

ES. What did you decide to do? Why? What happened?

141

E4.

E5.

142

Looking back on it now, did you make the best choice?
Why or why not? '

Thinking back over the whole thing, what did you learn
from it?

Section F--Education

As I said earlier, this project is concerned with women and
learning and the role of learning and education in women’s

lives

F1.

F3.

F4.

F5.

F6.

FAl.

FAZ.

FA3.

. . and I’d like you to think about that now.

What do you think will stay with you about your
experiences here [in this school, in this program]?
(Probe for specific academic and nonacademic
experiences; good and bad teachers; good and bad
assignments; good and bad programs or courses;
residential or off—campus arrangements.)

Has being here [being in this program] changed the way
you think about yourself or the world?

In your learning here. have you come across an idea
that made you see things differently . . . or think
about things differently?

What has been most helpful to you about this place?

Are there things this [school, program. environment]
doesn’t provide that are important to you?

Are there things you would like to learn that you don’t
think you can learn here?

Looking back over your whole life, can you tell me
about a really powerful learning experience that you’ve
had, in or out of school?

Section FA--Barriers (Carter)

What are some problems or barriers you faced in
returning to school?

(Probe for situational, institutional, and
dispositional barriers.)

How did you work through solving each problem or

barrier?

What successes do you feel you have had?

143
Section I--Conclusion

Okay, thanks. Now before we stop I have just one or two
more questions.

Il. What will you and your life be like fifteen years from
now?

12. Are there any other questions that I should have asked
you, that would have thrown some light on these issues
we are interested in . . . that is, women’s lives and
women’s learnings?

APPENDIX E

CODING RESPONSES
In respect to her general perception:

1. In regard to the past few years is the interviewee
more concerned with people events or object events:

people 1 2 3 4 5 object

2. In regard to her current life does the interviewee
care more about people or goals:

people 1 2 3 4 5 goals
In respect to her self-descriptions:

1. Does the interviewee describe herself in terms of
people/roles or object/roles:

people 1 2 3 4 5 object
2. Does the interviewee perceive the changes(s) in the
way she sees herself as connected-knowing change or
separate-knowing change:
connected-knowing 1 2 3 4 5 separate-knowing
3. In relationship to future changes, does the
interviewee perceive change in relation to people or
goals:
people 1 2 3 4 5 goals

In regard to real life moral dilemma:

1. Does the interviewee perceive the conflict in
situation as people/based or object/based:

people 1 2 3 4 5 object

2. Were the stated considerations people-oriented or
object/goal-oriented:

people 1 2 3 4 5 object/goal

144

145

Was the decision based on care for other people or
self goal:

other people 1 2 3 4 5 self goal
In deciding if she had made the best choice did the
interviewee weigh the outcome(s) in terms of care
and concern or objectivity and fairness:

care 1 2 3 4 5 fairness

In learning from the process of working through the
dilemma did the interviewee expand her understanding
of interdependence or roles: '

interdependence 1 2 3 4 5 roles

In concerns of learning and education:

1.

In thinking about what will stay with her about her
experiences in higher education does the interviewee
emphasize a recognition of the interconnectedness of
people or emphasize a recognition of roles which
come from duties of obligation and commitment:

interconnectedness 1 2 3 4 5 duties

Does the interviewee see changes in how she thinks

about self or the world as having been initiated by
people within the institution or regulations of the
institution:

people 1 2 3 4 5 regulations

Has the interviewee come across an idea which made
her see things differently primarily through
specific people or through process and reading:

people 1 2 3 4 5 process/reading
Does the interviewee feel that important things
which are not provided by the educational institution
are more people oriented or object oriented:

personnel 1 2 3 4 5 documents

Does the interviewee feel that important things
which are not provided by the educational
institution are more people-oriented or object-
oriented:

people—oriented 1 2 3 4 5 object-oriented

(2)

146
Does the interviewee feel that her most powerful
learning experience was initiated through
interconnectedness with others or interconnectedness
with ideas:
others 1 2 3 4 5 ideas
In regard to educational barriers and problems:

Are the perceived barriers and problems more people
related or institutional related:

people 1 2 3 4 5 institutional
Did the interviewee solve each problem through a
sense of interconnectedness with self and others or
through a sense of separateness:
interconnectedness 1 2 3 4 5 separateness
Does the interviewee feel her successes have been
related to a sense of connectedness or a sense of

separateness:

connectedness 1 2 3 4 5 separateness

In relation to the future:

1.

Does the interviewee see her future as people-
oriented or goal-oriented:

people-oriented 1 2 3 4 5 goal-oriented

APPENDIX F

LETTER TO PARTICIPANT
Date

Dear (Name):

I would like to thank you for taking the time to consider being a partici—
pant in my research on female, adult students and the processing of
educational barriers.

The purpose of my research is to determine if methods of processing
information in regards to working through educational barriers (situa—
tional, financial, psychological) is related to distinct personality types.

I know that as an adult student you have many responsibilities and time
commitments. Your participation in this research would require about two
hours of your time. About one hour will be spent at the University
Counseling Center completing the Myers-Briggs. The MBTI is a personality
typing paper and pencil questionnaire. The questions concern themselves
with your preference for behaving in a certain way. For example one
question is: Do you (a) rather prefer to do things at the last minute; or
(b) find that hard on the nerves?

A second hour will be spent with myself, participating in an interview
about your ideas and feelings regarding education. An example of one of
the questions is: What stands out for you in your life over the past few
years?

All participation is strictly voluntary and you may choose to discontinue
the experiment at any time without penalty.

All test results and interview answers will be treated with strict
confidence and as a participant you will remain anonymous in any report of
research findings. I will be glad to make the results available to you
upon request and within these restrictions.

If you have any further questions or concerns regarding the research
project I shall be glad to talk with you.

Thank you for your time and interest.

Sincerely,

Joyce A. Carter

You indicate your voluntary agreement to participate by
signing your name below.

 

 

Name Phone Number
147

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