A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF SELECTED SOCIO—ECONOMTC FACTORS V To OUTCOMES OF THE PROGRAM ‘ ‘ OF GENERAL EDUCATION 'AT MKEHlGAN STATE COLLEGE ' Thai: for the Mm of Ed. D MICHEGAN STATE COLLEGE Came“ MEETOET Effie, Jr. 1953 LHLL 5» This is to certify that the thesis entitled L. :1?“ij J" ITS. ELFJAI‘IHILEI: OF SELECTED 1.;Olu—Tix-J. MUSIC b‘x'xC fill-LS TO CUTCO”..ES OF T‘ZC g".:-“:1'-T,. L? GSI‘CL-ltnl. ELUUJ‘; ON .‘.T '71)}; JAN STATE COLD)?" presented by Carroll Milton Pike, Jr. has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for Ed. D. degree in Edllcation Date Iiovenber 2 l r REMOTE STORAGE PLACE IN RETURN BOX to remove this Checkout from your record. TO AVOID FINES return on or before date due. DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE 2/17 20» Ewe FORNS/DateDueFonns_2017.indd - 99.5 A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF SELECTED SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS TO OUTCOMES OF THE PROGRAM OF GENERAL EDUCATION AT MICHIGAN S TATE COLLEGE By Carroll Milton Pike, Jr. AN ABS TRAC T Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science \ in partial fulfillment of the requirements ‘\ ‘ for the degree of DOC TOR OF EDUCATION Department of Guidance and Counselor Training Year 1953 Approved. WWXW THESIS . 3/3 , ’>'(/ g CARROLL M. PIKE, JR. ABSTRACT This study is concerned with the evaluation of certain out- comes of the general education program at Michigan State College with particular attention being given to the effect of selected socio- economic factors upon those outcomes. Three newly developed objective-type evaluation instruments of the Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General Education, the Test of Critical Thinking- Form ”A,H the Inventory of Beliefs, and the Test of Critical An- alysis in Reading and Writing, have been utilized in the study for the specific purposes of determining whether differences exist (1) between groups of entering freshmen, .and (Z) in the amount of change or gain during one academic year, when freshmen are clas- sified according to (a) size of high school, (b) size of home com- munity, (c) fathers' occupations, and (d) sex. A sample of five hundred and ninety—six Michigan State College freshmen, tested for their representativeness of the total freshman class by means of the distribution of earned scores on the American Council on Education Psychological Examination, were used in the study. They were examined on the three evalua- tion instruments at the beginning and end of the academic year, 1951-1952.. 321886 CARROLL M. PIKE, JR. ABSTRACT Data analyzed consisted of pretest and posttest scores on the three evaluation instruments, selected biographical information, and A. C. E. scores, the data being collected, coded, and placed upon IBM punch cards for statistical analysis. Gains in scores on each instrument made by the total sample of students during the academic year were studied by means of the "t"I test of significance between correlated means. Differences in pretest or entrance scores for the various groups of students were tested by the analysis of variance technique. Differential gains among the various student groups for the academic year were an- alyzed by the analysis of variance, covariance adjustment technique. For each of the three evaluation instruments statistically sig- nificant gains were found for the total sample of students during the course of the freshman academic year. No significant differences were found among pretest or entrance mean scores for groupings of students within the high school, community, occupational, and sex categories as measured by the Test of Critical Thinking-Form "A," the Inventory of Be- liefs, and the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing. CARROLL M. PIKE, JR. ABSTRACT The study of differential gains for the academic year indi« cated a possible difference-—significant at the S-percent level of confidence-—between men and women for scores on the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing with differences in pre- test and A. C. E. scores controlled. However, this difference in favor of the women does not reach this level of significance if no correction is made for initial differences. No significant differ— ences were found among mean gains made by groups within the other socio-economic categories for the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing, and no significant differences were found among gains within the high school, community, occupational, and sex categories for either of the other two evaluation instruments. The results of this study lead to the conclusion that the socio-economic factors examined apparently have no measurable effect upon the extent or degree to which students benefit from emphases in the general education objectives of critical thinking, maturity of beliefs and attitudes, and reading and writing abilities. A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF SELECTED SOCIO—ECONOMIC FACTORS TO OUTCOMES OF THE PROGRAM OF GENERAL EDUCATION AT MICHIGAN STATE COLLEGE By CARROLL MILTON PIKE, JR. A THESIS Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOC TOR OF EDU CA TION Department of Guidance and Counselor Training 1953 ACKNOWLEDC M EN TS The writer wishes to acknowledge the guidance and timely assistance of a number of persons without whose aid this study would not have been possible. He wishes to extend his most sincere appreciation to Dr. Walter F. Johnson, Chairman of the Guidance Committee, for his wise counsel and constant encouragement. A feeling of gratitude is expressed to Dr. James S. Karslake, Dr. Leonard J. Luker, Dr. Cecil V. Millard, and Dr. Milosh Muntyan, members of the Guidance Committee, for their genuine cooperation and helpful suggestions. To Dr. Paul L, Dressel, member of the Guidance Committee and Director of the Cooperative Study of Evalu— ation in General Education, and to Dr. Lewis B. Mayhew, Assistant Director, the writer wishes to express his gratitude, for making data, information, and personal assistance available for the purposes of this study. Sincere indebtedness is expressed to Dr. Harold Dahnke for his generous assistance with the statistical design of the study and aid in the interpretation of the data. Finally, utmost af- fection is expressed to my wife, whose encouragement and constant re- assurance has furnished understanding and inspiration when most needed. Carroll Milton Pike, Jr. Carroll Milton Pike, Jr. candidate for the degree of Doctor of Education Final Examination, November 24, 1953, 8:00 a.m., Department of Guidance and Counselor Training Dissertation: A Study of the Relationship of Selected Socio-Economic Factors to Outcomes of the Program of General Ed- ucation At Michigan State College Out}. ine of Studie 5 Major Subject: Education (Guidance and Counseling) Minor Subjects: Social Studies Biographical Items Born, July 29, 1923, Burlington, Vermont Undergraduate Studies, Middlebury College, 1941-1943, 1946-1947, Bachelor of Arts, 1947 Graduate Studies, University of Vermont, 1947-1948, Master of Education, 1948, Michigan State College, 1948-1950, 1951-1952 Experience: Head Residence Counselor, The State College of Washington, 1950-1951; Graduate Assistant, Michigan State College, 1951-1952; Instructor, Department of Guidance and. Counselor Training, Michigan State College, Summer, 1952; Assistant Dean of Men, Northern Illinois State Teachers College, 1952.- November, 1953; Dean of Men, Northern Illinois State Teachers College, November, 1953, to present Member of: American College Personnel Association, Chicago Guidance and Personnel Association, Illinois Educa- tion Association, Illinois Guidance and Personnel As- sociation, National Education Association, National Society for the Study of Education, Student Personnel Association for Colleges of Teacher Education CHAPTER I. 11. TABLE OF CON TEN TS INTRODUCTION ...... Statement of the Problem ............. Definition of Terms . The Coope rative Study ............. The Ho rowitz Study American Council on Education Psychological Examination ......... The Test of Critical Thinking— Form ”A" . . . The Inventory of Beliefs ............. The Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing . ............ The Basic College Background of the Study . . ............ Relationship of the Cooperative Study Relationship of the Horowitz Study ..... Limitations of the Study ........ . ..... Organization of the Dissertation ......... ME THODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE ........ Introduction ....... The Test Instruments I O O I 000000000 I O a The Development of the Cooperative Test Instruments The Test of Critical Thinking ........ Description of the test ........... Test validity . . Test reliability . Uses of the test The Inventory of Beliefs ............ Description 0 the test ........... Te st reliability 0‘ H UTOQNNIKIO‘ D—I 17 17 18 18 26 26 27 29 30 32 33 CHAPTER Test validity .................. Uses of the test ................ The Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing ............. Description of the test ........... Test reliability ................. Test validity .................. Uses of the test ................ Administration and scoring ........ Selection of the Sample ............... Collection and Coding of the Data ....... Sources of Data .................. The pretest program ............ The posttest administration ........ The'individual data sheet ......... The IBM data card .............. Analysis of the Data ................. III. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA FOR THE TEST OF CRITICAL THINKING ......... Introduction ....................... Presentation of Raw Scores, Gains, and Adjusted Posttest Scores for the Test of Critical Thinking- Form ”A" ................... Analysis of the Significance of Differences Between Total Sample Pretest and Posttest Means for the Test of Critical Thinking-Form ”A" ............... Analysis of Pretest Differences Within the Socio—Economic Categories for the Test of Critical Thinking—Form "A" Analysis of Differential Gains Within the Socio-Economic Categories for the Test of Critical Thinking-Form "A" .......................... Summary ......................... 34 35 37 37 38 39 40 40 41 49 49 50 51 53 54 55 61 61 63 68 70 72 77 vi CHAPTER Page 1V. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA. FOR THE INVENTORY OF BELIEFS ............. 79 Introduction ....................... 79 Presentation of Raw Scores, Gains, and Adjusted Posttest Scores for the Inventory of Beliefs ............ 80 Analysis of the Significance of Differences Between Total Sample Pretest and Posttest Means for the Inventory of Beliefs ............ 82 Analysis of Pretest Differences Within the Socio-Economic Categories for the Inventory of Beliefs ...................... 84 Analysis of Differential Gains Within the Socio-Economic Categories for the Inventory of Beliefs ............ 86 Summary ......................... 87 V. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA FOR THE TEST OF CRITICAL ANALYSIS IN READING AND WRITING .............. 93 Introduction ....................... 9 3 Presentation of Raw Scores, Gains, and Adjusted Posttest Scores for the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing ........................ 94 Analysis of the Significance of Differences Between Total Sample Pretest and Posttest Means for the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing . ..... 94 Analysis of Pretest Differences Within the Socio—Economic Categories for the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing ............... 97 CHAP TER Analysis of Differential Gains Within the Socio—Economic Categories for the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing ............... Summary ......................... VI. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ....................... The Purpose of the Study ............. Methodology ....................... Findings ......................... Conclusions and Implications for Further Research ................. BIBLIOG RAP HY .............................. APPENDIX ................................. 99 100 108 108 110 111 115 122 130 TABLE 10. L15 T OF TABLES Coefficients of Reliability for the Test of Critical Thinking-Form "A" . . . .- ...... Distribution of Case 3 ................... Derived Scores, "Total" Raw Scores, and Percentages of Cases for A. C. E. P syc hological Examination .............. 2 Summary Table of x Values for Rep re sentativene s s ................... Raw Scores, Gains, and Adjusted Posttest Means for High School Groups, the Test of Critical Thinking-Form "A" .......... Calculation of Adjusted Posttest Means for High School Groups, the Test of Critical Thinking—Form "A” .................. Summary Table of Analysis of Variance Values for Pretest Means on the Test of Critical Thinking-Form "A" . . . . . ..... Analysis of Covariance of Gains and Errors of Estimate, the Test of Critical Thinking- Form ”A," High School Categories ....... Analysis of Covariance of Gains and Errors of Estimate, the Test of Critical Thinking- Form "A," Community Categories . ....... Analysis of Covariance of Gains and Errors of Estimate, the Test of Critical Thinking- Form "A,” Occupational Categories ....... Page 30 44 46 47 64 66 71 73 74 75 TABLE 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. Analysis of Covariance of Gains and Errors of Estimate, the Test of Critical Thinking- Form "A," the Sexes ................. Raw Scores, Gains, and Adjusted Posttest Scores for the Inventory of Beliefs ....... Summary Table of Analysis of Variance Values for Pretest Means'on the Inventory of Beliefs .................... . . . . Analysis of Covariance of Gains and Errors of Estimate, the Inventory of Beliefs, High School Categories ................ Analysis of Covariance of Gains and Errors of Estimate, the Inventory of Beliefs, Co mmunity Cate go rie s ................. Analysis of Covariance of Gains and Errors of Estimate, the Inventory of Beliefs, Occupational Categories ........ . ...... Analysis of Covariance of Gains and Errors of Estimate, the Inventory of Beliefs, the Sexes ............................ Raw Scores, Gains, and Adjusted Posttest Scores for the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing ................ Summary Table of Analysis of Variance Values for Pretest Means on the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing ......... Analysis of Covariance of Gains and Errors of Estimate, the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing, High School Categories............ ............. ix Page 76 81 85 88 89 9O 91 95 99 101 TABLE 21. Analysis of Covariance of Gains and Errors of Estimate, the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing, Community Categories ......................... 22. Analysis of Covariance of Gains and Errors of Estimate, the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing, Occupational Categories ........................ . 23. Analysis' of Covariance of Gains and Errors of Estimate, the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing, the Sexes' ........ Page 102 103 104 CHAPTER I IN TRODUC TION With the expanding emphasis being placed upon general edu— cation in our schools and colleges today, it becomes increasingly important that the evaluation procedures for the many different schools of thought in this area be improved and refined. That this is the. concern of numerous educators can be seen in the efforts of the many institutional and interinstitutional research programs in general education in progress at the present time. Emphasizing the ever growing need for scientific evaluation and experimentation in general education, McGrath expressed a plea for a clarification of objectives and evidence or proof of the values to be obtained from varying theories and practices. At the "Minnesota Conference on Building a Program of General Education" in the spring of 1949, McGrath said (50:17), To a very large degree these developments known as general education have proceeded on the basis of a priori reasoning with little more than opinion to back up the assump- tions on which they rest. With a few striking exceptions little attempt has been made to determine experimentally whether one arrangement of subject matter, or one In thod of teaching, is better than another, or better than more Conventional forms or practicesf " Staternent of the Problem This study is concerned with the evaluation of certain out- comes of the general education program in The Basic College at Michigan State'College as studied during the academic year 1951- 1952. Particular attention has been given to the effect of selected socio-economic factors upon those outcomes. Three objective-type test instruments, the Test of Critical Thinking—Form "A," the Inventory of Beliefs, and the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing, have been used in the study for the specific purposes of determining whether differences exist (1) among groups of enter- ing freshmen and (2) in the amount of change or gain during one academic year, when freshmen are classified according to (a) size of high schools from which they come, (b) size of home communi- ties, (c) fathers' occupations, and (d) sex. Stated in more general terms, the investigation concerns certain preconceived educational objectives with which students enter college, and the determination of change or gain which occurs during that experience. The study has sought purposefully to avoid the use of subjective evaluative techniques or the utilization of final status as an indication of change. Rather, the attempt is made to evaluate differential gains of generally accepted objectives of general education as the students progress through a portion of their educational experience. The tests used for the purposes are newly developed evaluation instruments of the Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General Education of the American Council on Educa- tion. Definition of Te rms The Coope rative Study The Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General Education was undertaken in the Spring of 1950 under the sponsorship of the American Council on Education for the following stated purposes (25:61): 1. A focusing of attention on the need for research and evaluative activities in general education and, associated with this an arousal of interest on the part of general education staff in initiating such activity. 2. The development of improved evaluation procedures and the collection of actual evidence on changes made by stu- dents in regard to general education objectives. 3. One or more publications which, by presenting new develop- ments in evaluation and some evidence on the outcomes of general education, might point the way to even more def- inite research, and challenge others to undertake it. The Cooperative Study was responsible for the development of the three test instruments which are utilized in this dissertation. These instruments are the Test of Critical Thinking, the Inventory of Beliefs, and the Test of Critical Anabrsis in_Reading and Writing. The relationship of this dissertation to The Cooperative Study is discussed further in that section of Chapter I entitled Background of the Study. The Ho rowitz Study The Horowitz Study refers to a concurrent study closely re- lated to the present thesis, which is being carried out by Victor Horowitz, an advanced graduate student in the Department of Gui- ,dance and Counselor Training, Michigan State College. The relation- ship which the Horowitz Study shares with the current study is discussed in that section of Chapter I entitled Background of the Study. American Council on Education Psychological Examination Scores on the American Council on Education Psychological Examination are referred to as A. C. E. Scores. Whereas I'L,’l or linguistic scores, and "Q," or quantitative scores, were obtained and coded for each of the cases, the scores utilized in the present study refer to "T" or total scores unless otherwise indicated. The A. C. E. Total Scores are a combination of the l'L'l and ”Q" scores and are considered a measure of general academic aptitude. The Test of Critical Thinking-Form "A” The Test of Critical Thinking-Form "A" is an evaluation instrument developed by the Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General EducatiOn. It consists of fifty-seven objective-type test items designed to measure the ability of college students to demon- strate certain skills in critical thinking processes. The critical thinking area was looked upon by The Cooperative Study as one of the important objectives of programs of general education. The Cooperative Study recognized that the ability to demonstrate skills in critical thinking is not a single ability or variable; therefore, this test was designed to measure the following major components of the critical thinking or problem solving process (4:4-5): Ability to define problems. Ability to select pertinent information. Ability to recognize unstated assumptions. Ability to invent and evaluate hypotheses. Ability to make valid inferences and to judge the validity of inferences. Ulrthl-d The Inventory of Beliefs The Inventory of Beliefs was developed by the Inter-College Committee on Attitudes, Values and Personal Adjustment of the Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General Education. The inven- tory consists of 120 items or statements with which students are requested to register agreement or disagreement. The total score is taken as an index of psychological maturity and personality structure. The following descriptive paragraph is found in the Instructor's Manual (2:4). The fundamental assumption underlying the Inventory of Beliefs is that the objectives of general education can serve as a base from which may be inferred the model organization character- izing the personalities of those most adaptable to the purposes of general education. Our attempt has been to explore the manifestations of these personality dimensions as relevant to the problems of general education in terms of the individual's relations to (1) ideas and intellectual abstractions, (2) social groups and identifications, (3) interpersonal relations, and (4) the self. The Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing The Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing is a forty-item objective-type test developed by the Inter-College Com- mittee on Communications of The Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General Education. The purpose of the test is to assess students' ability to read thoughtfully and analytically and to write clearly and effectively. For the purpose of appraising achievement in communi- cations courses at the freshman and sophomore level, the test as originally developed makes use of passages from Thoreau's _W_a_l_<_i_en, the 5313311533 of Omar Khayyam, the ”Sermon on the Mount," and a reproduction of a student theme comparing these passages. The Basic College The Basic College of Michigan State College is an instruc- tional and administrative division or college which provides a pro- gram of general education through the following courses which are required of all studentsr Communications Skills, Natural Science, Social Science and Humanities. .The Basic College student carries approximately one-half of his academic load in the courses of The Basic College and one-half in courses of his indicated major school or department during his freshman and sophomore years. Background of the Study Relationship to the Cooperative Study This study had its inception as a direct outgrowth of The Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General Education of the American Council on Education. Th_e__Cooperative Study made available certain of its newly developed test instruments and data for this study. The Cooperative Study, unique in its purpose and design, was interested in gaining supporting evidence in the task it had under- taken--that of focusing attention upon the need for research and evaluative activities in general education. Publication of the pur- poses, design, and findings of The Cooperative Study, while not ex- tensive, is sufficient to make unnecessary the inclusion of compre- hensive details in this report. Basically, however, The Cooperative M has attempted to utilize the combined talents and interests of many outstanding educators from cooperating colleges and universities for the purpose of developing more adequate evaluation objectives and techniques, to promote better evaluative methods on their respective campuses. Furthermore, The Cooperativejtudy was seeking evidence for the validation of the newly developed evaluation instruments in a large variety of general education programs. As a step toward ob- taining additional evidence for the purposes for which these instru- ments could be used, the central office of The Cooperative Study made data, materials, and personal assistance available for this study. Therefore, to a large degree this study becomes an additional validation study for the tests by the further application of the na- tionally developed tests at the local level. The reader is directed to articles by Dressel and Mayhew (24, 25, 56, 57) and to the final report of findings to be issued shortly in book form for a comprehensive explanation of the objec— tives, procedures, and findings of The Cooperative Study of Evalua- tion in General Education. Relationship to The Horowitz Study Simultaneous with the planning and execution of this study, Victor Horowitz, an advanced graduate student in the Department of Guidance and Counselor Training, Michigan State College, was de— signing and carrying out research closely related to that which is reported in the present study. Since advantages could be gained from related findings and coordinated research, plans were made to bring about the coordination of the two studies wherever possible. The test instruments, the statistical procedures, and a part of the raw data are common to both studies. Using the same sampling of students, The Horowitz Study sets forth the following as the stated objectives to be accomplished (39): 10 By means of the Test of Critical Thinking, the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing, and the Inventory of Beliefs: (1) To attempt to determine whether, over a period of one academic year, and within the areas of Critical Thinking, Ability to do Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing, and level of Maturity of Beliefs and Reactions, change or gain can be discovered in Freshmen students. (2) To attempt to determine whether, within the areas of Critical Thinking, Ability to do Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing, and Level of Maturity of Beliefs and Reactions, differences can be distinguished between the change or gain of Freshmen students the various interest categories, or major areas of study. The Horowitz Study, in effect, analyzes data pertaining to the same evaluation instruments as those of the present study for differences among preference categories or chosen major areas of study, whereas the present study is concerned with differences exhibited among groupings of students classified within four different socio- economic categorie s . Limitations of the Study Certain limitations usually accompany a research design which restrict the scope of the findings and the extent to which generaliza- tions may be drawn from them. The factors which place limits upon the present study are discussed in the paragraphs which follow. The basic design and scope of this study was shaped in part by the relationship which it shared with The Cooperative Study of 11 Evaluation in General Education. The study was undertaken in a sense as a partial further validation of the test instruments. The Test of Critical Thinking, Form "A,'' the Inventory of Beliefs, and the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing were selected initially from among approximately twelve evaluation instruments of The Cogperative Study on the basis of incomplete validation data. These three tests were selected because they appeared at the out- set to hold the most promise for the purposes of the study. Since the time the investigation was undertaken, the faith placed in these tests has been substantiated, for the most part, by adequate valida- tion data referred to in Chapter II: As pointed out in Chapter II, two forms of the Test of Crit- ical Thinking, Form "A" and Form "B" were used in the prelim- inary phases of the study. The decision to discard the results of Form ”B,H based partially upon early results obtained in the current study and The Horowitz StucTy, in effect cut by about half the number of cases which could be analyzed in this area. Even though the sample group to which Form "A” was administered was proven to be the equivalent to that form "B”was given, the size of the sample became a limiting factor. 12 The question of whether or not adequate motivational factors were present in all phases of the testing situation received careful evaluation. During the pretest program conditions for maximum motivation may be considered to have been present, since the tests were administered as part of the entrance testing battery given to all freshmen during their Orientation Week program. On the other hand the posttest program was administered in tvvo different testing situations. The Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing was administered to all freshmen taking the third term compre-— hensive examination in Communications Skills at the end of the academic year. The Test of Critical Thinking and the Inverptpgy 3f Beliefs were administered during time released by the Depart- ment of Communication Skills. Although, upon the request of the department, students were told that the tests were of an experimental nature and that'the results therefrom would have no bearing upon their grades in the course, the testing conditions and motivational factors were so controlled that the results compare favorably with those of other Cooperative Study research designs administered in the most rigidly controlled conditions. Because a number of pretest cases was unavailable for the posttest program, the size of the final working sample was reduced. 13 This fact may be considered a further limitation. One hundred and eighteen students of the original sample of 896 were no longer in college by the end of the academic year, and 182 others were un- available for one or more phases of the posttest program for various reasons. A number of the latter were Special Permission students who were not enrolled in the third term of Communication Skills - because they had completed the requirements for the course by special comprehensive examination. Because of the proximity of the posttest administration to the end of the academic year, the pos- sibility of testing these students individually and voluntarily was ruled out as impractical. Although those cases not retested were proven to vary somewhat from the final working sample, the posttest sample remained statistically representative of the population in study. It is recognized that the problem of time lapse in a study of gains or change is a particularly difficult One to resolve, and especially so when studying factors such as the outcomes and objec— tives of general education. The unresolved question is whether gains in objectives of general education should be measured over the relatively short period of one academic year, or whether more permanent outcomes should be explored at the completion of a8 l4 student's college eXperience. Two major factors legislate in favor of electing the former. The first of these is the questionable prac- ticality of the contribution of an experimental research design for a period longer than one academic year. Secondly, on the average, at least one-half of all general education course requirements are completed in The Basic College by the end of the student's first year. Furthermore, it can be argued that the first year's experi- ences may be relatively more important and that from an evaluation of the one year of general education, adjustments and refinements may be made in the program which may have a bearing upon the remainder of the student's college work. It is recognized that the ultimate expansion of the present design to include periodic evalua- tions over the entire college experience would be desirable. An additional factor which helped resolve this question lay in the nature of the relationship which this study bears to The Cooperative Study. It was deemed desirable to restrict the scope of the inquiry to a one-year program, thus supplementing as closely as possible findings of The Cooperative Study over the same period of time. A final limitation arises out of the assumption that all of the students concerned enjoyed equal, if not similar, general educational experiences during their freshman year. While all students were not 15 enrolled in identical courses, the effect of the training for the year is assumed to be equal, since the total college experience, rather than the specific course pattern, is expected to furnish the desired results. All students had had at least the one common experience, Communication Skills, while the pattern of other general education courses was spread among the other Basic College courses. Qfganization of the Dissertation For the purposes of convenient and systematic consideration of the study at hand this report is presented in a series of divisions or chapters. Chapter I has presented a brief introduction of the study, and certain Limitations which were inherent in the design and develop- ment of the problem. Basically, Chapter I introduces the problem. Chapter II encompasses a description of the test instruments utilized, the selection of the sample, the collection and coding of data, and the statistical procedures used in the analysis of the data. Chapters III, IV, and V are ”findings" chapters. A chapter is devoted to the discussion of the findings of each of the three test 16 instruments-~the Test of Critical Thinking, the Inventory of Belie_f_s, and the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing. Chapter VI is a summary chapter comprising a discussion of results and implications arising from these results. No specific mention is made of a comprehensive review of the literature. Because of the unique nature of the subject of this study and the close relationship which exists between it and Th3 Cooperative Study, the investigator has chosen not to include such a unit. Rather than duplicate the efforts expended in this related research design, a bibliography carefully selected for its relevance to the present study has been included. CHAPTER 11 ME THODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE Int ro duc tiop Chapter I has been devoted to sections covering the pur- poses or the statement of the problem, the background of the study, and the limitations which accompany the research design. In the present chapter, the emphasis is upon the development and description of the test instruments and the statistical design of the study. This study is primarily'concerned with the measurement of gain or advancement toward certain educational objectives in pro- grams of general education. As indicated in Chapter I, it is not the purpose of this study to pass judgment upon variously stated objectives of general education, but rather to study the effect of certain socio-economic factors upon the gain of selected results of general education programs. In so doing, this study demonstrates the use of certain evaluative methods and specific objective test instruments which it is hoped may be utilized to evaluate more adequately various aspects of programs of general education. 18 Therefore, the application of the statistical design of this study may be considered as one of the contributions of this research. Furthermore, this study is in part an attempt to validate further newly developed test instruments of The Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General Education. The underlying assumption is that the objective test instruments selected for this study have been so designed that the relationships and contributions of specified Socio-economic factors to commonly recognized outcomes and ob- jectives of general educational programs may be analyzed. Since the tests are relatively new and the opportunity to become familiar with them through the literature or by actual use has been limited, a rather detailed description of their nature and development will be presented in the present chapter. The Test Instruments The Development of the Cooperative Test Instruments,l The Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General Education was designed for three major purposes. The first of these was The information for this description of the development of the test instruments was taken in part from a tape recorded interview with the Assistant Director of The Cooperative Study of Evaluation of Eval- uation in General Education and in part from information and records on file with the central office of that Study. 19 the focusing of attention upon the need for research and evaluative activities in general education. The second was the development of improved evaluation procedures and the collection of actual evidence concerning changes made by students in regard to general educa- tion objectives. The third was the hope that through publication of significant results other definitive research in general education would be encouraged (25:61). With the organization of The Cooperative Study in December of 1949, the cooperation of twenty different colleges and universities, each with unique general education programs, was secured for work in six different problem areas. These areas were to become the fields of emphasis around which The Cooperative Study was to be designed. Three of these areas were the humanities, the sciences and the social sciences, and are sometimes referred to as divisions of human knowledge. Two were organized around the skills of com- munication and critical thinking, while the sixth and final area was that of values, attitudes, and personal adjustment. Six intercollege committees were selected by The Cooperative Study to explore these areas, with faculty representatives of each participating college choosing at least four of the areas in which to be represented. Members of the various intercollege committees in turn activated 20 local committees on the campuses of their particular college or university. During the initial meeting in 1949, each of the intercollege committees drew up a set of objectives upon which to base their work. They then discussed possible ways in which the study should proceed. It was agreed by the representatives that new evaluation instruments should be designed by the cooperative efforts of the various schools, rather than by a committee of evaluation experts ‘ as such. In other words, the members of The Cooperative Study assumed that the process of cooperative enterprise on the part of educators representing different general education programs would not only develop tests more closely allied to the needs and objec- tives of differing programs of general education but that the efforts and interests of the group involved would lead to the demonstration of the values to be gained by more effective evaluation methods on local campuses. The Cooperative Study reports satisfaction with the results obtained (24). The test instruments chosen for use and study in this dis- sertation comprise a portion of the resulting efforts of the com- mittees representing the skills of critical thinking and communication, and one of the instruments of the Attitudes and Values Committee. 21 Since the development of these test instruments proceeded in a similar manner for each of the tests, discussion will center here upon the development of only one of them, the Test of CritigaT Thirlliillfl: as representative of all three. Following a tour by the director of The Cooperative Study to see to what extent each institution was prepared to participate in the _S__tt_1_dy, meetings of the various committees were held during March and April of 1950 as an initiation of their work. The Inter-College Committee on Critical Thinking, for example, as- sumed the task of reviewing and revising the previously stated over-all objectives of the area, and of discussing what those ob- jectives meant in terms of 'specific action. They then made an appraisal of what was being done on each of the campuses to teach for critical thinking and to evaluate the results of efforts in that direction. There were a few cmrses at various cooperating schools which attempted to teach for these or similar objectives. However, for the most part, neither the objectives nor the methods Of teaching or evaluation seemed adequate in the eyes of the Com- mittee. The Committee then undertook a discussion of the definition of critical thinking in terms of specific behaviors and outcomes 22 which it felt should be sought. The process of limiting the field also took place. For instance, the Committee drew a differentiation between critical thinking and creative thinking. Further, the Com— mittee outlined its assumption that critical thinking is something more than intelligence plus knowledge, hence the need for a more adequate evaluation instrument which would measure that total of essential elements which appear to make up the ability to think critically. So that the Committee would be able to become more con- versant with what had already been done in the field to evaluate for the behaviors which characterize critical thinking, the members of the Committee investigated, during the spring of 1950, various tests and procedures such as the tests of the Eight Year Study, the Watson Glaser Test, parts of the Yale Aptitude Battery and the American Council on Education Psychological Tests, the Ohio State Psychological Tests, and other instruments developed on various local campuses. In addition to the examination of methods by which these and other tests attempt to appraise traits attributed to critical thinking, individual Committee members were asked to observe, and to have colleagues observe, situations in which people demonstrate effective or ineffective critical thinking. This helped to clarify the .’1 \u. r I. .v. ..olx.va .b t .5» Triad»! if : 23 collective mind of the Committee as to what it meant by critical thinking as well as to begin to provide the mass of material out of which, eventually, would be constructed various test exercises. During a summer workshop session, the Inter—College Com- mittee reviewed the efforts of the individual members in the direc— tion of the appraisal of existing commercial tests. It was the decision that since ri'o existing test hit precisely the needs and ob- jectives sought by the group that the Committee would attempt the development of an instrument for this purpose. Before the task could be undertaken certain additional details had to be established. For example, it was decided that the test should be an objective- type test. The vocabulary level, it was agreed, should be at about the eleventh grade. The question arose of whether or not the test should include or exclude the knowledge of subject-matter content of specific courses. It was felt that this was an area which should determine outgrowths of a total general educational experience rather than the reflection of specific courses. The test was con- structed accordingly. The efforts Of the Committee for the following school year were directed to an accumulation of situations which elicit critical thinking, to try various test items with students, and to seek further 24 information and expression of what colleagues would contribute to the definition of the term. As an aid in the direction of local staff involvement and enthusiasm, visits to campuses were made by rep- resentatives of the central committee staff. In January of 1951, the Committee met again, at which time members reviewed the collections of evidence brought in from the local committees. At this point, for the first time, a blueprint for the test was undertaken. The Committee constructed a chart listing on one axis the aspects of critical thinking which it wished to measure, and on the other axis a list of those areas of human activity in which it felt these traits of critical thinking should be developed. By means of this two-way chart, which resulted in a series of cells, individual objectives were defined and assigned to various Committee members or institutions for the development of test items. Thus, some Committee members, with the help of their local committeepundertook to develop items which would measure the ability to define a problem, while others undertook the measurement of the formulation of hypotheses, MEIE- Once developed, these individual test items were submitted to groups of students on local campuses for the purpose of ac- cumulating normative data for the items. The items and resulting 25 data were then sent to the central office before the summer meeting which was held for the purpose of constructing the preliminary forms of the test instruments. The central office undertook to design four tests which‘were sent out to representative schools for trial with various groups of students. The results were col- lected and item-analyzed and items were selected from these for inclusion in the initial forms of the test. The summer meetings resulted in the completion of two pre— liminary forms of the test, Form ”A'I and Form ”B" of the Test of Critical Think'gg. These were printed and distributed to the cooperating colleges for use during the entrance or fall testing programs. This 1951 Freshman Fall Testing Program at Michigan State College furnished the pretest data utilized by this study. This description of the development of the Test of Critical Thinking serves as an example of the kinds of activity which were pursued by committee members working in the development of the Inventory of Beliefs and the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing and the other instruments of The Cooperative Study. Similarly, the other five committees had brought the development of test instruments to the point of printing for inclusion in the fall testing programs of the participating institutions. It was then 26 possible to begin the collection of data on a mass scale and to assess the relationships between the instruments and tests already on the market in the various areas. The purpose of the test pro- gram during the 1951-1952 academic year was to determine the extent to which these instruments could be utilized for the pur- poses outlined. This study thereby becomes an additional attempt in that direction. The Test of Critical Thinking Descrjption of the test. The Test of Critical Thinking, as developed by the Inter-College Committee on Critical Thinking of The Cooperative Study is designed to measure the ability of college students to demonstrate skills considered to be essential aspects of critical thinking or problem solving. The test consists of fifty- two objective-type questions stated as problems which elicit various kinds of mental activity for their solution. The test is concerned with the processes of thought which are seen as the outcome of all general education. The aspects of critical thinking which the committee attempted to build into this test include such traits as (1) the ability to define a problem, (2) to select information pertin- ent to its solution, (3) to recognize assumptions, (4) to make 27 hypotheses and to draw conclusions from assumptions, hypotheses, and pertinent information, and (5) to judge the validity of the con- clusions and to evaluate conclusions in life situations. These ob- jectives are discussed in further detail in the Instructor's Manual (424-5). Tgst validity. The experimenter is always on uncharted ground with a new test instrument with respect to the question of validity. This fact has not been ignored in the present study. DeSpite its acceptance as a limitation of the study, it was decided to proceed with the plans for the use of the Test of Critical Thinkng and thereby help to establish additional uses and purposes for which it could be considered valid. This study, by exploring differential gains among freshmen with respect 'to selected socio- economic factors, has explored the possible utilization of three new test instruments for new or additional purposes. A comparison of the results obtained by this study with other studies of the tests has then in effect helped to establish the extent to which the as- sumptions of validity for these instruments can be accepted. An issue which arises in the establishment of validity for the Test of Critical Thinking comes from the manner in which the test was constructed. The Inter—College Committee utilized 28 classroom instructors as well as test experts during the early development of the test. The Committee worked on the assumption that the opinions of a vast number of colleagues who were concerned with critical thinking in its many expressions would collectively point the way to the issues involved in its definition. From that effort the evaluation experts then aided in the design of test items, which in turn were subjected to item analysis. Using the total test as a criterion, items with a satisfactory discrimination index have been retained in the preliminary forms Of the test. An index of validity largely subjective in nature has been sought by the Committee. Judges were asked to identify groups of people who did and did not seem to possess the ability to think critically. The result was the identification of a significant group of people who were judged to possess the ability to think critically who also scored high on the test. Validity is not a concept which can be measured in such specific terms as a percentage of perfection, such as "90% validity.’I Rather, it is the constant accumulation of facts which either support the assumption that the test measures that which it set out to measure, or that it does not. A point in illustration is the fact that Form "B” of the Test of Critical Thinking was discarded 29 because it lacked validity and was found not to be equivalent to Form ”A." The reason was that the Form ”B” had been con- structed in part from items untried, but similar to those of Form ”A.H In other words, the Committee selected part of the items for the Form ”B" at face validity, hoping to establish an equiva- lent form but were unsuccessful in the attempt. Because it is constructed of ”second best" and untried items it has proven to be less satisfactory than Form “A.” It is less reliable, the indices of discrimination have proven to be less high, it correlates in a more fluctuating manner with other measures, and therefore is considered less valid. For this reason, data pertaining to Form "B” of the Test of Critical Thinking has not been included in the report of this study. On the other hand, all studies have supported the assumption of validity for Form ”A." Conclusions and discussions in this study concerning critical thinking have been based upon Form “A" of the Test of Critical Thinking, the form for which validity measures have been proven to be satisfactory. Tpst reliability. The Test of Critical Thinking—-Form "A" has been proven to be sufficiently stable for group measurement. The following table is taken from the Tpfistructor's Manual (4:6). "wrfl' 30 TABLE I COEFFICIENTS OF RELIABILITY FOR THE TEST OF CRITICAL THINKING--FORM ”A'l Test Form Method ' Group N r I1A" Kuder—Richardson Freshmen 600 0.84 ''A” Kuder-Richardson Freshmen 101 0.71 l'A'l Kuder-Richardson Freshmen 135 0.75 ' ”A" Kuder—Richardson Freshmen ‘ 147 0.73 Uses of the test. For the purpose of this study the consider- ation of gains between pretest scores and posttest scores is con- sidered foremost. In other words, it is assumed that this test can measure gains in the ability to do critical thinking-which have occurred as a result of a general education experience whether they be the result of formal or informal experiences at the high school or college level. The Cooperative Study has made extensive analyses of the gains achieved at various colleges participating in the Study and has demonstrated that in varying programs and edu- cational experiences, the test measured mean gains in each instance, ranging from 2.33 to 6.24 raw score points. There is supporting 31 evidence that greater gains occurred where specific efforts were made to teach for logical or correct thinking. Since the Test of Critical Thinking and the other tests with which this study is concerned are evaluation instruments designed to measure the effectiveness of programs of general education cer- tain uses and applications are evident. The Test of Critical Th_in_k'_n_1g was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of an entire program and may be considered a test of developed skill rather than accumulated knowledge. It may be used to measure entry status, final status, or gains. In this study the Test of Critical Thinking has been used as an instrument to determine the extent to which various socio- economic groupings of students benefit from a program of general education. Many other applications may be hypothesised for this test, such as its use as a partial determinant of grades in courses specifically designed to teach methods of critical thinking, or in some conditions it may prove to be a possible predictor of college grades. The utility of these applications, of course, will need to be established. Taken from data on file with The Cooperative Study. 32 The Inventory of Beliefs Description of the test. The Inventory of Beliefs is an instrument of the Inter-College Committee on Attitudes, Values, and Personal Adjustment, of the Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General Education. This committee, like the Inter-College Com- mittee on Critical Thinking, was formed for the purpose of develop- ing a test instrument which could be used to measure attitudes which were conceived as being a part of the desired outcomes of a total general education rather than the result of a specific course. In— creasingly, in recent years, educators have become concerned with the study of opinions as a reflection of attitudes, values, and adjust- ment. Similarly, psychologists have demonstrated that basic per- sonality structure may be reflected in personal opinions. Hence it has been the attempt of The Cooperative Study through the Attitudes Committee to coordinate the recent research of these two disci- plines and to explore the common ground of personality patterns and behavioral expressions which are sought as ideal expressions of general education. The following statement describing the test instrument is taken from the Ereliminary Manual for the Invin- tory of Beliefs (5:1): 33 The instrument described here is an attempt to express the relationship between these psychological and educational interests. It is concerned with the differentiation between the mature, independent, reality-minded, flexible, adaptive, secure and comfortable individual who is seen as the potential base and anticipated outcome of a general education program of general education in a free society, and the childish, selfish, self-centered, threatened, aggressive, rigid, compulsive insecure and uncomfortable individual whose concomitant attitudes and values are seen as essentially anti-democratic and in opposi- tion to theobjectives of general education. The fundamental assumption underlying the scale is that the objectives of general education can serve as a base from which may be inferred the model organization character- izing the personalities of those most adaptable to the purposes of general education. Our attempt has been to explore the manifestations of the antidemocratic continuum as relevant to the problems of general education in terms of the individual's relations to (1) ideas and intellectual abstractions, (2) social groups and identifications, (3) interpersonal relations, and (4) the self. These four levels of personal involvements, seen as indices of psychological maturity, are described in detail in the I_I_1_strup£d§__'_s_ Manual (2) . Tdst reliability. The Ipstructor's Manual for the_Inventory df_Beliefs discusses the reliability of this instrument as follows (2:5): All studies of the reliability of the Inventory of Beliefs. tend to indicate that the instrument is sufficiently stable to warrant use for the purpose of either group or individual measurement. It does not seem to matter whether the coefficients of correla- tion are computed by means of Kuder-Richardson, test-retest, 34 split-half, or parallel forms method. In each case, the corre- lations obtained are high enough to lend support to the idea that the Inventory of Beliefs yields a reasonably consistent result. The 30 reliability studies detailed in Table I yield coefficients ranging from .68 to .95 with a median r of .86. With the ex- ception of one investigation involving senior students, these studies were made on groups of freshman students at colleges having programs in general education. The size of the study groups ranged from 18 students to 370 students with the great majority of studies involving groups of more than 100 students. Test validity. The determination of validity of the Inventoyy of Beliefys must stem from one or both of the two major purposes for which it was designed. On one count there can be some degree of agreement for the test does contain statements of educational objectives, in terms of beliefs, which educators feel should be in- fluenced and developed as a result of a general education. Studies have supported the expectation that changes or gain should occur in these expressions as a result of a specified educational experi- ence. It is more difficult to determine whether the other dimension has been equally successful. The structure of basic personality needs much more investigation before factors which have been in- fluenced by an educational experience and measured by the test instrument can be determined. One manner in which this kind of evidence may be collected is a systematic and careful study of the 35 conditions and types of situations in which this test has differenti- ated between various groups or predicted the results of an educa- tional experience with groups. Evidence in this direction continues to mount in the files of The Cooperatiyg Study. For example, con- siderable agreement between subjective judgment and the test results has been obtained in the comparison of performance by ' students of the various colleges cooperating in the study. Th3 Inventory has been used successfully to identify homogeneous group- ings of students by one test instrument that formerly required several indices. The possibility that the instrument may differ- entiate between various academic preferences and (that in some cases it may be used to identify potential drop-outs has been re- ported. The low correlations between this and other standardized test instruments have been particularly reassuring that the prepjpgy of Belieis is unique in its function. Item analyses have been satis- factory, with the coefficients therefrom, for the most part, falling well above the necessary levels for retention of items within the test. Reference to each of the above validity measures is given in the Instructor's Manual. I_J_ses of the test. The Eventory of Beliefs can be used to show changes in the attitudes, values and beliefs, insofar as these 36 traits are measured by the test, for students over an academic year or portion of a college experience. The test purportedly measures traits which are seen as desirable outcomes of a general education and indices of the mature individual in our society. By utilizing pretest and posttest scores, differing methods of instruction or varying college experiences may be analyzed in the light of major changes in studentsl responses. The comparison of student groups by means of the Tdyeptpyy of Beliefs may have some value in the direction of accounting for certain observed differences in behavioral characteristics or back— grounds. Normative data in the direction of prediction studies will undoubtedly lead to suggested uses for varied purposes. Th§__C_o_op- erative Study reports, by way of example, that low scorers on the Inventory tend toido less well in courses in the humanities, the social sciences, and literature. The implication follows that special instruction for, or a better understanding of, individuals so identified by this instrument might be in order. The use of this TEE/grimly as an individual counseling aid can be hypothesised if care be taken to limit the extent to which it is used as a diagnostic tool until such time as these implications have been further demonstrated. The purposes of The Cooperative Study 37 validation studies have been limited to their general education impli- cations. Therefore, no attempt has been made to study this latter possibility. The Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing Epscrjption of the test. The Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing was developed by the Inter-College Committee on Communications of the Cooperative Study of Evaluation in Gen- eral Education. The Committee's purpose was to develop an objective-type test designed to assess the student's ability to read analytically and to write clearly. These objectives are seen as desirable outcomes of communications courses taught at the fresh- man and sophomore level. The test as developed has not only been proven appropriate for these purposes, but for college students at all grade levels from the freshman through the senior year. The test consists of three short passages each dealing with the subject of the good life. The student is asked to react in twenty multiple—choice items to similarities expressed in the passages taken from Thoreau's Waddgp, the praiyat of Omar Khayyam, and the ”Sermon on the Mount.” The test also contains a repro- duction of a student theme written about the three passages. In 38 twenty additional objective-type items the test solicits the student's perception of formal elements of writing and appropriateness of expression. The Critical Analysis Test in Reading and Writipgg utilized in this study as developed by the Inter-College Committee on Com- munications is based upon earlier work done by Paul Diedrich of the Educational Testing Service in connection with the United States Armed Forces Institute in the early 1940's. It may be considered a developmental form of the test. Results from extensive pretest and posttest administrations in the fall of 1951 and the spring of 1952, of which The Horowitz Study and the present study form a part, led to a final revision of the test.3 This revision was under- taken to adapt the scope and success of the developmental form of the test to be more applicable to all levels of the college popula- tion. The rationale of the two forms is the same and a majority of the items is common to both forms. Test reliability. Estimates of reliability for the initial form of the test used in the present study proved to be somewhat Currently available from the Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey. 39 lower than desired. The Instructor 5 Manual reports estimates based upon the Kuder-Richardson technique involving internal con- sistency ranging from 0.62 to 0.67. These low coefficients are seen as the result of test length and item difficulty which prevent numbers of students from finishing the complete test. These dif- ficulties have been modified in the revised version of the instru- ment (3:5). Test validity. Evidences of test validity consist of data which support or reject the presumption of validity. The Instructor‘s MM suggests the presence of "logical validity” based upon the fact that the instrument was designed by college teachers of com- munications courses in general education and by persons experienced in the techniques of evaluation. The relationships between the T_e_s__t_ of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writipg and other standardized tests has been reassuring. The expected positive relationships be- tween the test and certain linguistic expressions of academic apti— tude have been demonstrated to exist within expectations. Correla- tions with nonlinguistic factors correspondingly have not been found to be as high. Studies of gains among groups of freshmen over the academic year and between freshmen and seniors support assumptions ...:.1v.:‘..- 1.. 40 made for the test. Specific reference to these and other validity measures is contained in the Instructor's Manual (325-6). Uses of the test. The nature of the present study suggests one of the more obvious uses of the test instrument, the measure- ment of the extent of gain in the traits measured by the instrument between initial and posttest administrations. The effectiveness of differing methods of instruction might be ascertained by this means. An exploration and examination of the items of the test may be used effectively with a class as a teaching device for these principles. This procedure has been proven to be extremely throught-provoking with students with whom it has been used for this purpose. Post- test scores or indices of gains have also been utilized as a partial determinant of final grades in a communications course. Administration and scoring. The Test of Critical Analyysiys TnyReading and Writing is composed of forty multiple—choice items and is designed to be administered in a fifty-minute period. Pre— liminary instructions should be carefully presented with emphasis given to the fact that each question is designed to have one best answer. Since no correction is made for guessing, students should be encouraged to make the best possible use of prudent guesses. 41 The use of either machine-scored or hand-scored answer sheets is appropriate. A scoring key is included in the Instructor's Manual. Selection of the Sample The design of the present study was approved by the guidance committee shortly after the beginning of the 1951-1952 academic year at Michigan State College. The proposed relationship with The Cooperative Study was such that it was deemed desirable to utilize data and materials which were available during the current academic year. Furthermore, the findings of this study were sought as a further validation for the test instruments under study by The Cooperative Study for the 1951-1952 academic year. To meet these conditions it was necessary to utilize pretest data and biographical data already on file with The Cooperative Study and A.C.E. Scores from the lists of the Board of Examinders of The Basic College. The Basic College, Michigan State College, had cooperated with The Cooperative Study to the extent of participating in several of the different research designs of the Study. For this purpose, all entering freshmen were assigned to one or more of the various research programs of The Cooperative Study. During the fall 42 entrance testing program of The Basic College, each freshman was administered various tests of The Cooperative Study as a part of the entrance battery. The assignment of the subjects to the various research designs was made on the basis of the time at which dif- ferent groups appeared for testing rather than by randomly selected or controlled procedures. Previous experience by The Cooperative M had proven this to be an adequate procedure with the use of samples of the magnitude with which they were working. It was felt desirable that since the current study was to utilize borrowed data, representativeness be studied and established for the samples in question. The parent population consisted of 1,942 freshmen starting their work with the fall term of 1951. Of this number The Cooperative Study research designs included 896 students to whom had been administered each of the three test instruments with which this study is concerned. These 896 cases constitute the pretest or initial working sample for this study. Of the initial pretest sample of 896 cases, 300 were no longer available for study by the completion of the spring or post- test program. Of the, original sample 118 students were no longer in attendance in college at the time of the spring (testing. Another 182 students were unavailable for the posttest program for various 43 reasons. Table 2 presents the distribution and disposition Of all cases with which the study is concerned. The determination or establishment of representativeness of the sample was studied by means of the test of homogeneity, Chi- Square (x2), as presented in Lindquist (47:43-45) and Johnson (43:33-37), utilizing scores obtained by each student on The Amgpi; can Council on Education Psychological Examination. The scores used were derived from the "Total" score on the A.C.E. Psyphologi- cal Examinatipyl administered as a part of the entrance battery of tests of The Basic College. The raw scores were secured from the official listings of the Michigan State College Board of Examiners. These raw scores were in turn converted into derived scores based upon Michigan State College norms for the 1949 edition of the {kc-E; P sychologic al Examination. The derived scores which were used are similar in make—up to decile scores insofar as there are ten breakdowns or groups. In other words, decile groupings are replaced by a standard ten—point scale ranging from 1 (low) to 10 (high). The effect of this derived scale is to reduce the percent of students in the extremes and to increase it in the middle of the scale to approach a more normal distribution. Under this system, extreme scores become much more 44 TABLE 2 DIS TRIB U TION OF CASES Total Parent Population (Michigan State College Fresh- men entering Fall Term 1951) . 1,942 Initial Pretest Sample "A" Group (Administered The Test of Critical Thinking, Form "A" 448 "B" Group (Administered The Test of Critical Thinking, Form "B" 448 Total 896 Final Working Sample ”All Group 302 "B" Group 294 Total 596 Cases Not Used Drop-outs 118 Special Permission Students 56 Incomplete Posttest Data 126 Total 30 0 45 significant in indicating superior or inferior ability. Table 3 pre- sents the derived scores, the corresponding raw scores for the Michigan State College population of entering freshmen, and the ap- jproxhnate percentage of cases in each category. The analysis of the data by the Chi Square method, deter- mination of goodness of fit, for the relationship between the total working posttest sample (n = 596) and the total parent population (1,942 entering freshmen) is presented in Table 4. From the above statistical test of homogeneity it was found that the final working sample could be considered to be representative of all entering Michigan State College freshmen. The obtained value of Chi Square (14.126) is not sufficient to reject the hypothesis of representative- ness and it can therefore be assumed that the differences which exist between these two groups may be attributed to chance. In like manner, the relationship between the initial pretest sample of 896 cases for whom complete pretest data were available, and the final working sample of 596 cases was tested. Again, it may be seen from an inspection of the summary table of obtained X2 values that these two groups or samples may be considered Scores. 46 TABLE 3 DERIVED SCORES, "TOTAL" RAW SCORES, AND PERCENTAGES OF CASES FOR A. C. E. PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATION Derived Score "Total" Raw Score Percentage of Cases 1 0—54 1 2 55-69 3 3 70-82 8 4 83-94 16 5 95-105 22 6 106-119 22 7 120-132 16 8 133-144 8 9 145-159 3 10 160—up 1 TABLE 4 47 SUMMARY TABLE OF x2 VALUES FOR REPRESENTATIVENESS Sample Distributions Tested N Obtained For Representativeness X2 Value Final Working Sample 596 with 14.126* All Michigan State College Freshmen 1,942 Pretest Sample 896 with 12.748’1‘ Final Working Sample 496 ‘ Pretest Sample 896 with l6.754* All Other Michigan State College Freshmen 1,046 Final Working Sample, Group A 302 with 6.942* Final Working Sample, Group B 294 Final Working Sample 596 with 66.676** Cases Dropped from Pretest Sample 300 All Michigan State College Freshmen 1,942 with 30.805** Cases Dropped from Pretest Sample 300 fi— * Indicates hypothesis of representativeness accepted. ** Indicates hypothesis of representativeness rejected. 48 Before the final working sample had been defined it was impor- tant that the initial pretest sample reflect the trend of representativeness. One relationship which was studied was that of the pretest sample (n = 896) and the remainder of freshmen who entered college in the fall of 1951 (n = 1,046). The resulting x2 value indicated that. the two groups could be considered as having come from the same population (Table 4). The establishment of this relationship along with several other preliminary tests of representativeness provided assurance that representativeness had been established for the pre— test samples. The relationship between two subsamples of the final working sample was also studied. This was deemed desirable since the pretest program by The Cooperatiye Stu_d_y had included two forms of the T_E§.t_ of Cr_i£ica1 T_'nink_i_dg: Form "A" comprising proven test items, and Form "B" made up of similar, but, for the most part, untried items. As it became apparent that conclusions in the current study for the critical thinking area would need to be based upon the results of Form "A." to the exclusion of Form "B," the test of x2 was administered to these two groups. The resulting x2 value (Table 4) indicated that these two subsamples of the final 49 working sample can be considered to be equivalent groups with respect to their A. C. E. Score distributions. As indicated in Chapter I, the cases which were dropped be- tween the time of the fall testing program and the retests made at the end of the academic year were determined to be dissimilar to the final working sample with respect to their A. C. E. Scored. From an inspection of Table 4, it is evident that real differences existed between the make-up of these cases and that of the final sample.._ This also proved to be the case for the relationship of the cases dropped during the study and the total population of fresh- men (n = 1,942). However, the loss of this atypical group did not prevent the final working sample from being representative of the total population of freshmen entering Michigan State College during the fall'term of 1951. Coll_e_ction and Coding of the Data Source 5 of Data The data upon which this study is based come from two main sources: the pretesting program administered to entering gperative Study, and the posttesting program, administered jointly 50 with The Cooperative Study. The 1951 fall pretesting program pro— duced. two general kinds of data-—test scores, and biographical data. The posttest program was concerned primarily with retest scores on the test instruments. Thg_pp§£d§t_p_r_o_g_r_api_. Pretest scores for the Test of Crit- ical 'Ihipking, the Tnvento_ry of Beli<_3_f__s_, and the Tgst of Critical Analysis in Read_ipg_and Writing were obtained directly from the individual scored answer—sheets on file with The CoOperative Study. The scores on the American _gouncil on Education Psychological Examinatiod were obtained from the official listing of the Michigan State College Board of Examiners. Items of biographical data we re obtained largely from the 4 . Individual Biographical Data Sheet, administered by The Coopera- tive Study during the pretesting program. All cases are identified by the name of the student as well as case number assigned by The Cooperative Study and retained by the present study. Student num- bers assigned by the college and listed on the Biographical Data Sheet Proved helpful for the purpose of cross-validation and the 4 A copy of the Biographical Data Sheet may be found in the Appendix. 51 completion of incomplete biographical data which were obtained from admissions applications on file in the Office of the Registrar. A Supplementary Biographical Questionnaire, administered at the time of the posttest administration provided data relative to the size of the high school which each student had attended. The posttest adrrli_n_i_s£_pzyt_ipp. The posttesting program consti- tuted one of the major administrative undertakings of the study. It proved to be necessary to plan very carefully for an adequate and representative posttest sample. While it was not expected to include one hundred precent of the pretest cases in the posttest sample, the design of the study, being a study of gains, demanded that every available case within reason be retained in the posttest administra- tion. This proved to be a difficult problem and one that random sampling with three separate tests would not solve. In checking the plans of The Cooperative Study, it became apparent that special posttesting plans needed'to be developed beyond those proposed by The Cooper;a_t_iye__§t_udy. It was decided to seek the cooperation of ‘H. ._——_— __.___~._———_——_— '— —_ A copy of the Supplementary Questionnaire may be found in the Appendix. 52 The Basic C_o_1_l_ege in the administration of a posttest program more adequate for the purposes of this study. Th§__B_a_s_i_c__C_o_llege had made arrangements to administer the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing as a portion of the final Comprehensive Examination to all freshmen completing the third term of Communications Skills, the basic communications course re— quired of all freshmen at Michigan State College. Thus, it was pos- sible to secure the test scores on the Test of Critical Analjgsis in Readiri and Writing from the individual answer sheets as filed with The Cooperative Study. Because the Department of Communication Skills enrolled a greater proportion of the freshmen during the spring term than any other department of The Basic College, this department was requested to make available to the posttest pro- gram, one two-hour laboratory or recitation meeting for each of the seventy-two sections of Communication Skills 113, the third term of the basic communications course. During this two—hour period, the two remaining tests, the Test of Critical Thinking and the Inventory of Beliefs, were administered along with the supple- me ntary que stionnaire . Prior to the postte st administration late in the month of May, the revised class lists for each of the seventy—two class 53 sections were checked for the members of the pretest sample who were included in each section. Provisions were made to designate the form of the Test of Critical Thinking, Form "A" or Form “B," which was to be administered, each student in the sample being given the same form of the test he had taken in the fall. A pre— liminary meeting was held with staff of the Department of Communi- cation Skills to give the background of the study, to impress upon each instructor the need for uniform test administration procedures, and to answer any questions about the test administration. A com- plete list of written instructions and a copy ‘of each class roll designating the form of the Test of Critical Thinking to be admin- istered to each student accompanied the kit of test materials. Testing procedures were reviewed carefully with each instructor prior to the start of each test administration. The excellent coop- eration of the staff of the Department of Communication Skills aided in producing testing conditions of maximum motivational con— trol. The individual data sheet. In a statistical study utilizing numerous items of data for each of several hundred cases, pro- vision must be made for the systematic collection, recording, and possible coding of such data. For this reason, an individual data 54 sheet was designed for the present study which provided for the re- cording and coding of all necessary data for each individual case or student in the study. Thus one data sheet, identifiable by name and case number, contains the complete raw data and the codes assigned for each item for each individual case in the study. In planning the Individual Data Sheet, provisions were made to include data pertinent not only to the present study, but to The Horowitz _S_t_g_d_y as well. A few items were also included which it was felt might become useful for follow-up studies resulting from conclu- sions and implications for further study, thus the data sheet con- tains data for each case which was not necessarily utilized or .reported in the present study. Items which pertain directly to the present study have been marked by an asterisk (’1‘) in the sample data sheet in the Appendix. The IBM data card. The provision for the coding of data which was made on the Individual Data Sheet was for the purpose of transferring all data to IBM punch cards. Thus the Individual Data Sheet for each case was merely used as a means of system— xatic collection, checking, and coding of data prior to their transfer 'to individual IBM cards. The coding of data on the IBM cards made it possible to run much of the statistical work on various 55 13M machines. The utilization of IBM procedures and equip— ment made it possible to increase greatly the number of sta- tistical relationships and calculations studied, as well as the expansion of the number of cases which could be ana— lyzed. Agflxsis of the Data A basic assumption of any educational system, program, or course is that of gain or change. Gain as defined by Webster, implies an increase. Change implies an alteration or variation. Thus the evaluation of progress or change implies the determina— tion of initial status in order that the extent of change can be determined. Too often in the field of education one finds that only final status or an achieved level of accomplishment has been ascertained rather than the measurement or evaluation of actual change. Thus, without an inventory of the initial level of ac- complishment of the individual student as he enters the class- room, school, or college, it is impossible to determine to what extent a final score or evaluation is a reflection of change during a particular educational experience. 56 This study, therefore, makes use of objective-type test in- struments in lgefggg and a_ft_e_£ testing situations to measure selected outcomes of one academic year of college experience. These re- sults are studied in relation to various socio-economic groupings of students. For example, do students from large high schools gain more in their ability to think critically during their freshman year in college than do students from small high schools? When gain or Ichange is the criterion it becomes obvious that pretest informa— tion or initial status is of importance equal to that of final status if one is to arrive at valid answers. The statistical treatment of gains is complicated, unfortunately, by the fact that there is no clear-cut method for the analysis of data utilizing pretest and posttest results. When this problem is analyzed carefully, it appears that there are two best possible ap- proaches: (a) the so-called classical method in which the differences in gains for various groups are tested each against the other by use of their standard error of difference, and (b) the analysis of vari- ance, covariance adjustment technique. In both instances the intention is to ferret out, insofar as is possible, initial differences, so that final differences or variances will reflect change resulting from the educational experience in which we are interested rather than 57 differences which existed in initial status. We wish the index of change to reflect the final difference between groups corrected for their initial difference. Each of the above methods makes certain assumptions but the two methods do not necessarily yield similar results. McNemar (532343) makes the following observations con— cerning the se methods. The covariance adjustment technique is based upon predictions by means of regression equations, and accordingly it provides a way of correcting final means for initial differences, with due allowance for the "degree" of correlation between initial and final scores. Now the ordinary (classical) and the co- variance methods of testing the significance of gains differ not only in the correction or adjustment to final means, but also in the resultant sampling error. The ordinary technique uses a standard error which definitely includes, either ex- plicitly or implicitly, the variance for both initial and final scores and the correction of initial with final, whereas the error term used in the covariance method is a direct function of the degree of correlation and of the variance of the final scores only. In other words, the net differences being tested are not the same, and neither are the error terms the same. In general the two methods will not lead to the same level of significance for a. given comparison. Which method is preferable? The student who is in— terested in an answer will wish to read Chapter IX of R. A. Fisher's Design of Experiments. Suffice it to say here that Professor Fisher discusses different types of corrections and then proceeds to use the covariance technique. Actually, the situation which pertains here is one in which allowance needs to be made for the correction of uncontrollable variables. While it is preferable to design an experiment in such a manner that experimental and control groups are equivalent 58 prior to a certain controlled experience, oftentimes this becomes impractical, if not impossible. Therefore, as in the present case, statistical allowance needs to be made which will in turn allow valid inferences. By way of example, one may assume that an individual sub- jected to one year of study in the Basic College at Michigan State College would exhibit gains in his ability to read, write, and com- municate. Furthermore, it could be hypothesised that because of a more enriched background, students from a large high school would show greater gains in these areas during their freshman year in college than would students from a small high school. However, in order that this might be studied, one must know the entry or pretest level of students in these two groups, for they might be expected to differ at the time they entered college. In other words, a group test at the end of the one-year experience would measure not only gains, but gains plus initial differences or status. Thus, a pretest of reading and writing abilities would provide a measure of initial differences by which final differences might be adjusted to reflect gains over the period in question. A complete discussion of analysis of variance by the co- variance adjustment technique is presented in Chapter XV of 59 McNemar's EfXEleQflLEiL§£§E§EiE§ and in Chapters 12 and 13 of Snedecor's §t_a_ti§t_ig_a_l__l_\_/l_e_th_g§s_. These two references furnish the reader with the methodology employed in the present study. Two additional statistical procedures have been used for other aspects of the study. They are the "t" test of significance between correlated means and the analysis of variance test for the significance of differences among mean scores. The first of these methods is used to determine the signifi- cance of differences of the pretest and posttest means of all stu- dents in the final working sample. The method results in an obtained value of ''t" from which it is possible to determine the extent to which gains made on the test instruments can be consid— ered statistically significant. The "t" test may be applied when information is desired concerning differences between two mean scores, in the present instance mean scores of two correlated distributions for the same sample of students. The reader is referred to McNemar for a more thorough presentation of the procedure which is used for this significance test (53:216-226). The analysis of variance technique may be considered an extension of the "t" technique for by this method it becomes possible to analyze mean differences among two or more sets of 60 scores with the resultant probability value being presented as one figure. The analysis of variance technique has been utilized in the present study to determine the significance of differences between the pretest means on the different test instruments for groups of students representing classifications within the different socio- economic categories. The analysis of variance technique is a well- established statistical procedure and for this reason will not be dis- cussed in any detail in this study. The reader is directed to McNemar (53), Snedecor (69), Lindquist (47), or any one of a num- ber of texts in the field of statistics for a more .complete study of this statistical method. Because of the volume of data, only the summary calculations are presented in the dissertation. Raw data, individual data cards, and the statistical work sheets and calculations are on file with the write r . Office of the Dean of Men, Northern Illinois State Teachers College, DeKalb, Illinois. CHAPTER III ANALYSIS OF THE DATA FOR THE TEST OF CRITICAL THINKING Introduction It will be recalled from Chapter I that this study is concerned with the evaluation of a program of general education. More spe- cifically it attempts to do so by utilizing three test instruments de— veloped by The Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General Education of the American Council on Education. Chapter III is concerned with an analysis of the data for the Test of Critical Thinking-Form "Ai' An analysis of the data pertaining to the Inventory of Beliefs is pre- sented in Chapter IV, and in Chapter V the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing is studied in light of the data which apply to that instrument. For each of the three general—education objectives, as meas- ured by the above-named test instruments, the data have been analyzed for various groups of students categorized according to the size of high schools attended, the size of their home communities, their fathers' occupations, and sex. The relationships with which this study is concerned are, (l) differences in pretest-posttest scores 62 or gains for all students over the course of the academic year, (2) differences in pretest or entrance status among the various groupings of students within the socio—economic categories at the time they enter college, and, (3) a study of differential gains among the subgroupings of students for the academic year. A discussion or description of the statistical procedures utilized for these analyses have been presented in Chapter II. Differences among the pretest means are studied by the Analysis of Variance technique (69:232-235). The pretest-posttest relationship is studied by testing the significance of differences between pretest and post- test means using the “t” test for differences between correlated means (532225-231). The study of differential gains is by the Analysis of Variance, Covariance Adjustment technique (53:318—330; 692340-373). The data upon which these calculations are based are taken from tables of sums, sums of squares, and the sums of cross- products for the total working sample and the various subsamples which were run by the IBM tabulating machines from the individual IBM data cards . 63 Presentation of Raw Scores, Gains, and Adjusted Posttest Scores for the Test of Critical Thinkiigg—Form HA" Table 5 presents a summary of the mean scores earned by the various subgroupings of students for the A. C. E. Psychological Examination, pretest and posttest scores for the Test of Critical Thinkirg-Form ”A4,:' and the mean gains made by each group on this test during their first academic year. The breakdown of the total working sample (302 for the Test of Critical Thinking-F0133 11”) into the high school size, community size, occupational, and sex categories, constitutes a redistribution of the same total sample of students into the four major categories. In studying the table it is of interest to note the changes in rank order assumed by the various groups within the different socio—economic categories for their mean scores on the A;_(_3;*E;, the pretest, the posttest, the gains, and the adjusted posttest. For example, the students representing the Farm category for the Com— munity distribution are found to rank lowest in terms of their mean score on the A;_§_.__§., highest among the community cate— gories on their critical thinking pretest score, highest for their posttest score, lowest in terms of actual gain between the pretest and the posttest, and second highest among the five categories with 64 TABLE 5 RAW SCORES, GAINS, AND ADJUSTED POSTTEST SCORES FOR THE TEST OF CRITICAL THINKING-FORM "A" A. C. E. Pretest Posttest Mean Adjusted N , Posttest Means Means Means Gains Means High Schools Class ”A" 132 105.432 39.515 39.114 7.599 38.734 Class 1'B" 89 102.774 32.573 38.652 6.079 38.932 Class "C" 70 103.313 31.486 39.014 7.528 39.052 Class ”D" 11 100.241 34.545 41.545 7.000 42.407 Total/Avgs. 302 103.936 31.930 39.043 7.113 Communities Farm 48 100.924 33.104 39.646 6.542 39.935 250-2,500 32 102.080 30.094 38.281 8.187 39.648 2,500-25,000 78 104.261 32.974 39.615 6.641 39.040 25,000-100,000 59 101.269 30.288 38.508 8.220 40.010 over 100,000 85 108.399 32.141 38.835 6.694 37.501 Total/Avgs. 302 103.936 31.930 39.043 7.113 Qccgpations Professional 61 109.392 32.541 38.639 6.098 36.750 Proprietary 41 100.603 31.195 39.024 7.829 40.340 Skilled 49 102.673 31.224 37.816 6.592 38.517 Semi & unskilled 24 99.305 33.917 41.167 7.250 41.651 Clerical 21 103.093 29.048 38.190 9.142 39.731 Sales 33 100.034 33.606 39.727 6.121 39.243 Farm 30 100.767 32.467 40.467 8.000 41.164 Managerial 43 107.151 31.209 38.744 7.535 38.115 Total/Avgs. 302 103.936 31.930 39.043 7.113 5325 , Male 162 104.722 32.012 39.123 7.111 38.874 Female 140 102.955 31.835 38.950 7.115 39.258 Total/Avgs. 302 103.936 31.930 39.043 7.113 65 respect to their posttest scores when these are adjusted for differ- ences on the A. C. E. and the pretest. It is tempting at this point to go into a lenghty discussion of the relationships which apparently exist and some of the possible explanations which could account for these findings. Were it not for the fact that these differences do not prove to be statistically significant this kind of analysis would be very much in order. The inclusion of the Adjusted Posttest scores in Table 5 is for the sole purpose of indicating possible trends and rankings as- sumed by the various groups as a result of the adjustment of post— test scores for initial differences on the Test of Critical Think_igg- Form ”A: and for the A. C. E. Psychological Examination. However, in the light of the fact that the differences in the mean gains do not prove to be statistically significant little or not significance can be attached to the adjusted rankings. This method utilized constitutes an extension of the procedure presented by Snedecor (692322) for the calculation of adjusted mean gains. Table 6 presents the appli— cation of the method for adjusted means for the data for the high school categories, thus demonstrating the application of the extension of the Snedecor example. ' 'ssod -.Ind srqi .10} pssn sq ues qotqm A8010p0qqsui sq; pu'e spusn quissod 50 uoiiesipu} ue se Ajsisui psiusssxd ussq seq stqm sql 'suesm .10 3mm; issiisod psisnfp'e sip uodn pssmd sq ues souesy‘mfiys .IO iqfitam 0u ‘3ueogiufits 8.12 sdn018 Iooqos qfiiq .10} 51:11:28 11; ssouslsggp i'eqi psumsse sq iouueo 3! soutg 'suesui assisxd pure 53.1033 '3 '3 'V 10} suestu issiisod jo qusuuisnfpe jo issjjs sq; }0 uopeotpu} Ire se psiuas —s.id s; ”V” mlOJ-HU}>{up{_L 183111-11) jo 189.1. sq; .10; sdnoxfi Iooqos (fig .10} susstu issiisod psisnfpe 30 uopetnomo sAoqe s1”, imam-2&0] - [(IXHZ-IMQH - l 2 WWW 18:91:80.1 Summit wont-1:) Pansnfpv = 'PBA ..'v.. 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SdflO‘dD "IOOHDS HDIH HOJ snvaw .LSSIllSOd asisnrav so NOLLV'IDD'IVD 9 (H'IEIVJ. 99 67 TABLE 6 (Continue (1) D ' ti C it' evia on r ical ‘ Adjusted Pretest- from Thinking P stt st P tt st Pretest b'YZ'IXZ Posttest o e 05 e Means Raw Means Means (Yad) Gains (X2) (Y1 . . ~0.415 -0.01_94 39.114 38.734 7.599 0.643 0.0301 38.652 38.932 6.079 -O.444 -0.0208 39.014 39.052 7.528 2.615 0.1225 41.545 42.407 7.000 68 Analysis of the Significance of Differences Between Total Sample Pretest and Posttest Means for the Test of Critical Thinking-Form ”A” Attention is now directed to the test of significance between the pretest and posttest means for the total sample for the 1‘3ng Critical Thinkigig—Form "A." The question at hand is whether the gains for all students taken as a group can be considered signifi- cant. In studying this relationship it is necessary to make allow- ance for the fact that the two sets of scores are not independent since they are scores of the same individuals or cases. For this purpose the following method is adapted from McNemar (53:225—- 231). Since the ”t" test assumes equal variances these are studied for the pretest and posttest distributions. Z s Ct Posttest 136 1600 n u _._._ : .___.;.______ ___ 6 F S.2 111.8858 1'2“? Ct Pretest Entering a table of ”F” values with 111 = 301 degrees of freedom and n2 = 301 degrees of freedom, the required value of ”F" for significance would be 1.22 at the 5-percent level of con- fidence and 1.33 at the l-percent level of confidence. However, 11.11. 11.111.11.11, i . 69 for this test since only two groups are being tested, these obtained values are the equivalent to the 10-percent and 2-percent levels, respectively. (53:231). Therefore, since the obtained value of ”F” does not reach the 5-percent level of significance, the variances can be considered as equal and the ”t” test may be applied. x - x ntn = l 2' f2 + Z 2 01 0:2 r 01 012 where: 0’1 and 02 are standard errors of the means of the pretest and posttest, respectively (standard devia— tionsNN ) r = correlation coefficient between the pretest and posttest x1 = posttest mean 'x2 = pretest mean Substituting values for the Test of Critical Thinkigg—Form I'A": 39.0430 — 3119305 lltll -_-_- fl.20395 + 0.13772) - [2 (0.59496) (0.45161) (0.37110)] "t” = 18.858 Entering a table of ”t'' values at 301 degrees of freedom, the required value of ”t" would be 2.592 at the 1-percent level of confi- dence for differences to be considered significant. It is therefore a'PParent that with the obtained value of ”t" = 18.858 that the 70 difference between the pretest and posttest means for all students (N = 302) on the _'1:§_s_t_of Cri_tical Thin.ki£ig;1:grm HA_'_' is signifi- —c—-——~_-— cant considerably beyond the l-percent level of confidence. Analy§i_5__o_f__Pretest Differences Within the Socio-Economig Categories for the Test giCritical Thinking-Form ”A" Thus far in Chapter III it has been discovered that differ- ences in pretest and posttest scores for the _Test_gf Critical Thinking—Form "A,” are significant for the total sample of fresh— men. Since it has been demonstrated that the Test of Critical Thinking—Form "A" is capable of measuring gain during the course of an academic year the effect of high school size, community size, fathers' occupations, and sex upon pretest 0r entrance status for the test can be analyzed. The statistical procedure which is used for this purpose is analysis of variance as outlined in Chapter II. The resulting ”F” values obtained by this method for each of the socio— economic factors present the necessary evidence for determining whether the pretest means may be considered sufficiently different from one another as to represent real differences. Table 7 presents the summary data for the obtained analysis of variance values for each of the four socio—economic factors. 71 TABLE 7 SUMMARY TABLE OF ANALYSIS or VARIANCE VALUES FOR PRETEST MEANS ON THE TEST OF CRITICAL THINKING—FORM "A” (N = 302) D d Socio—Economic agrees Of Free 0m Obtained Tabular 5% H. II II n 3:: Category Groups Individuals 'F Value F Value High Schools 3 298 0.802 2.64 Communities 4 297 1.729 2. 40 Occupations 7 294 1.073 2.72 Sex 1 300 0.040 3.87 * Points for the Distribution of "F," Snedecor (69:222-225). It is evident upon inspection of the obtained ”F" values. in Table 7 that none of the socio-economic factors studied produced a significant effect upon the entrance or pretest scores for the leg gLCritical Thinking—Form ”A.” None of the "F"I values are large enough to be significant at the 5-percent level of confidence. There— fore, it cannot be assumed that the subsample groups within each of the socio-economic categories studied are different with respect to their pretest mean scores on the Test of Critical Thinking-Form 25.1.1. or in other words, students representing the different groups 72 within the high school, community, occupational, and sex categories can be considered as having come from the same population. Analysis of Differential Gains Within the Socio-Economic Categories for the Test of Critical Thinking-Form ”A" The final relationship of concern to this study of the $3375 of Critical Thinking-Form “A." is that of the effect of the four previously identified socio—ecmomic factors upon differential gains on the test instrument over the period of one academic year. The statistical method utilized for this purpose is the analysis of variance, covariance adjustment technique outlined in Chapter II. The final covariance tables of gains, which are computed by this method, are presented for each of the four soci0veconomic factors: high school size, community size, occupations, and sex. Each results in a computed "F” value indicating the degree to which that particular socio-economic factor may contribute to dif— ferential gains on the test for the one academic year time interval. Table 8, followed by an interpretation of the resultant "F” value, presents the findings for the high school category; Table 9, the findings for the community category; Table 10, those of the occu- pational classification; and Table 11, those of sex. 73 TABLE 8 ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE OF GAINS AND ERRORS OF ESTIMATE, THE TEST OF CRITICAL THINKING- FORM ”A,’' HIGH SCHOOL CATEGORIES Errors of Estimate Source Posttest grees De- Of of R2 rees Varia- Sum of Mean g Sum of Mean tion Free- 5 ares S uare Of S ua s S a dom qu q Free- q re qu re dom Total 301 12518.4404 0.40922 299 7395.6442 Error 298 12435.2107 41.7289 0.41030 296 7333.0437 24.7738 m—"——o~_ Groups 3 83.2297 27.7432 3 62.6005 20.8668 F = 20.8668/24.7738 = 0.8423 Entering a table of "F" values with 296 and 3 degrees of freedom, the necessary value of "F" for significance is found to be 2.63 at the 5% level of confidence and 3.85 at the 1% level of con- fidence. . Therefore it cannot be assumed ,that gains for the four high school groups are different for scores on the Test of Critical Thinking-Form "A”; i.e., students within the four high school clas- sifications may have come from the same population. 74 TABLE 9 ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE OF GAINS AND ERRORS OF ESTIMATE, THE TEST OF CRITICAL THINKING- FORM "A,'l COMMUNITY CATEGORIES Errors of Estimate _‘_. Source De- Posttest grees De- Of of '~ R2 rees Varia- Sum of Mean g Sum of Mean t' n Free- S ares Sauare 0f S ares S a e 10 dom qu Free— qu qu r dom Total 301 12518.4404 0.40922 299 7395,6442 Error 297 12436.3493 41.8732 0.41102 225 7324.7610 24.8297 Groups 4 82.0911 20.5228 4 70.8832 17.7208 F = 17.7208/24.8297 = 0.7137 Entering a table of "F" values with 295 and 4 degrees of freedom, the necessary value of "F” for significance is found to be 2.40 at the 5% level of confidence and 3.39 at the 1% level of con- fidence. Therefore it cannot be assumed that gains for the five com- munity groups are different for scores on the Test of Critical Thinking-Form "A"; i.e., students within the community groups may have come from the same population. 75 TABLE 10 ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE OF GAINS AND ERRORS OF ESTIMATE, THE TEST OF CRITICAL THINKING- FORM l'A," OCCUPATIONAL CATEGORIES Errors of Estimate Source De- Posttest f grees 2 De— 0 of Sum of Mean R grees Varia- Sum of. Mean ti 11 Free- Squares Square of S uares S are 0 dom Free— q qu dom Total 301 12518.4404 0.40922 299 7395.6442 Error 294 12231.1517 41.6026 0.41799 g9; 7118.6___6_l 24.3790 Groups 7 287.2827 41.0404 7 276.9881 39.5697 F = 39.5697/24.3790 = 1.6231 Entering a table of "F" values with 292 and 7 degrees of freedom, the necessary value of "F" for significance is found to be 2.04 at the 5% level of confidence and 2.72 at the 1% level of con- fidence. Therefore it cannot be assumed that gains for the eight oc— cupational groups are different for scores on the Test of Critical Thinking-Form "A”; i.e., students from the occupational groups may have come from the same population. 76 TABLE 11 ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE OF GAINS AND ERRORS OF ESTIMATE, THE TEST OF CRITICAL THINKING- FORM ”A," THE SEXES Posttest Errors of Estimate Source of grees De— Varia- Of Sum of Mean grees Sum of Mean tion Fr e- Squares Square 0f Squares Square do Free- dom Total 301 12518.4404 0.40922 299 7395.6442 Error 300 125161809 41.7206 0.40952 298 Z_3_99.5545 24.8005 Groups 1 2.2595 2.2595 1 5.0897 5.0897 F = 5.0897/24.8005 = 0.2052 Entering a table of ”F" values with 298 and 1 degree of freedom, the necessary value of ”F" for significance is found to be 3.87 at the 5% level of confidence and 6.73 at the 1% level of con— fidence . Therefore it cannot be assumed that gains between the sexes are different for scores on the Test of Critical ThinkingForm ‘LAL'; i.e., they may have come from the same "population." 77 @1313? 9.31 An analysis of the data for the Test of Critical Thinking— Form ”A" has been presented in Chapter III. The effect of four different socio—economic factors upon the scores earned on the test by students categoriZed according to high school size, community size, fathersl occupations, and sex, has been studied for differ- ences in entrance status and for differential gains over the period of the freshman academic year. It was discovered that the differences between the pretest mean scores and the posttest mean scores for the total sample of freshmen tested (11 = 302) were significant at considerably beyond the l-percent level of confidence. In other words, significant gains on the Test of Critical Thinking-Form "A" were found to have oc- curred over the period of one academic year. The data indicate that no significant differences exist on pre— test or entrance scores for the samples tested among the various socio-economic subgroupings of students. Therefore, within the limits of the sample tested, it can be said that high school size, community size, fathers' occupations, and sex have no measurable effect upon scores earned by students from the different socio« economic categories when tested at the time they enter college. . . 78 The data also indicate that no significant differences exist among the gains made on the Test of Critical Thinking~Form "A“ by groups of students categorized according to the various subgroup- ings within the high school, community, occupational, or sex clas- sifications. Therefore, within the limits of the sample tested, it can be concluded that high school size, community size, fathers' occupations, and sex have no measurable effect upon mean gains earned by students within the different socio-economic categories during the course of their freshman year in college. CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS OF THE DATA FOR THE INVENTORY OF BELIEFS Introduction Following the general outline presented in Chapter III for the analysis of the data for the Test of Critical Thinkirg—Form ”A,_" the present chapter considers the data which apply to the Inventory of Beliefs, the second of three evaluation instruments which have been utilized in this study. The third evaluation instrument is the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing, the data for which are analyzed in Chapter V. Parallel analyses are presented for each of the three evalu— ation instruments. Chapter IV examines the data for the Inygntgry of Beliefs for groups of students classified according to the size of high schools attended, the size of their home communities, their fathers' occupations, and their sex. The relationships studied are three in number: (1) the determination of differences in pretest- posttest scores or gains for the total sample of students over the period of the freshman academic year, (2) the determination of dif« ferences in pretest or entrance status among the various groupings 80 of students within the socio-economic categories as they entered college, and (3) a study of differential gains within the socio- economic classifications of students for the academic year. The statistical procedures utilized are the same as those used for the analyses presented in Chapter III. The sample studied for the Iggygitggy of Beliefs consists of 596 Michigan State College freshmen who entered college during the fall term of the 1951-1952 academic year and are representative of all students beginning their college work that term. A little more than half of this sample is included in that studied for the Test of Critical Thinking—Form "A.’I The 596 cases studied for their achievement on the Inventory of Beliefs are identical to those cases utilized in the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing, the findings for which are presented in Chapter V. Presentation of Raw Scoresy Gains, and Adjusted Posttest Scores for the Inventory of Beliefs Table 12 presents the summary of mean scores earned by the several subgroupings of students for the A. C. E. Psychological Examination, the pretest and posttest scores for the Inventory of Beliefs, and the mean gains made by each group on this test in- strument during their first academic year. The raw scores earned 81 TABLE 12 RAW SCORES, GAINS, AND ADJUSTED POSTTEST SCORES FOR THE INVENTORY OF BELIEFS A. C. E. Psycho- Adjusted N logical Pretest Posttest Mean Posttest Total Means Means Gain Means Score Means High Schools Class “A" 259 105.432 57.482 64.776 7.294 64.227 Class "B" 164 102.774 56.140 61.500 5.360 62.011 Class ”C” 144 103.313 55.514 63.743 8.229 64.637 Class ”D" 29 100.241 60.793 67.345 6.552 68.384 Total/Avgs. 596 103.936 56.799 63.750 6.951 Communities , Farm 92 100.924 55.011 62.228 7.217 63.600 250-2,500 75 102.080 58.120 64.827 6.707 64.058 2,500-25,000 157 104.261 57.427 63.452 6.025 63.014 25901-101000 119 101.269 57.353 63.815 6.462 63.605 over 100,000 153 108.399 56.150 64.392 8.242 63.692 Total/Avgs. 596 103.936 56.799 63.750 6.951 Occupations Professional 120 109.392 57.708 64.667 6.959 63.714 Proprietary 78 100.603 55.231 63.167 7.936 64.424 Skilled 91 102.673 57.582 63.780 6.198 64.385 Semi 8: unskilled59 99. 305 55.881 63.627 7.746 64.533 Clerical 43 103.093 55.372 64.256 8.884 65.261 Sales 59 103.034 60.780 64.576 3.796 61.979 Farm 60 100.767 53.983 61.000 7.017 63.079 Managerial 86 107.151 56.698 64.151 7.453 64.014 Total/Avgs. 596 103.936 56.799 63.750 6.951 5% Male 331 104.722 56.190 63.127 6.937 63.479 Female 265 102.955 57.558 64.528 6.970 64.089 Total/Avgs. 596 103.936 56.799 63.750 6.951 82 on the Inventory of Beliefs by the different socio-economic subgroup- ings of students, together with rankings which can be allocated to each mean score, again seem to be food for considerable discus- sion and thought'as is the case for scores for the Test of Critical Thinking-Form ”A.” It is pointed out, however, that these apparent differences need to be analyzed for possible significance before more than cursory attention is given to them. Since the subse— quent analyses indicate that the differences among pretest scores and among gains for the groups within each of the socio-economic categories do not prove to be significant, the need to discuss these scores becomes almost meaningless. In light of the above, the adjusted posttest scores also diminish in importance or significance. Analysis of the Significance of Differences Between Total Sample Pretest and Posttest Means for the Inventory of Beliefs The first test of significance with which this study is con« cerned is the difference between the means for the total sample pre— test and posttest scores for the inventory of Beliefs. The problem to be considered is whether or not significant gains have occurred during the academic year for all students considered as a group. If real gains have been measured or demonstrated, it then becomes possible to test for differences in the amount of gain among the 83 socio-economic groupings of students. The statistical procedure used for this purpose is the "t" test of significance between cor- related means—-discussed in Chapter II and used in Chapter III for the Test of Critical Thinking-Form "A.” The assumption of equal variances for the pretest and posttest distributions is tested by the value of “F" resulting from the ratio of the variances. For the sample tested on the Inventory of Beliefs_, the value of "F'' was found to be 1.073. This obtained value of "Fu does not reach the 5-percent level of significance (1.14), and therefore the variances of the two distributions of scores can be considered as equal and the ”t" test may be applied. Utilizing the formula for ”t”: ' lltll _-_— —— L._. / 2 + 2 2 0'1 0'2 r 0'1 0'2 and substituting the obtained values for the Inventory of Beliefs: "t” = 63.7500 - 56.7987 = 14.6878 \/(0.28022 + 0.34985) - [2(O.675Z3)(O.52936)(0.56805)] When a table of ”t" values at 595 degrees of freedom is entered, the required value of ”t" would be 2.586 at the l--percent lever1 of confidence for differences to be considered significant. It 84 is therefore apparent that with the obtained value of ”t" = 14.6878 that the difference between the pretest and posttest means for the total sample of students (11 = 596) on the Inventory of Beliefs is significant considerably beyond the 1-percent level of confidence. It is interpreted, therefore, that real gains have been measured. Apalysis of Pretest Differences Within the Socio-Economic Categories for the Inventory of Beliefs Since differences in pretest and posttest scores for the Inventory of Beliefg have been discovered to be significant for the total sample of freshmen, and since assurance is available that the test instrument is capable of measuring gain, attention is now directed to the effect of high school size, community size, fathers' occupations, and sex upon pretest scores for the Inventory of Ber liefs. This relationship constitutes the second of three inquiries which are analyzed for the Inventory of Beliefs. The statistical procedure used for this inquiry is analysis of variance as outlined in Chapter II. The resulting "F" values obtained by this method make it possible to determine whether or not the pretest means may be considered sufficiently different from one another to rep- resent real differences. Table 13 presents the summary data for 85 TABLE 13 SUMMARY TABLE OF ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE VALUES FOR PRETEST MEANS ON THE INVENTORY OF BELIEFS (N = 596) Degrees of Freedom Socio-Economic Obtained Tabular 5% H II n u 1:: Category Groups Individuals F Value F Value High Schools 3 592 1.789 2.62 Communities 4 591 0.879 2. 39 Occupations 7 588 1.630 2.0 3 Sex 1 594 1.650 3.86 * Points for the Distribution of ”F," Snedecor (692222-225). the obtained analysis of variance values for the four socio-economic factors. From an inspection of the obtained I"F" Values in Table 13, it is evident that results similar to those discovered for the 11.933 of Critical Thinking—Form ”A'l have been demonstrated to exist for the Inventory of Beliefs. None of the ”F" values indicated are of sufficient magnitude to be significant at the 5-percent level of confidence. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that the socio-economic factors studied produced a significant effect upon Inventory of 86 Belipfg pretest or entrance scores or that the scores earned by the Students representing the various classifications within the socio- economic categories represent real differences in their beliefs and attitudes. Analysis of Differential Gains Within phe Socio-Economic Categories for the Inventory of Beliefs Thus far in Chapter IV it has been demonstrated that sta- tistically significant gains exist for a sample of 596 freshmen at Michigan State College in scores on the Inventory of Beliefs during their first academic year. Secondly, it has been discovered that when these students are classified according to high school size, community size, fathers' occupations, and sex, that there are no apparent differences among their entrance or pretest mean scores as measured by this test instrument. The third and final relation- ship to be analyzed for the Inventory of Beliefs is that of the effect of the four different socio-economic factors upon gains in test scores on the instrument over the course of the academic year. The total sample of freshmen distributed among the various subgroupings for each of the socio-economic categories is analyzed for mean gains by the covariance adjustment technique presented in Chapter II. 87 The computations for the analysis of variance, covariance adjustment technique, result in final covariance tables for each of the socio-economic factors studied. These are presented in Tables 14, 15, 16, and 17. The obtained "F" value for each of these factors presents evidence of the degree to which gains ‘made by the subgroupings of students have been influenced by the socio- economic categories, high school size, community size, fathersl occupations, and sex. ngmary An analysis of the effect of high school size, community size, fathers' occupations, and sex upon scores for the lgyegtppy of Beliefs has been presented in Chapter IV. Five hundred and ninety-six freshmen classified according to subgroupings within each of the above socio-economic categories have been studied for mean differences on pretest or entrance scores and for dif— ferential gains earned during a period of one academic year in the general education program at Michigan State College. It was demonstrated that differences between the pretest mean scores and the posttest mean scores for the total sample of freshmen (n == 596) were significant at considerably beyond the 88 TABLE 14 ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE OF GAINS AND ERRORS OF ESTIMATE, THE INVENTORY OF BELIEFS, HIGH SCHOOL CATEGORIES Errors of Estimate De- Source Posttest grees 2 De- Of of R grees Varia- Sum of Mean ° Sum of Mean ti n Free- S uares S uare Of S ares S a o dom q q Free- qu qu re dom Total. 595 114427.7500 0.46004 593 61786.4079 Error 592 112950.0564 130.7940 0.45916 590 61087.9085 103.5388 Groups 3 1477.6936 492.5645 3 698.4994 232.8331 —‘__r—_ F = 232.8831/103.5388 = 2.2488 Entering a table of "F" values with 590 and 3 degrees of freedom, the necessary value of “F" for significance is found to be 2.62 at the 5% level of confidence and 3.82 at the 1% level of con- fidence. . Therefore it cannot be assumed that gains for the four high school groups are different for the Inventory of Beliefs; i.e., stu- dents within the high school classifications may have come from the same population. 89 TABLE 15 ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE OF GAINS AND ERRORS OF ESTIMATE, THE INVENTORY OF BELIEFS, COMMUNITY CATEGORIES Errors of Estimate Source De- Posttest grees 2 De- Of of R rees Varia- Sum of Mean g Sum of Mean ti Free- S a s S are M S a s S a on dom qu re qu Free- qu re qu re dom Total 595 114427.7500 0.46004 593 61786.4079 Error 591 114050.2484 192.9784 0.46023 589 61560.9026 104.5177 Groups 4 337.5016 84.3754 4 225.5053 56.3763 F = 56.3763/104.5117 = 0.5394 Entering a table of ”F" values with 589 and 4 degrees of freedom, the necessary value of ”F” for significance is found to be 2.40 at the 5% level of confidence and 3.35 at the 1% level of con- fidence. Therefore it cannot be assumed that gains for the five com— munity groups are different for the Inventory of Beliefs; i.e., stu- dents within the community categories may have come from the same population. 90 TABLE 16 ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE OF GAINS AND ERRORS OF ESTIMATE, THE INVENTORY OF BELIEFS, OCCUPATIONAL CATEGORIES Errors of Estimate De— ____ Source grees Posttest De- Of Of R2 rees Varia- Free~ Sum of Mean g Sum of Mean tion dom Squares Square 0f Squares Square Free- dom Total 595 114427.7500 0.46004 593 61786.4079 Error 588 113780.5287 193.5043 0.46102 586 61325.4294 104.6509 Groups 7 647.2213 92.4602 7 460.9785 65.8541 F = 65.8541/104.6509 = 0.6293 Entering a table of ”F" values with 586 and 7 degrees of freedom, the necessary value of "F" for significance is found to be 2.03 at the 5% level of confidence and 2.68 at the 1% level of con- fidence. Therefore it cannot be assumed that gains for the eight 00- cupational categories or groups are different for the Inventmypf Beliefs; i.e., students within the occupational categories may have come from the same population. 91 TABLE 17 ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE OF GAINS AND ERRORS OF ESTIMATE, THE INVENTORY OF BELIEFS, THE SEXES Errors of Estimate D - Source e Posttest grees De- Of of R2 rees Varia- Sum of Mean g Sum of Mean ti n Free- S uares S uare 0f 8 ares S a o dom q q Free— qu qu re dom Total 595 114427.7500 0.46004 593 61786.4079 Error 594 114138.7084 192.1527 0.45901 592 61747.8999 104.3039 Groups 1 289.0416 289.0416 1 38.5080 38.5080 F = 38.5080/104.3039 = 0.3692 Entering a table of ”F" values with 592 and 1 degree of freedom, the necessary value of "F" for significance is found to be 3.86 at the 5% level of confidence and 6.69 at the 1% level of confidence. Therefore it cannot be assumed that gains for the sexes are different for the Inventory of Beliefs; 1.3., they may have come from the same "population." 92 l-percent level of confidence. In other words, significant gains on the Inventory of Beliefs were found to have occurred over the period of one academic year. When the data are analyzed for differences in pretest means for the Inventory of Beliefs, it is found that no significant differ— ences exist among the various socio-economic subgroupings of stu- dents. Therefore, within the limits of the sample tested, it can be concluded that the size of high school attended, the size of the studentsl home communities, fathers' occupations, or sex have no measurable effect upon scores earned by students from the differ- ent categories when tested at the time they enter college. The data also indicate that no significant differences exist among the gains made during the academic year on the 313.1199.th ggBeliefs by groups of students classified according to the differ- ent subgroupings within the high school, community, occupational, or sex classifications. Therefore, it can be concluded that within the limits of the sample tested, high school size, community size, fathers' occupations, and sex have no measurable effect upon mean gains earned by students within the different socio—economic cate- gories during the course of their freshman year in college. CHAP TER V ANALYSIS OF THE DATA FOR THE TEST OF CRITICAL ANALYSIS IN READING AND WRITING Introduction It is the purpose of this chapter to present an analysis of the data which pertain to the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing. Groups of students classified according to the size of high schools attended, the size of home communities, their fathers' occupations, and sex are studied for (1) differences in gains in reading and writing abilities for the total sample of freshmen (n = 596) over the period of their first academic year, (2'; differences in pretest or entrance scores on the test instru- ment exhibited by the various groups of students at the time they entered college, and (3) differential gains in reading and writing abilities demonstrated by classifications of students within each of the socio-economic categories during the course of their fresh- men. year. These analyses are made in the manner demonstrated in Chapter III and Chapter IV for the Test of Critical Thinking- Form "A" and the Inventory of Beliefs and as discussed in 94 Chapter II. The 596 cases utilized are the same as those studied for the Inventory of Beliefs. Presentation of 33w ScoresLGains, and Adjusted Posttest Scores for the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing A summary of the mean scores earned by the various classi- fications of students within each of the socio—economic categories on the A. C. E. Psychological Examination, the pretest and posttest scores on the $33149! Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing, and the mean gains made by each group on this test instrument over the period of the academic year are presented in Table 18. These are presented primarily for the purpose of identifying the achievements of the different groups of students and should not be seen as an in» dication of significant differences. The intensive analysis of these kinds of data is indicated only upon the demonstration of significant differences. Analysis of the Significance of Differences Between Total Sample Pretest and ggsttest Means for the Test of Critical‘ Analysis in Reading and Writing Attention is directed to the first test of significance for the data which apply to the Test of Critical Analysis in Readingand Writing, more specifically, the determination of the significance of 95 TABLE 18 RAW SCORES, GAINS, AND ADJUSTED POSTTEST SCORES FOR THE TEST OF CRITICAL ANALYSIS IN READING AND WRITING A. C. E. Psycho- Adjusted N logical Pretest Posttest Mean Posttest Total Means Means Gain Means Score Means High Schools Class ”A” 259 105.432 14.591 18.328 3.737 17.897 Class "B” 164 102.774 14.512 18.354 3.842 18.679 Class ”C” 144 103.313 14.340 18.326 3.986 18.561 Class "D" 29 100.241 15.034 18.414 3.380 19.257 Total/Avgs. 596 103.936 14.530 18.339 3.809 Communities Farm 92 100.924 14.685 17.870 3.185 18.645 250-2,500 75 102.080 14.240 18.427 4.187 19.034 . 2,500-25,000 157 104.261 14.783 18.860 4.077 18.677 25,000-100,000 119 101.269 14.134 18.000 3.866 18.866 over 100,000 153 108.399 14.627 18.307 3.680 16.985 Total/Avgs. 596 103.936 14.530 18.339 3.809 Occgiations Professional 120 109.392 15.150 18.858 3.708 17.178 Proprietary 78 100.603 14.359 18.000 3.641 18.955 Skilled 91 102.673 14.286 18.505 4.219 18.938 Semi 8: Unskilled 59 99. 305 14.169 18. 390 4.221 19.759 Clerical 43 103.093 14.628 17.163 2.535 17.356 Sales 59 103.034 14.542 18.237 3.695 18.475 Farm 60 100.767 14.883 18.000 3.117 18.731 Managerial 86 107.151 14.023 18.605 4.582 17.915 Total/Avgs. 596 103.936 14.530 18.339 3.809 €25.35 Male 331 104.722 14.323 18.003 3.680 17.860 Female 265 102.955 14.788 18.758 3.970 18.955 Total/Avgs. 596 103.936 14.530 18.339 3.809 96 gains exhibited during the academic year for the total sample of students. In other words, evidence is sought for the assumption that the test instrument is capable of measuring gains for that period of the college experience. The statistical procedure which is used for this purpose is the "t" test for analyzing the signifi- cance of differences between correlated means. This procedure is the same as that outlined in Chapter II and used in the chapters which analyze the data for the Test of Critical Thinkirlg-Form ”A” and the Inventory of Biliefs. The assumption of equal variances is first tested by the value of ''F” resulting from the ratio of the variances for the pretest and posttest distributions. For the sample tested for the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing the value of "F” was found to be 1.1159. This obtained value of ”F" does not reach the 5-percen‘. level of. significance (1.14) and therefore the variances of the pretest and posttest scores may be considered as being equal and the “t" test may be applied. Utilizing the formula for "t" x1"‘2 Ht” 3 /2+ 2 2 0'1 O'z'rGIO'Z and substituting the obtained values for the Test of Critical 97 Analysis in Reading and Writing 18.3389 - 14.5302 ,/(0.02962 + 0.03689) .. [2(0.44973)(0.17211)(0.19206)] lltll "t” = 19.8597 Entering a table of "t" values at 595 degrees of freedom, the value of "t" of 2.586 at the l-percent level of confidencewould be required for differences to be considered significant. The ob— tained value of ”t" (19.8597) is of sufficient magnitude to indicate that the difference between the mean scores for the pretest and posttest earned by the total sample of freshmen on the Test of Critical Analysis in__l2_e_ading and Writing is significant considerably beyond the 1-percent level of confidence. It is interpreted, there- fore, that real gains have been demonstrated. Analysis of Pretest Differences Within the Socio-Economic Categories for the Test of Critical Analysis in Readirlg and Writigg The next question of concern in the study of the data which apply to the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing is that of the significance of pretest or entrance score variations which result from the effect of the previously identified socio- economic factors. The statistical method used for this purpose 98 is again that of analysis of variance. The evidence which is sought may be determined from the resultant "F" values obtained for each of the socio-economic factors. These values of ”F'I for the categories, high school size, community size, fathers' occupa- tions, and sex are presented in Table 19. None of the ”F" values resulting from the analysis of variance tests for the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Willing pretest means prove to be significant. It will be remem— bered from Chapters III and IV that this'is also true for the other two evaluation instruments. Therefore, the results of the analysis of variance tests for the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and _W_r_ili_ng indicate that no significant differences appear to be evident as a result of the size of high schools attended, the size of stu« dents' home communities, their fathers' occupations, or the sex categories in entrance or pretest scores on the evaluation instru- ment. It is concluded that the socio-economic factors have no Significant bearing upon the ability of college freshmen to read and write effectively at the time they embark upon their college caree 1'. 99 TABLE 19 SUMMARY TABLE OF ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE VALUES FOR PRETEST MEANS ON THE TEST OF CRITICAL ANALYSIS IN READING AND WRITING (11 = 596) D f F d Socio-Economic egrees o ree om Obtained Tabular 5% u n n n a}: Category Groups Individuals F Value F Value High Schools 3 592 0.255 2.62 Communities 4 591 0.546 2.39 Occupations 7 588 0.736 a, 2.03 Sex 1 594 1.808;! \ 3.86" ~. \‘\ ‘\ * Points for the Distribution of "F,’l Snedecor (691222-225).‘ \ \ ‘\~ ‘\ . \ r ‘. . Analysis of Differential Gains Within the Socio—Economic Categories for the Test of Critical Analysis in Readirgand Writing The final statistical test to be applied to the data for the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Wrillrig is that of the significance of differences in gains during the freshman year among groupings of students within the four socio-economic categories. The statistical test is that of the covariance adjustment technique for analysis of variance as presented in Chapter II. The inquiry . .11.! I. I r.) 04...... 3111 100 which arises is the extent of the effect of socio-economic status upon gains in reading and writing abilities. It has been demon- strated that there are no apparent differences in entrance scores for the Test of Critical Anabgsis in Reading and Writipg among stu- dents representing different socio-economic backgrounds at the time they enter college. Gains for the academic year made by the total sample of freshmen have been proven to be statistically significant. The question concerns the extent or the degree to which the factors of high school size, community size, fathers' occupations, and sex contribute to differential gains among students in reading and writing abilities during their first college year. The final or summary data for each of the socio-economic categories are presented in the tables which follow. The resulting "F" values present the necessary evidence for determining the degree to which each socio-economic factor contributes to differ- ential gains among the student groups. §sm__m_._a_ry An analysis of the data which pertain to the Test of Crit« ical Analysis in Reading and Writing has been presented in Chapter V. The effect of four different socio-economic factors upon scores 101 TABLE 20 ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE OF GAINS AND ERRORS OF ESTIMATE, THE TEST OF CRITICAL ANALYSIS IN READING AND WRITING, HIGH SCHOOL CATEGORIES Errors of Estimate SOurce De- Posttest, _—_ grees De- Of of R2 rees Varia- Sum of Mean g Sum of Mean tion Free- S uares S uare 0f S uares S uare dom q q Free- q q dom Total 595 13081.5369 0.26440 593 9622.7785 Error 592 13081.2862 22.0968 0.26502 593 96144837 16.2957 Groups 3 0.2507 0.0836 3 8.2948 2.7649 F = 2.7649/16.2957 = 0.1697 Entering a table .of "F" values with 590 and 3 degrees of freedom, the necessary value of “F'' for significance is found to be 2.62 at the 5% level of confidence and 3.82 at the 1% level of con— fidence. Therefore it cannot be assumed that gains for the four high school groups are different for the Test of Critical Analysis in Readirg and Writing; i.e., the students within the high school cate— gories may have come from the same population. 102 TABLE 21 ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE OF GAINS AND ERRORS OF ESTIMATE, THE TEST OF CRITICAL ANALYSIS IN READING AND WRITING, COMMUNITY CATEGORIES Errors of Estimate De- Posttest Source of grees * 2 De- Varia- of Sum of Mean R grees Sum of Mean ti n Free- Squares Square of S uares S uare o dom Free- q q dom Total 595 13081.5369 0.2.6440 593 9622.7785 Error 591 13004.2608 22.0038 0.26533 589 9533,8403 16.2204 Groups 4 71.2761 19.3190. 4 68.9382 17.2346 F = 16.2204/17.2346 = 1.0625 Entering a table of ”F" values with 589 and 4 degrees of freedom, the necessary value of 1'F" for significance is found to be 2.39 at the 5% level of confidence and 3.35 at the 1% level of con— fidence. Therefore it cannot be assumed that gains for the five com- munity categories or groups are different for the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing; i.e., the students within the com- munity categories may have come from the same population. 103 TABLE 22 ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE OF GAINS AND ERRORS OF ESTIMATE, THE TEST OF CRITICAL ANALYSIS IN READING AND WRITING, OCCUPATIONAL CATEGORIES Errors of Estimate Source De— Posttest 1 A grees De- Of of R2 rees Varia Sum of Mean g Sum of Mean ti n Free- S ares S uare Of S uares S uare 0 dom qu q Free- q q dom Total 595 13081.5369 0.26440 593 9622.7785 Error 588 12964.4695 22.0484 0.26497 5§§ 95292749 16.2616 Groups 7 117.0674 16.7239 7 93.5045 13.3578 F = 13.3578/16.2616 = 0.8214 Entering a table of ”F'I values with 586 and 7 degrees of freedom, the necessary value of ”F" for significance is found to be 2.03 at the 5% level of confidence and 2.68 at the 1% level of con- fidence. Therefore it cannot be assumed that gains for the eight oc- cupational groups are different for the Test of Critical Analysis lg Readigg and Writing; i.e., the students within the occupational cate- gories may have come from the same population. 104 TABLE 23 ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE OF GAINS AND ERRORS OF ESTIMATE, THE TEST OF CRITICAL ANALYSIS IN READING AND WRITING, THE SEXES Errors of Estimate Source De— Posttest grees ‘ De- 0f f ' R2 rees Varia- 0 Sum of Mean g Sum of Mean ti n Free~ S uares S uare 0f 8 a es S are 0 dom q q Free- qu r qu dom Total 595 13081.5369 0.26440 593 9622.7785 Error 594 12997.5404 21.8814 0.6524 592 9550.0728 16.1319 Groups 1 83.9965 83.9965 1 72.7057 72.7057 F = 72.7057/16.1319 = 4.5070 Entering a table of "F" values with 592 and 1 degree of freedom, the necessary value of “F" for significance is found to be 3.86 at the 5% level of confidence and 6.69 at the 1% level of con- fidence. Therefore it 9.33.1. be assumed that since the observed value of "F" (4.51) is greater than 3.86, that the difference in gains for the sexes is significant at the 5% level of confidence. It may be pointed out that without information about A. C. E. Scores and pretest scores on the Test of Critical Analysis in Read- ing and Writing differences among the group means would be tested by F = 83.9965/21.8814 = 3.83, the values for posttest mean square in the third column of Table 23. This value, 3.83, is just short of the necessary 3.86 ”F“ value for significance at the 5% level of confidence. Therefore, in effect, the reduction of error variance from 21.8814 to 16.1319 together with adjustment of the means to a common standing on the pretest scores and A. C. E. Scores have increased the resultant "F" value to a point beyond the 5% level of 105 TABLE 2 3 (Continued) ~¥ c—‘L confidence. Thus, it can be assumed that the gains made by the women for the academic year on the Test of Critical Analysis in Eggding and Writingl is significantly greater than that made by the men when adjustments are made for A. C. E. Scores and pretest SCO 1‘85. earned on the test by students within the high school, community, occupational, and sex categories has been studied for differences in entrance status and for differential gains over the period of the i r freshman year. The results of the data indicate that the differences between the pretest and posttest means on the test instrument for the total sample of freshmen are significant at considerably beyond the 1-percent level of confidence. It is therefore interpreted that the Eye st of Critical Analysis in Readirg and Writing is capable of measuring gains in reading and writing abilities of students over the Pe riod of their freshman year. No significant differences were found to exist among stu- dents Within the different socio-economic categories for the entry Scores on the reading and writing instrument. Therefore, within t 0 he 1111-11“ of the sample tested, it can be interpreted that high “he . . 01 size, community Size, fathers' occupations, and sex appear M 106 to have no measurable effect upon the ability of students to read and write effectively at the time these students enter college. The analysis of differential gains on the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing presents evidence of the only po— tentially significant relationship of socio-economic status to achieve- ment among the general education objectives analyzed in the entire Study. This is evident in only one of the four factors or categories Studied, that of sex differences. The analysis of variance, covari— ance adjustment technique, found differences between pretest and pos ttest scores for the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing to be significant at the 5—-percent level of confidence, with the women making larger gains for the academic year than those made by the men. However, when these differences are tested without making allowance for initial variations on pretest scores and A. C. E. Scores, it was found that their significance falls Short of the 5-percent level of confidence. It is therefore inter- preted that these apparent differences may not be as meaningful as 1'l'lig'l'it otherwise be indicated. The other socio—economic factors do not result in signifi- cant differences for the gains in reading and writing abilities. T he re—Sultant interpretation which may be made is that with the 107 possible exception of sex differences, the socio«economic factors studied have no measurable effect upon mean gains on the $2313 of Qgitical Analysis of Reading and Writing earned by students within the different categories during the course of their freshman year in college. CHAPTER VI SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH The Purpose of the Study During the past quarter-century, America has seen contro— versies growing over the purposes and design of programs of general education in our institutions of higher learning. These have developed largely as a result of the almost unique conception in our present-day world of the role of man in our democratic society. The many expressions and interpretations of this con- troversy have resulted in widely differing general education pro- grams, each designed to prepare the individual for his own best contribution to the society in which he lives. Many of these pro- grams have been developed and pursued without concrete evidence that the objectives sought are being accomplished to their greatest fulfillment. There is evidence that educators are becoming concerned With the evaluation of existing programs and the purposes for Which they are designed, to the extent thatobjective research 109 designs are being undertaken in increasing numbers and with im- proved evaluative methodology. The present study is concerned with this problem as it ap- plies to the improvement of general education programs in general and the objectives and particular applications to be found in the general education program at Michigan State College. More spe— cifically, the study has sought to discover the effects of selected socio-economic factors upon outcomes of a program of general education. Three evaluation instruments, the Test of Critical Thinking‘Form ”A," the Inventory of Beliefs, and the Test of Qritical Thinking in Reading and ”Writing, have been utilized in the study for the purpose of determining whether differences exist (1) among groups of entering freshmen and (2) in the amount of change or gain during one academic year, when freshmen are classified according to (a) size of high schools, (b) size of home- Cornmunities, (c) fathers' occupations, and ((1) sex. In more gen—- eral terms, the investigation deals with the problem of ascertain- ing the nature of entering students with respect to the achievement of certain educational objectives which they bring to college and the determination of change or gain which occurs during that ex- Perience. The study was designed to augment and enhance research 110 being carried out by ’l‘lie_Basic College of Michigan State College and that of The Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General Educa— tion of the American Council on Education. M_e thodology The three test instruments utilized for the purposes of the study were selected during their formative or developmental stages on the premise that they were so designed that they might be used for the purposes of ascertaining the relationships and contributions of specified socio-economic factors to commonly recognized out- comes and objectives of general educational programs. The study thereby becomes a further attempt to validate these newly-developed evaluation instruments of The Cooperative Study. The three general education objectives, improvement in critical thinking skills, improvement in reading and writing abilities, and the development of mature attitudes, values, and beliefs were selected for study for their relevance to outcomes of total pro- grams of general education rather than for their relationship to the objectives of any particular distribution of course work as such. 111 The sample chosen for study was selected for its representa- tion of entering freshmen at Michigan State College during the fall term of the academic year 1951-1952. The data utilized consist of scores earned on the evaluation instruments during the-pretesting and posttesting programs at the start and close of the academic year, together with biographical data for each of the cases. Data for each of the students were coded and placed upon IBM punch cards for the purpose of obtaining the necessary summary data by means of IBM tabulating machines. In the analysis of the data three specific statistical procedures were used, as outlined in the study: the "t" test of significance to study differences between pretest and posttest means of correlated distributions; the analysis of variance technique for the study of pretest differences, and the analysis of variance, covariance adjust- ment technique for the study of differential gains. Findings The findings of the study indicate that similar results pertain to each of the three evaluation instruments and for the purposes of comparison, these common findings are summarized in the para- graphs which follow. It is pointed out that while certain common 112 conclusions may be drawn from the data, the analyses were made separately for each of the three evaluation instruments and that the comparisons are nonstatistical in nature. The first test of significance studied for each of the three general education objectives was that of the significance of gains made on the Test of Critical Thinking-Form "A," the Inventory of Beliefs, and the Test of Critical AnalesiS in Reading and ligltipg by college freshmen during their first college year. The data indicate that the gains made by the students on each of the three test instruments over the period of one academic year were highly significant. In other words, there is reasonito believe that the program of basic general education at Michigan State College during the freshman year is effective within the areas measured by these test instruments. No attempt is made to compare the results of the gains made on each of the three evaluation instru-- ments since for each objective the gains made would appear to be highly significant. It is pointed out, however, that whereas the skills measured by the Test of Critical Analysis in Readipg and Writing were undoubtedly influenced by the common experience of all freshmen in the basic Communication Skills course, the gains exhibited in critical thinking and attitudes, values, and beliefs must 113 be assumed to have resulted to a great degree from the emphases of the total general education experience. The determination of the influence of the various college courses or experiences upon such gains must be allocated to additional research designs. The effects of the size of high school attended, the size of students' home communities, fathers' occupations, and sex have been analyzed for each of the three general education objectives. Pretest scores on the Test of Critical ThinkinglForm ”A," the Inventory of Beliefs, and the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing, which were earned by students at the time they entered college, have been studied for evidences of significant differences arising out of variations in socio-economic background. The data for each of the three evaluation instruments indicate no significant differences for entrance or pretest mean scores among groups of students within the various socio—economic classifications. It is therefore concluded that within the classifications of high school size, com- munity size, fathers' occupations, and sex, that socio-economic factors produce no measurable. differences among the abilities of entering college freshmen to think critically, to read and write ef- fectively, or to demonstrate acceptable and mature attitudes, values, and beliefs. 114 The data indicate no significant differences among the gains made on the Test of Critical Thinking-Form ”A" or the _I}1_vent_o_1:y of Beliefs by groups of students tested at the beginning and end of their freshman year when classified according to high school size, community size, fathers' occupations, and sex. Furthermore, dif- ferential gains over the period of the academic year on the Mi Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing were proven to be nonsig- nificant for all factors except the sex category. The analysis of gains made during the freshman year by men and women proved to be statistically different at the 5-percent level of confidence with the women exhibiting higher pretest scores, higher posttest scores, and greater gains than those earned by the male students. The in- fluence of the respective A. C. E. Mean Scores and entrance scores on the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing is reflected in this test of significance. The analysis of variance, covariance adjustment technique, in effect, factors out initial differences in test scores and analyzes gains in the light of a common initial status. When the variances are not adjusted for initial variations the differences in mean gains between the scores for men and women were found to fall short of significance. This places a qualification upon the significance of the difference in gains between the reading 115 and writing abilities of freshmen men and women. It is therefore concluded that with the pgssible exception of differences in reading and writing abilities between men and women, that gains in the ability of college freshmen to think critically, to maintain mature attitudes, values, and beliefs, and to read and write effectively are not measurably affected by the socio-economic factors studied. Conclusions and Implications for Further Research On the basis of the findings of this study, certain conclusions may be drawn and implications for further research indicated. The results of this study indicate that evaluation instru- ments are available which can be used for the purpose of measuring apparent gains in specified general education objectives. Insofar as the three evaluation instruments studied can be deemed to measure those objectives for which they are designed, gains over the period of one academic year have been demonstrated in the ‘areas of crit— ical thinking, reading and writing ability, and in the maturity of attitudes, values, and beliefs. Differences between the pretest and posttest scores for the Test of Critical Thinking-Form “A,_" the Inventory of Beliefs, and the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing have in this study been found to be statistically 116 significant for the total sample of college freshmen. These findings support the research in this direction carried out by The Coopera—- tive Study of Evaluation in General Education, as well as that of The Horowitz Study. Since each of these studies has for the most part been primarily concerned with the measurement of gains for the fresh— man academic year, it is suggested that further research be under- taken with the instruments in question to ascertain the extent to which they may be utilized for the measurement of gains for differing periods of the college experience. Furthermore, it is suggested that these instruments be used to measure the selected attainments or gains of student groups that have not been subjected to formalized general education programs. A second major conclusion resulting from this study is that with the possible exception of gains during the academic year between the sexes for scores on the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing, no significant differences appear to exist in differential gains or for entrance status among the many different socio—economic groupings of students for the evaluation instruments used.. 117 These results may lead to two different and diametrically opposing assumptions. The first of these is the assumption that the tests are not sufficiently refined in their present developmental stage to uncover the minute and individual subtleties which are as- sociated with varying socio-economic backgrounds. It is pointed out that the further refinement of evaluation instruments is always in order if the instruments can be sensitized to an increasing num- ber of variables. The Cogerative Study has recognized this re- sponsibility and has developed revised forms of the Test of Critical Thinking and the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing. The opposing assumption which may be drawn is that no real differences exist between entrance scores and indications of gain among the general education objective-s purportedly measured by the test instruments and for the socio-economic groupings studied, and that the instruments are so designed that differences would. have been found if significant differences actually exist. In support of the latter assumption it may be pointed out that The Horowitz Study did find the Inventory of Beliefg and the Test of glitical Analysis in Reading and Writing sufficiently discriminating to differentiate gains made among various preference groups during their first year in college. Furthermore, The Cooperative Study 118 has accumulated evidence for all three of the evaluation instruments which demonstrate the utility of the tests for the purpose of dis- criminating between the outcomes of college programs with differing general education emphases and socio-economic populations. To continue with the assumption that the tests are sufficiently acute in discrimination to detect differences among various socio- economic groupings of students: support is given to the belief that the test instruments do not contain evidences of cultural bias. If the evaluation instruments were to contain a demonstration of cul— tural bias this would be expected to make its presence felt in the direction of significant differences among the socio-economic cate- gories. The findings of the present study in no way support the assumption of cultural bias within the instruments. The Horowitz §t_u_dy likewise reports no evidence for the assumption of cultural bias within the scope of the factors studied. Further studies are suggested in the direction of determining the extent to which these instruments are capable of measuring differences among socio-economic groupings of students in general Education objectives at the college entrance level and for gains during differing portions of the college program. Particular “,3 119 emphasis is proposed for the revised forms of the Test of CriticaL Thinking_ and the Test of Critical Analysis in Reading and Writing. An implication for further research which results from the findings of the present study is the suggestion that a further re— finement or sharpening of the various sociodeconomic categories be made in future studies utilizing these instruments. It is con- ceivable that the categories used in the present study are not suf- ficiently unique to be of value in the study of differences among varying socio-economic backgrounds. It is quite possible that a combination of factors such as income level, educational level, religious preference, nationality or ethnic extractions or the like, could be used to differentiate among groups. The implication which pertains is that the categories more commonly associated with socio‘economic classifications contain a multitude of other factors which influence the effects, of a program of general educa- tion to the degree that they cancel out other possible differences. Another implication arising out of the findings of this study and supported by evidence from The Cogperative Study is that groups of students who make lower scores on the tests upon entrance to a program of general education tend to make the largest gains on these test instruments over the period of one academic 120 year. Whether or not these differences are an indication of a ceiling effect cannot be determined within the scope of the present study. It does, however, raise the following question. If one is to assume that the purpose of the educational experience is to ascer- tain the general educational level of the student as he embarks upon a phase or portion of his formal training or education, and then to make it possible for him to develop his own peculiar abilities to the maximum, it is then suggested that necessary class sectioning at Michigan State College be made upon the basis of demonstrated achievements on evaluation instruments such as those studied in the present research effort. The effect which ‘vvould be accomplished would be to place students in rather homo- geneous groupings with respect to their general education achieve- ments, making it possible to work toward the greatest advancement 0f every student concerned. This procedure would make it more nearly possible to meet the needs of each student rather than to teach for the median level of a heterogeneous group. It is recog- nized that care must be taken not to isolate the student from that part of his total college experience which comes from rubbing elbows with differing experiences and all kinds of people, but it is SL1ggested that this would be less apt to take place with classes 121 made up of students sectioned according to their pretest scores on measures of general educational objectives than it would for groups sectioned on the basis of preference or socio-economic classifica— tions. A final conclusion is presented in the form of a recommen— dation for further study. The results of this study indicate that there is need for the evaluation instruments utilized by this study to be used in an ever—increasing number of ways for the purpose of establishing the different uses for which they may be considered valid. No single study is capable of ascertaining the many possible ways in which new test instruments may be used or the purposes for which they may be utilized to advantage. To this end it is sug— gested that the findings of this study carry additional significance due to the additive nature of these results to those discovered by The Horowitz Study and the research programs of The Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General. Education. BIBLIOGRAPHY Allen, H. B. "Making the Freshman Course Really Compre— hensive," English Journal (college edition), 28 (1939), pp. 192-199. American Council on Education, Instructor'§_Manual for the Inventory of Beliefs, Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General Education, 1953 (available from the Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey). 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D. "Objectives, Content, and Organization of General Education,” in Current Issues in Higher Educa- tion, Washington, D.C.: National Education Association, 1950. Chambers, W. N. "General Education Philosophy and Patterns," in Current Trends in Higher Education, Washington, D.C.: National Education Association, 1949. Chrisof, C. "The Formulation and Elaboration of Thought Problems," American Journal of Psychology, 52 (1939), pp. 161-185. Columbia University, Committee on Plans, A College Program in Actiop, New York: Columbia University Press, 1946, 175 pp. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 124 Conant, J. B. ”Public Education and the Structure of American Society," Teachers College Record, Vol. 47, no. 3 (1945), pp. 145-194. De Boer, J. ”English in a Communications Program,” Quar— terly Journal of§peech, 31 (1945), pp. 291-295. Dewey, J. How We Think, Boston: D. C. Heath and Company, 1933. Dressel, P. L. ”Evaluation Procedures for General Education Objectives,” The Educational Record, 31 (1950), pp. 97- 122. / Dressel, P. L. The Coggerative StudLof Evaluation in General Education, Statement Made at Eighth National Conference on Higher Education, Chicago, Illinois, March 7, 1953, In Mimeograph. Dressel, P. L., and L. B. Mayhew, ”Cooperation Among Col- leges in Educational Planning and Research,” The Educa— tional Record, 34 (1953), 12 pp. Dressel, P. L., and L. B. Mayhew, "The Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General Education," The Educational Record, 34 (1953), pp. 54-67. Dunker, K. "On Problem-Solving,” Psychological Monographs, V01. 58, no. 5, 1945. Durrell, D. D. ”Language and Higher Mental Processes,’I Journal of Educational Research, 13 (1943), pp. 110-114. Dwyer, P. 5. "Some Suggestions Concerning the Relationship Existing Between Size of High School Attended and Success in College,” School and Society, 20 (1924), pp. 189-192. Educational Policies Commission, Education For All American Youth, Washington, D.C.: National Education Association, 1944. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 125 Edwards, A. M. A Socio—Economic Groging of the Gainful Workers of the United States, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1938. Fawcett, H. P. The Nature of Proof, Thirteenth Yearbook of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1938, 146 pp. Fisher, R. A. The Design of Exgeriments, 2d ed., London: Oliver and Boyd, 1937. Glaser, E. M. An Experiment in the Development of Critical Thinking, Teachers College Contributions to Education, No. 843, New York: Teachers College, Columbia Univer- sity, 1941, 212 pp. ' Harvard Committee, General Education in a Free Society, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1945, 267 pp. Hatch, R. W., and P. L. Landis, Social Heritage as a Factor in College Achievement, Research Studies of the State College of Washington, Vol. X, no. 4 (1942), pp. 215-272. Henderson, A. D., and D. Hall, Antioch College: Its Design for General Education, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1946, 280 pp. Henry, N. B. General Educatiog, Fifty-First Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part I, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1952, 377 pp. Hildreth, G. "The Difficulty Reduction Tendency in Perception and Problem Solving," Journal of Educational ngchol- ogy, 32 (1941), pp. 305-313. Horowitz, V. A Study of the Relationship of Selected Prefer- ence Factors to Outcomes of the Program of General Education at Michigan State College, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Michigan State College (in process). 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 126 Hutchins, R. M. Education for Freedolrl, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1943, 108 pp. Johnson, B. L. ,What About Survey Courses? New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1937, 377 pp. Johnson, D. M. "A Modern Account of Problem Solving,” Psychological Bulletin, 41 (1944), pp. 201-229. Johnson,-P. 0. Statistical Methods in Regearch, New York: Prentice-Hall, 1949, 377 pp. Johnson, R. I. Explorations in General Education; The Ex- perience of Stephens College, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1947, 262 pp. y‘m.» '- 1.1”": - "..'|': ‘7’ ‘im— "it-U 11'- Landis, P. L. "Personality Differences of Girls From Farm, Town, and City," Rural Sociology, Vol. 14, no. 1, 1949. Lefford, A. ”The Influence of Emotional Subject Matter on Logical Reasoning," Journal of General Psychology, 34 (1946), pp. 127-151. ' Lindquist, E. F. Statistical Analysis in Educational Research, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1940, 266 pp. Luchins, A. S. I'Mechanization in Problem Solving,‘' lisyghg- logical Monggraphs, Vol. 54, no. 248, 1942. McGehee, W. "Freshman Grades and the American Council Psychological Examination,” School and Socie_ty, 47 (1938), pp. 222-224. McGrath, E. J. Chapter II, "The Need for Experimentation and Research," in H. T. Morse, General Education in Transitign, Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota Press, 1951, 310 pp. McGrath, E. J. (editor), Communication in General Education, ‘ Dubuque: William C. Brown Company, 1949. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 127 McNemar, Q. ”Opinion Attitude Methodology,” Psycholcgical EillLeJLjIl, 43 (1946), pp. 289-374. ‘ McNemar, Q. Psychological Statistics, New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1949, 364 pp. MacPhail, A. H. "Q and L Scores on the A.C.E. Psychologi- cal Examination,‘l School and Society, 56 (1942), pp. 248- 251. f ‘. Marshall, M. V. ”Predicting Success in Freshman English," (- College English, 5 (1944), pp. 219-221, : Mayhew, L. B. "Cooperative Study of Evaluation: A Progress Report," The Educational Record, 32 (1951), pp, 105-112. E Mayhew, L. B. ”The Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General Education," School and Society, 75 (1952), pp. 113-116. Mintzer, S., and S. S. Sargent, "Relationship Between Family Economic Status and Some Personality Traits of College Status,” School and Sociefl, 49 (1939), pp. 322-324. Mitchell, F. T. "Why Freshmen Leave College," Journal of Higher Education, 13 (1942), p. 97. Morse, H. T. (editor), General Education in Transition, Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota Press, 1951, 310 pp. Neff, W. S. "Socio-Economic Status and Intelligence: A Critical Survey," Psychological Bulletin, 35 (1938), pp. 727-754. Nelson, C. W. "Testing the Influence of Rural and Urban Environment on A.C.E. Intelligence Test Scores," Amer- ican Sociological Review, 7 (1942), pp. 743-751. Pace, C. R. They Went To Collegg, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1941, 141 pp. 129 76. Warren, C. New Design for Womens Education, Philadelphia: Frederick A. Stokes, 1940, 277 pp. 64. 65. 66, 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 128 Paul, W. B. "A Functional Core for the Basic Communication Course,ll Quarterly Journal of Speech, 32 (1946), pp. 232- 244. Remmers, H. H. ''Studies in Attitudes,’l Purdue University Studies in Higher Education, 26 (1934), pp. 1-112. Report on the President's Commission, Higher Education for American Democracy, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1949. Smith, E. R., R. W. Tyler, et a1., Appraisirg and Recording Student Progress, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1942. Smith, M. ”Intelligence of University Students by Size of Community Residence," School and Society, 40 (1942), pp. 565-567. (Snedecor, G. W. Statistical Methods ed. 4, Ames: The Iowa State College Press, 1946, 485 pp. Spafford, I., and others, Buildingga Curriculum for General Education, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1943, 353 pp. Thouless, R. H. How to Think Straiglgtj New York: Simon and Schuster, 1939. Tyler, R. W. Constructing Achievement Tests, Columbus, Ohio: Bureau of Educational Research, Ohio State Uni- versity, 1934. Van Doren, M. Liberal Education, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1943, 146 pp. Wagner, M. E., and E. Strabel, "Predicting Performance in College English," Journal of Educational Research, 30 (1937p pp. 694-699. Ward, F. E. ”Social Ideals in Freshman English," English Journal, 19 (1930), pp. 297-307. APPENDIX Biographical Data Sheet Each of the following items is designed to give certain biographical data about you to help us interpret the scores you make on some of the tests of the Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General Education. Some items may be completed by filling in the information desired. Other items are stated .5 questions follo'ed by several possible answers. You are asked to select the response for each question which seems to you to describe your own situation best. Record the number of your answer in the space provided to the left of each question number. You will find that some of the question numbers do not follow consecutively. Don't worry about this. The questions are numbered to correspond with those on a card on which your scores for a number of tests will eventually be recorded. tittittt‘t. 1-3. Your name: 4. Your age: ( )5. Your sex: (1) I (2) F 6-7. Your school: ( )8. Your year or class: (1) P. (2) So. (3) J. (4) S. (5) Grad. ( )9. Ihat is, or is likely to be, the general area of your undergraduate major? 1. Humanities 4. Business and Commerce 7. Biological Science 2. Social Science 5. Physical Science 8 Mathematics 8. Agriculture 3. Education 6. Engineering 9. Other (specify) ( )10. What is the highest academic degree you hope to attain? 1. Two year terminal (e.g., Associate of Arts) 2. Four year terminal (e.g., Bachelor's degree) 3. Five or six year terminal (e.g., Master's degree) 4. Doctor's degree (Academic or professional) ( )11. What was your approximate academic position in your high school graduating class? 1. Lower third 2. liddle third 3. Upper third ( )12. What is your approximate over-all college average? (Beginning students do not answer) 1. A. 3. C/o 5. c‘. 70 D-. 20 Ba 40 Co 6. Do 13. Hark a circle around the figure showing the highest level of formal education which your father attained. 11282 Junior Graduate or Profes- School level grammar School High School C01198 fi‘pnga afifipg! Year 0 1 2’3 {”5 6 7’8TJ9710 11 12’ 13 14 H5 16 ‘ ( )14. If you can and are willing to, please indicate what is or was approximately your father's last yearly income? 1. a 5,000 or under, 2. $5,000 to 310,000, 3. $10,000 to $20,000, 4. 320,000 to 340,000, 5. Over 340,000 (over) Please Print: Your name YOur school ( )15. Before coming to college, in what kind of a community did you live most of your life? 1. Farm. 4. City, 25,000 to 100,000 population. 2. Village, 250 to 2500 population. 5. City, over 100,000 population. 3. Town, 2500 to 25,000 population. ( )16. What is (was)your father's occupation? Student: Do not write below this line. This information will be filled in by the teacher or some other specifically designated official. tilttfittttt 17-18. Academic Aptitude Test Score (Total raw score) 19-20. IaJor (raw) subscore 21-22. IaJor (raw) subscore 23. Name of test 23.1 Form of test and date published 24. Student's all-college grade average expressed in letter grades ‘ 25-34. Do not fill in spaces 25-34 unless specifically asked to do so. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. * Use the sequence of grades indicated in item 12. Supplementary Biographic a1 Que stionnaire lo 0 a. o 3. 1 do 5. 6. tive S'1dy c:f Eve Ina t:ion in Ge :3.r of the 311 on Educatian 'I a 1 ' V Cooygy .3, 5.1. 11*. 11:1‘1‘5145‘1’1 5wri Jc”n Co HE (177'; 3"] on: 5.3:"; “mush ‘ Ia ‘f‘ 52‘“. A " h- AW”““ 5....1'4‘ BJL‘~‘—WNJb—w ’ 1...”; JMmIW‘n-w «'3‘uscmk4m .nn‘. Tn—cmnnu-mm 1; , 4 . Lgé-E?’ 1 akrée+. ‘; OLNA-v-a"\ (V " . . otuaenb nuabor ILV _ , g ._ ,_ - east is your magma? mg; m _m~u_—ar.r.u-v,r.m. tr. new: 2': mamamiaumw-W BM) Have you changed majors during the year? We aunt—x- m‘. II has. ‘ _‘- _ ,_ n I . a. :_ .'.I 1. .,. , If you.have Eédm a 0'45 Engje of :sjor, 1313550 intic15n 553 .515 cesngo r“ o ( " '.IC ‘ ’- -‘." was, and ‘nhwn yen raj: iv. a ‘ I‘ 6 ' lo ffom to 3 01.21.. 3 3 - ..__A__. - .— ._._ L- ....._* w’r- n.“ .3934:- M‘s...af\xxn mu- .1... T20 .‘x at .2. 5. W 1.1: 5.} 4" i": $122113 25 from to 5 Cats 3 A _ w m ' “A‘_‘("\"bh ‘FnM‘?-g_’ Owl-(m- -A—-" 1.5.5.3.. 13.1.1.6;1. "(#1731113 What was the era's .imete size of your high '~5'?l? 01-1..15nunn .1 “ma. .a-Clb O H n U ff:- 3 .-—~ (I3 E5 3:. up) W om.” crawl-r ‘Kw ‘ fl“ {1'1 ‘. r"'\ \o v ‘7 ‘Q Graham“ "UVLL “'2. 1'" m C) P3 :4 (7! 3 K . 4 '3 , ‘ N ‘J K v. F5 l.) ’1‘ 3,. \ 3...: 61318:.me ~ 313.2277}! 1,243.... .12- ,‘Intfiu‘ ( ”r..- (at! r5751 4. la C3 .9313 The Individual Data Sheet Items marked ( *) indicate data collected and coded for use in this study. Items marked (H) indicate data utilized only in the Horowitz Study. ,..u-~‘.— -—-H M«_.W-- a--_'uv .-... . ,. ,5 , "‘7 .A .A'.h. 9‘ a. u' . I I ' n v v a ) . \ - 3 .1 fl 1 f .» .»- ‘ . -. nah-n, r-o'ID‘P’ who-vow 5'”‘-~-I~'A\al"-fl"Ont-”l‘v-Iufll~nfilfiulgfiian... n.-.‘ . u * - 5‘ , _ ‘_ _ , , 1 r .5 - g . a.- .-.. ._ .‘_.o 5- ...¢-- L.r . an 3.5.: .- .. ,v- ,-.--.q~ . .- 4. .,- u..“_ I . , . . .. u , n u: .. - , . c. - I . : 0' - p c ' , ‘ ‘ s I . , . J -- .. a .. 5 . .- .. .' ”.11. — n... s -. .4..." flt<§0~‘x'.'ul p.-.u-xa.v.. .nvuvs- .15..-. tau-v “a. a); L " 0' ifil-‘u- y'a. haulfihcnfifll...~l-'O.-‘ it 't ‘1 ‘0 AH'QIO“.'I)0~. -‘ 3w "Ow“ r 2- 5 Not Heeda __ a .7 -',a.. ._~as-..o vr».' .'.-In 'u "l"f*n"V'v\-bI-' \ ' _.~...n~_- .. $1. My ' - s- 15:17" W at“. I. - .NOt. .US-e-d-u v ~4u~i- w- .m .— 4 " ‘..,' ‘ ‘ ”3". 5...; o I An. ¢ 5‘ ~ on u-u- .---o—-- won—Iona..- ad I v‘ I l 3 5, .1 . q. , Not Used , - .. In ' . 15.7- . . ,_., ._ -- ‘. «5. ha: ~- --- u ---- .~ « p-svu s..n-ptu4v- -.~nf.v~.-—o v. t.“l»“—l.. I S t 1 ' t Hi 11 S 11001 5 ~ 1 e . g c z . . , . k 1 ,. \bn..v.xo. ~.~. —. . 5 -.ol 5.. (I. 0‘ .9 In» v—O- $ue-. u. ' “.-.*J-1-"-. ‘ I t . 4 - I. q * . ‘ ) ‘v '1 ‘ 3 . . L , - : v . ’~ ... . ; .-r-.- nu . 1 .up - I..- .1‘ 2 4r .1 at". v . ,- and“; .Ou-A .. an- 1 I \ ‘ if I .. . ' I ~ .- ~4:~ ‘5 ..R ¢~--.- .- --._ ...-.. . .. “.4 A“ - no 5-. a .. — < u o 5 , . , no...“ -:_.s< 1*”-Hfiovfi~~~ u.... . «r n-o.—-u.l. v- ~-v-:-'x..r-.ur H-. 'r ‘.“ch'lJ"l"‘ll’—.‘:Qt. . .. I . . 1 1.. . m n— .— .- N- "“ ‘ ' ’ J - ‘ I ‘l v : ,. .. .fu. an...“ .1 ‘..90 pa 0. n. .- ' --—.. v - ... 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' L ---.-.--, ucn- -. o-o- nnnw" ov-I-u—uan- vtl..:-—u»a—-nr—uo~ '_ f . a . O V .1 it‘ * 1 § " ' . .. . - “v u .m t. Venn-‘4 v.9n-n“ -. p-n-.~u¢.¢udn .a-nuu..u4 1 - .‘. n~~ «.5. 5 .. . . _ ‘5 . .' ’ ‘J _ . . - p vt' -'-, ‘6 7 hi . ._?_'.v,~,._...- '- ——— ‘l‘ -5 . c " l“.l~o.= 4. . -- v n.— ‘ , - Not Used ~ . . ‘ ~ ?A.' r“ I" y ' I I» H -. a. I. g -. ,. *-..__._- ,.. -- _ ._._ y,__ .— ._ .Mh 4 . ., . Not Used : ' .l ' ‘ ‘ , C Q' ? . I ' ' ' I 1 . *» ' ‘ ‘-.f.t -I(v.a ... no. u -. A.,-“on“. - . -u‘puoa'i‘ ~47. *‘L - fi-u’u“."v'-“’I *‘9 IW' ‘ . I ' * . . | . ’ ‘ L- n"- . o....-£ . . t I Y . A . k n 5 ~ . ._ . ‘ ,.I .- - 9.....‘.. .u ., . . - . .... .a-.-x¢---.- v'n- O”§"-l« 00.0—- o . I I k * I . . f 1’ ‘ ’ 1 , . - .. . n 1 -. .q.-~'.-.-—-\—¢‘v¢ 'fl-‘~5.~‘W~hfl-fiiv unu-s . _.-x . n ,- 4.4 s I '1‘, 5 ‘1 u . .5 5‘ fl. 1‘ . . l< 'C,a‘ L? “W 'J .5. an ‘ V I u- ' C -..-. (a . N -' .u ‘ ' f ‘5 4.. u I 7 l - I.‘ ' . I ’ l I :1 ~ ,1 -l‘ a Il- ‘_ , 1‘. u— f 1 I . . ,. . ”c ‘ ‘ . . 1 O . . I . V. I u. ‘ u .5 .A ‘ . “ ".1. a x‘ '5‘ ,,.- a... ...5 Irv... The Evaluation In struments Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General Education of the American COuncil on Education A TEST OF CRITICAL THINKING FOR] A ‘ggad these directions before beginninggthe test. Improvement of your ability to think critically and effectively is one of the aims of general education. This test is designed to provide a measure of your competence in dealing with a variety of problems, all of which require some kind of critical thinking. The test does not-cover all aspects of critical thinking, but it does involve several important types of thinking. Iithin the test you will find directions for groups of questions. Read these directions carefully so that, before you answer a question, you know Just what is being asked. You are expected to complete the test within 45 minutes. Your score will be the number of questions you answer correctly. You may, in some cases, come across words which are not familiar to you. If you do, don't worry about it. The unfamiliarity of such words will not prevent your answering the questions. Your answers to the questions are to be recorded on a separate answer sheet. Fill in the blank spaces on the side of your answer sheet (your name, the date, etc.). For Name 25 Test, write Critical Think- ing. For Part, write Form A: Iark only the ONE BEST ANSWER :2 each question. 22 not make any marks gg_this test booklet. Use scratch paper if necessary. Cepyright, 1951, by the American Council on Education Items l_through‘g_refer to the following story and conclusion: In a radio broadcast the following story was told: "The people in a little mining town in Pennsylvania get all their water without purification from a clear, swift-running mountain stream. In a cabin on the bank of the stream about half a mile above the town a worker was very sick with typhoid fever during the first part of December. During his illness his waste materials were thrown on the snow. About the middle of larch the snow melted rapidly and ran into the stream. Approximately two weeks later typhoid fever broke out in the town. lany of the people became sick and 114 died." Conclusion: The speaker then said that this story people. . Items A through 9_ are statements which might appear in a discussion of this conclusion. Assum— ing that the story as told was true, mark each statement according to the following scale: 1. 2. The statement argues 12; the conclusion. The statement argues against the conclu- sion. The statement argues neither for nor against the conclusion. 3. 1. Typhoid fever organisms have been known to sur- vive for several months at temperatures near the freezing point. 2. Good doctors should be available when an epi- demic hits a small town. 3. There may have been other sources of contamina— tion along the stream. The waste materials of a person who has a severe case of typhoid fever contain active typhoid organisms. Typhoid fever may be contracted by using water which contains typhoid germs. Typhoid orggnis-g are usually killed if sub- Jected to temperatures near the freezing point for a period of several months. 7. Sickness and death usually result in a great economic loss to a small town. ‘8. There may have been other sources of typhoid fever germs in the town, such as milk or food contaminated by some other person. 9. The symptoms of typhoid fever usually appear about two weeks after contact with typhoid germs. - ' tt‘tt .Select the one best answer to each of the follow- -ing items (10-13). 10. "There are women Eskimos. How do I know? Be- cause everyone knows sqme men are not adult Eskimos, and this means some adult Eskimos are not men. That's how I know there are women Eskimos." This argument is 1. acceptable reasoning, because the con- clusion is true. faulty reasoning, because it is not true that "if they're not men they would have to be women." acceptable reasoning, because "some men are not adult Eskimos" does mean "some adult Eskimos are not men" and it is true that if they're not men they would have to be women. faulty reasoning, because we can believe "some men are not adult Eskimos" without believing also that "some adult Eskimos are not men." acceptable reasoning, because the con- clusion, regardless of its truth, cer- tainly follows from the reasons given. 2. 11. A stock breeder plans to ship 50 horses, 50 cows, 50 goats, 50 sheep, and 50 pigs to a new location. In order to make a fairly accurate estimate of the total weight of his animals, which of the following would be most useful to him? 1. The total weight of 50 animals from his stock, selected at random. The average weight of 50 animals from his stock, selected at random. The total weight of one horse, one goat, one cow, one pig, and ohe sheep, each selected at random. The combined average weights of 5 pigs, 5 sheep, 5 goats, 5 horses, and 5 cows, all selected at random. The average weight of the first 125 animals to enter the barn. 5. 12. The head physician at Cowlick College wishes a reasonably accurate estimate of the number of cases of chicken pox treated at the infirm- ary during the past five years, but his time is limited. A total of 10,000 cases of all kinds of sickness were treated during the period. A study of which of the following samples from his records would probably be adequate and still conserve his time? 1. Every odd-numbered case from the 10,000. 2. Every twentieth case from the 10,000. 3. 400 cases selected to represent propor- tionately each age group. The last 400 cases treated. The last 200 cases treated. 4. 5. 13. Which of the samples in Item ;§_would probably be the LEAST accurate? .00.. In Items ;1_through 11 you are to accept as true that gll_window-washers £53 pgorly paid, and some window-washers have large families. Iark each of the conclusions, ;1_through ;1_according to the following scale: 1. Inst 23 true on the basis of the given statements. 2. light be true on the basis of the given statements. 3. lust b3 false on the basis of the given statements. 14. Some people who have large families are not poorly paid. 15. Some people who are poorly paid have large families. 16. All people who are poorly paid have large families, 17. No people who are poorly paid have large fami- lies. 0.00. At a faculty conference Professor Chattery said: NO EDUCATED IAN IS UNPREPARED FOR lARRIAGE. Other faculty members commented on this remark, and their comments are given in Items 1§_through 2;: Iark each of these comments according to the following scale: 1. That means Just the same thing Chattery said. 2. E0. That can't be true if Chattery is right. . 3. You can't tell from what Chattery said whether that is true or not. 18. Everyone who is prepared for marriage is edu- cated. 19. Some men who are unprepared for marriage are ‘ educated. 20. If a man is not educated, he is prepared for marriage. 21. No one who is unprepared for marriage is an educated man. 0.... D. So the chaperonage system is utterly ineffective and full of hypocrisy. E. Besides, collegians will never develop maturity 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. V 27. Items g§_through 21_refer to the following argument: The college committee in charge of social regula- tions was holding an open hearing on a proposal that the rule on chaperoning coeducational out- ings (wiener roasts, overnight hikes, campfires, etc.) should be more strictly applied. A student in the audience got the floor and made this speech: A. This whole discussion is ridiculous, for we shouldn't have chaperones at all! 3. You see, any chaperone yen get will either arrange not to see what happens or he will be so badly‘outnumbered he can't keep track of what is going on. C. But chaperones are supposed to guarantee that what goes on is respectable. unless they are given responsibilities to exer- cise and are really trusted with these respon- sibilities. There is one statement which the student did not offer as a reason for any other statement. That statement, his main conclusion, is 1. “I598! NUCUb The student.é_as a reason for . D . C . D . E . none of these. GILUNH The student offered-§_as a reason for 1. C 2. D 3. C and D 4. E 5. none of these. The student offered.§_as a reasOn for 1. B, ‘ 2. D‘ 3. E 4. D and E 5. none of these. The student offered_2_as a reason for . A . D . C . E . none of these. “haul-i The student offered_§_as a reason for . D 1 2 3. C 4 5. none of these. fitttt Items 28 through 33 concern definitions of prob- lems. Each item is a brief description of a sit- uation, followed by five possible statements of the problem involved. Select from the five state- ments the one which a. faces the problem, and b. is broadest and most inclusive. The statement you select need not be the wisest one or the one you would personally accept. You are to selecto only on the basis of whether the statement faces the problem and is broader and more inclusive than the other statements. 28. The Kemp family wishes to repaint its living room walls. Their problem is: 1. What color and kind of paint will best fit the family's use of the room and budget of time and money. 2. What color goes best with the rugs and curtains. 3. How best to time the painting in rela- tion to baby's sleep, Jane's birthday party, and other events scheduled for the house. 4. What kind of paint—~water or oil base, etc.-—is cheaper in the long run, imme- diate area covered and washability and durability all considered. 5. Whether they should use wallpaper since it will be cheaper and more colorful. 29. A recently married couple decide that they will give $200 of their annual income to charity. Their problem is: 1. What charity-supported works are most deserving and in need of the money they can give, and what distribution of their 3200 best balances these demands? 2. How to deal with those making the appeals, with the least time and bother and with the most congenial response to their re- quests. 3. Which of the appeals which come to them is most worthy? 4. Whether this amount ($200) is too much or too little for the cause they want to aid. 5. Whether concentration of their gifts in one agency would do more ultimate good than distribution of it among several users. 30. A housewife is trying to decide upon a menu for a dinner for eight. Her problem is what choice of foods would be most 1. indicative of a cultured, hospitable, and moderately well-off family. 2. economical to prepare and, in view of their different needs, healthful for all of her guests. 3. likely to conserve time, energy, and ex- pense in preparation and serving. 4. novel and interesting as works of culi- nary art, and sure to keep conversation going if no other topics catch on. 5. satisfying to the tastes and needs of the group and of the occasion and within her budget. _ 31. 32. A college Junior, Howard is enrolled in English History. In the mid-semester test he found that he was near the low end of the grade curve, chiefly because a large number of stu- dents had used "ponies" on the test. Howard told the professor about the cheating, but this professor could not believe that cheating could occur in his classes without his observing it. Howard must receive a high grade in this course if he is to maintain his membership in the college honor societyanoward's problem is: 1. Should he give up getting into the honor society in favor of concentrating on other benefits in English History? 2. How could he do something effective to improve the conduct of examinations at his college while getting the best honest grade possible? 3. How could he get a good grade in the course even though his examination grade was low? 4. Considering not only "ponies" and other means of improving his own grade, but also ways to confuse or otherwise trap his cheating competitors into showing their hand, how could Howard compete with them? 5. How—could he get the professor to see the real situatioh and lead an effort to correct it? A shy but talented freshman,who has had little experience in dating, telephones a popular and considerate upperclass woman for a date to the main dance of the year Just two days before the big event. Which of the following answers shows the best perception of the problem she is dealing with? - 1. "Sorry! I'm all dated up. I didn't think you would ask me." 2. "I'd love to, Doug, but I have a date already.. Give me a chance again next year, will you?" 3. "Thanks, Doug, but Jack got here first. I can get you a date though, and a bid to a gay old party afterwards where you can really let your hair down. Are you game?" 4. "Gee, I've already accepted Jack's bid. But, say, would you like a tip on a cute girl who's holding out another day on a bid she's got in hopes you'd call?" 5. "Sorry, Doug. Have you tried calling any of the freshman girls?" 1"; .m'f m H 33. "Where are you coins to settle?" one graduate 41. Blake Aluminum ducts do save money for the asked another. Which of the following responses buyer. shows the best perception of the problem? 1. "Albany. That's where my best Job offer 42. Delivery on orders for aluminum products is 18." 810' at present. 2. "We're not going to settle right away. First 'eoll see ‘ bit of the world and 43. FHA approval for a building product is an then maybe look for a Job." asset. 3. "Somewhere in the Southwest. We prefer the country and people, and the wife's 44. The prospective buyer's contractor knows about IBthII. isn't so bad there." Blake Aluminum ducts. 4. "I can make a living anywhere, so we'll probably live near Washington, ”.0. 45. Blake Aluminum ducts may not be the best alu- It's interesting to be near the center minum ducts on the market today. of political activities." ' 5. "'11119 likes the mountains, and I like 46. A house in which sound is deadened is usually the seashore; the best Jobs are in the preferred to a house in which sound is not Iidwest; so we've decided to cross that deadened. bridge when we come to it." 47. Ordinary galvanized ducts don't need to be a e a a t painted anyway. Items §2_through gz_refer to the following news- a t a a a paper advertisement: "Wanna buy a duct? If you're planning to install a warm air heating system, ask your contractor about the advantages of Blake Aluminum for duct- work. [any have already found it saves money be- cause it's easier for workmen to handle, gives more long-run satisfaction because it never rusts, never needs painting, is always neat. Aluminum's natural insulation prevents excessive heat loss; sound is deadened too. Approved for FHA financing." (Please go on to the next page) In this advertisement the writer makes a number of claims for his product. He also takes for granted a number of ideas about it, about prospective buy- ers of heating systems, etc. lark each of the statements, 31 through 11, according to this scale: 1. The writer states this, although maybe not in Just these words. 2. The writer does not state this, but he does state something which shows that he must have taken it for granted. 3. The writer does not state this, nor does it have any relation to his argument. 4. The writer does not state this and it would weaken his argument if he did state it. 34. Installation expense is a significant item in considering the cost of heating equipment. 35. Ordinary ducts are harder to handle than alu- minum ducts. 36. Some people are thinking of installing warm- air heating systems. 37. Aluminum ducts cost more than galvanized iron ducts. 38. Durability as well as initial expense should be considered in buying heating equipment. 39. Brick houses take a different shape of heating duct than do frame houses. Some buyers of ducts live in the country. developing situation. In answering an item, con- 7°“ risk another dOIIIP. pushing, in order, sider only the information given you in it and in buttons®®® and getting a P303880 01 £9: the preceding items. (Do not consider information 122:2: Cisfirettesi 22£_22_Ch82§9. At this presented in the items which follow. The correct POlht which 0‘ the 10110'138 1' the IOBt 113917 choice in one item may appear to be incorrect if explanation Of the llChlne's behavior? (NOTE: you consider information presented in later items.) the °h°1¢° you BhOUId mark 18 the one for which you now have the most evidence; the correct You find yourself stranded late at night in choice here ‘gy not prove to be the true ex— the deserted waiting room of a Balkonian planation later.) airport. You are hungry. You find a large vending machine about which you know nothing. 1- The numbered buttons determine the tYPe It has no display windows or pictures, and 01 PTOdUCt (gum, cigarettes, etc.) the directions are written in the Balkonian delivered. . language; which you cannot understand at ‘11. 2. The @button causes change to be returned. Beside the machine is a waste basket contain- 3' Buttons ® © @ determine the ing a few discarded food wrappers and bever- type Of product delivered. . age cups. On the front of the machine you 4- The button causes change to be re- find a coin slot the size of a Balkonian turned. dollar, a delivery chute, and a panel of but- 5- The machine contains only 8“- fihd cigar- tons arranged as follows: ettes. and @ and you get a package of Mcigar- ettes (a different brand) 522_gg_change. For which of the following explanations do you 2 ' have the most evidence at this point? f“‘),- ' f' _ 51. You are still hungry.. Again you insert a Q“ .. 3 C \D 3 ' dollar and push, in order, only buttons ‘9 e a 1. The machine contains only cigarettes and You must depend upon your own ingenuity to gum. operate the machine. 2. The button must be pushed to secure 48. 222 insert g_Balkonign dollar in the coin change. slot, 2!; nothing happens. On the basis of 3. PhBhihB or h0t pushing the (:> button the little information about the machine you determines the particular brand'or flavor now have, which of the following explanations Of PTOdHCt dispensed. of the machine's failure to operate would be 4- The numbered buttons determine the Ditti- most likely to be true? (NOTE: in answering cular brand or flavor of product dis- this item, do not consider information pre- pensed. sented in later items.) 5. The buttons ®9©® determine the . o 1. You did not insert the right kind of :zrticular bran r flavor of product spensed. coin. 2. You must push one or more of the buttons to make the machine operate. 3. You must push the button marked®to make the machine operate. 4. The machine is out of order. 5. The machine is empty. 52. You are still hungr . You push, in order, the buttons marked é and you get a package of wintergrgen chewing g25_(a different flavor) and three Balkonian quarters in change. The evidence now in hand points most strongly to the theory that 49. You push the button marked®and nothing 152— 1. different brands or flavors of products pens; then you push the(:)button and still are delivered purely by chance. nothigg h8222n3- Finally you push the(:)but- 2. the numbered buttons determine the brand ton, and the machine promptly delivers a pack- or flavor 01 product delivered.‘, age of pepperm1nt chewing gun gnd three 331- 3. the order in which the buttons are pressed konian quarters. On thé‘hiEIh'S? {ES-Tittle determines whether or h°t change 18 re- information given you up to and including this turned. item (do not consider later items), which is 4. 01131189 13 returned only when the ® but- the most likely explanation of the machine's ton is pushed. behavior? 5. the button must be pressed in order to get change. 1. The machine will not operate unless the @button is pushed. 2. The machine will not operate unless the @button is pushed. ,3. You must push a numbered button to make the machine operate. 4. The order in which the buttons are push— ed determines whether the machine will operate. 5. The machine contains only chewing gum. - g - 53. Still hungry, you try again. You push, in 56. order, buttons © ® ® . The machine prompt- ly delivers a cup of steaming, unsweetened black coffee and two guarters. On the basis of this information, the best explanation of the machine's operation is: 1. You get change according to the price of the product, not according to the buttons you push. 2. You must push the (:) button to get change. 3. You must push the (:) button to get . change. . 4. You must push the (:> button to get coffee. 5. You must push the @/button to make the machine operate. The results you have obtained so far are summar- ized below. A dollar was inserted each time. Buttons Pushed Results Obtained 57' (:)- (:) 1 pkg. peppermint gum and 3 ‘ quarters (:) 1 pkg. Elephant cigarettes, but no change (:> 1 pkg. Lion cigarettes, but no change (:> 1 pkg. wintergreen chewing gum and 3 quarters C:) <:) black, unsweetened coffee and 2 quarters @®00® 54. You like your coffee with cream. 'hich of the following combinations of buttons now seems most likely to deltver this? 1. . 8 55. You push buttons @ and @ and get a ham sandwich but 22 change. Which one of the following explanations is most likely? new» 1. The machine contains only one variety of sandwich. 2. You do not get a sandwich if you push the® button. 3. You must buy coffee before you can get a sandwich. ' 4. You must push the @ button to get a ‘ sandwich. 5. You must push the @ button to get a sandwich. ” By this time one sandwich is not enough. You try buttons ® and get another .‘fl sand- wich £313 guarter i_n._ chfle. The evidence you now have points clearly to which of the following explanations of how change is deli- vered? 1. Change is returned automatically by the machine according to the price of the product; the buttons have nothing to do with it. ' 2. Change is returned according to the price of the product, but only when the ® button is pushed. 3. The order in which the buttons are push- ed determines the change. " 4. You must push one of the odd-numbered buttons to get change. 5. You must push buttons @ or to get change. ' ' You have now tried all of the lettered buttons except . Which of the following products, according to the evidence now on hand, is most likely to be controlled by this button? 1. Handkerchiefs 2. Pocket-size books 3. Coffee with cream 4 . Candy 5. A third brand of cigarettes Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General Education of the American Council on Education INVENTORY 0F BELIEFS FORM I This inventory consists of 120 statements which range over a wide variety of topics. As you read each statement you are asked to indicate quickly your agreement or disagreement with it in terms of the key given below. People have different reactions to these statements. This is not a test in which there are "right" and "wrong" answers. What is wanted here is your own quick personal reaction. You should be able to finish taking the inventory in 30 minutes or less. In responding to these statements you will notice that there is no way provided for indicating a neutral position. It is desired that you indicate a tendency toward either agreement or disagreement even though you may prefer to remain undecided. It is important that you respond to every one of the 120 statements. Before beginning work please record at the top of your answer sheet (1) your name, (2) date, (3) the name of your school, (4) your sex, (5) your academic class i.e., (Freshman, Sophomore, etc.). and (6) the name of this inventory. The key you are to use in responding to these statements is reproduced at the top of each page. (Note that you will never use the fifth response space on your answer sheet.) Copyright, 1951, by the American Council on Education Key: If you want a thing done right, you have to do it yourself. 2. There are times when a father, as head of the 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. family, must tell the other family members what they can and cannot do. Lowering tariffs to admit more foreign goods into this country lowers our standard of living. Literature should not question the basic moral concepts of society. . Reviewers and critics of art, music and liter- ature decide what they like and then force their tastes on the public. Why study the past, when there are so many problems of the present to be solved. Business men and manufacturers are more impor- tant to society than artists or musicians. . There is little chance for a person to advance in business or industry unless he knows the right people. . Ian has an inherent guide to right and wrong-— his conscience. The main thing about good music is lovely melody. It is only natural and right for each person to think that his family is better than any other. All objective data gathered by unbiased persons indicate that the world and universe are with- out order. Any man can find a job if he really wants to work. We are finding out today that liberals really are soft-headed, gullible, and potentially dangerous. A man can learn as well by striking out on his own as he can by following the advice of others. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30 . I strongly agree or accept the statement. . I tend to agree or accept the statement. I tend to disagree or reject the statement. . I strongly disagree or reject the statement. The predictions of economists about the future of business are no better than guesses. Being a successful wife and mother is more a matter of instinct than of training. A person often has to get mad in order to push others into action. There is only one real standard in judging art works--each to his own taste. Business enterprise, free from government interference, has given us our high stand- ard of living. Nobody can make a million dollars without hurting other people. Anything we do for a good cause is justi- fied. Public resistance to modern art proves that there is something wrong with it. Sending letters and telegrams to congress- men is mostly a waste of time. Many social problems would be solved if we did not have so many immoral and inferior people. Art which does not tell a human story is empty. You can't do business fits are profits; and not evidence in a law on friendship: pro- good intentions are court. A person has troubles afford to worry about of his own; he can't other people. Books and movies should start dealing with entertaining or uplifting themes instead of the present unpleasant, immoral, or tragic ones. Children should be made to obey since you have to control them firmly during their formative years. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. Key: AwNH HHHH The minds of many youth are being poisoned by bad books. Speak softly, but carry a big stick. Ministers in churches should not preach about economic and political problems. Each man is on his own in life and must deter- mine his own destiny. New machines should be taxed to support the workers they displace. The successful merchant can't allow senti- ment to affect his business decisions. linisters who preach socialistic ideas are a disgrace to the church. Labor unions don't appreciate all the advan- tages which business and industries have given them. It's only natural that a person should take advantage of every opportunity to promote his own welfare. We should impose a strong censorship on the morality of books and movies. The poor will always be with us. A person who is incapable of real anger must also be lacking in moral conviction. If we allow more immigrants into this country, we will lower our standard of culture. People who live in the slums have no sense of respectability. We acquire the highest form of freedom when our wishes conform to the will of society. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. strongly agree or accept the statement. tend to agree or accept the statement. tend to disagree or reject the statement. strongly disagree or reject the statement. lodern paintings look like something dreamed up in a horrible nightmare. Voting determines whether or not a country is democratic. The government is more interested in winning elections than in the welfare of the people. Feeble-minded people should be sterilized. In our society, a person's first duty is to protect from harm himself and those dear to him. Those who can, do; those who can't, teach. The best government is one which governs least. History shows that every great nation was destroyed when its people became soft and its morals lax. Philosophers on the whole act as if they were superior to ordinary people. A woman who is a wife and mother should not try to work outside the home. We would be better off if people would talk less and work more. In some elections there is not much point in voting because the outcome is fairly certain. The old masters were the only artists who really knew how to draw and paint. lost intellectuals would be lost if they had to make a living in the realistic world of business. You cannot lead a truly happy life without strong moral and religious convictions. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. Key: bullet-I HHHH If we didn't have strict immigration laws, our country would be flooded with foreigners. When things seem black, a person should not complain, for it may be God's will. Miracles have always taken place whenever the need for them has been great enough. Science is infringing upon religion when it attempts to delve into the origin of life itself. A person has to stand up for his rights or people will take advantage of him. A lot of teachers, these days, have radical ideas which need to be carefully watched. Now that America is the leading country in the world, it's only natural that other countries should try to be like us. Most Negroes would become overbearing and dis- agreeable if not kept in their place. Foreign films emphasize sex more than American films do. Our rising divorce rate is a sign that we should return to the values which our grand- parents held. Army training will be good for most modern youth because of the strict discipline they will get. When operas are sung in this country they ought to be translated into English. People who say they're religious but don't go to church are just hypocrites. What the country needs, more than laws or politics, is a few fearless and devoted leaders in whom the people can have faith. Pride in craftsmanship and in doing an honest day's work is a rare thing these days. - 5 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. strongly agree or accept the statement. tend to agree or accept the statement. tend to disagree or reject the statement. strongly disagree or reject the statement. The United States may not have had much exper- ience in international dealings but it is the only nation to which the world can turn for leadership. In practical situations, theory is of very little help. No task is too great or too difficult when we know that God is on our side. A sexual pervert is an insult to humanity and should be punished severely, A lot of science is just using big words to describe things which many peOple already know through common sense. Manual labor and unskilled jobs seem to fit the Negro mentality and ability better than more skilled or responsible work. A person gets what's coming to him in this life if he doesn't believe in God. Public officials may try to be honest but they are caught in a web of influence which tends to corrupt them. Science makes progress only when it attempts to solve urgent practical problems. lost things in life are governed by forces over which we have no control. Young people today are in general more immoral and irresponsible than young people of previous generations. Americans may tend to be materialistic, but at least they aren't cynical and decadent like most Europeans. The many different kinds of children in school these days force teachers to make a lot of rules and regulations so that things will run smoothly. Jews will marry out of their own religious group whenever they have the chance. The worst danger to real Americanism during the last 50 years has come from foreign ideas and agitators. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. 100 O 101. 102. 103. 104. 105. Key: «swan-a HHHH Europeans criticize the United States for its materialism but such criticism is only to cover up their realization that American cul- ture is far superior to their own. The scientist that really counts is the one who turns theories into practical use. No one can really feel safe when scientists continue to explore whatever they wish without any social or moral restraint. Nudist colonies are a threat to the moral life of a nation. One trouble with Jewish businessmen is that they stick together and prevent other people from having a fair chance in competition. No world organization should have the right to tell Americans what they can or cannot do. There is a source of knowledge that is not dependent upon observation. Despite the material advantages of today, family life now is not as wholesome as it used to be. The United States doesn't have to depend on the rest of the world in order to be strong and self-sufficient. Foreigners usually have peculiar and annoying habits. Parents know as much about how to teach children as public school teachers. The best assurance of peace is for the United States to have the strongest army, navy, air force, and the most atom bombs. Some day machinery will do nearly all of man's work, and we can live in leisure. There are too many people in this world who do nothing but think about the opposite sex. lodern people are superficial and tend to lack the finer qualities of manhood and womanhood. 106. 107. 108. 109. 110. 111. 114. 115. 116. 117. 118. 119. 120. strongly agree or accept the statement. tend to agree or accept the statement. tend to disagree or reject the statement. strongly disagree or reject the statement. lembers of religious sects who refuse to salute the flag should be punished for their lack of patriotism. Political parties are run by insiders who are not concerned with the public welfare. As young people grow up they ought to get over their radical ideas. Negroes have their rights, but it is best to keep them in their own districts and schools and to prevent too much contact with whites. The twentieth century has not had leaders with the vision and capacity of the founders of this country. There are a lot of things in this world that will never be explained by science. . Sexual relations between brother and sister are contrary to natural law. . There may.be a few exceptions, but in general Jews are pretty much alike. The world will get so bad that some of these times God will destroy it. Children should learn to respect and obey their teachers. Other countries don't appreciate as much as they should all the help that America has given them. We would be better off if there were fewer psychoanalysts probing and delving into the human mind. American free enterprise is the greatest bul— wark of democracy. If a person is honest, works hard, and trusts in God, he will reap material as well as spiritual rewards. One will learn more in the school of hard knocks than he ever can from a textbook. Cooperative Study of Evaluation in General Education of the American Council on Education CRFTICAL ANALYSIS TEST Paul B. Diederich l DIRECTIONS: This test will require an analysis and comparison of the three passages that are printed on page 2. The passages discuss essentially the same subject from different points of view, and it will be your first task to discover what this subject is. Then there will be two sets of questions: 1. questions on the passages themselves, 2. questions on a paper writen about these passages by a college freshman. For all questions, blacken the answer space corresponding to the best answer. There are no strict time limits, but most students will be able to finish easily within a fifty-minute period. I Before beginning the test, fill in the blanks at the side of the answer sheet. Copyright by the Educational Testing Service, Princeton, N. J. I The nation, with all its so—called internal im— provements, which are all external and superficial, is just an unwieldly and overgrown establishment, cluttered with furniture and tripped up by its own traps, ruined by luxury and heedless expense, by want of calculation and a worthy aim; and the only cure for it is in a rigid economy, a stern and more than Spartan simplicity of life and elevation of purpose. It lives too fast. Hen think it essential that the Natigg_have commerce, and talk through a telegraph, and ride thirty miles an hour, whether they do or not; but whether we should live like baboons or like men is a little uncertain. If we do not get out sleepers,‘ and forge rails, and devote days and nights to the work, but go to tinkering upon our lives to im— prove them, who will build railroads? And if railroads are not built, how shall we get to heaven in season? But if we stay at home and mind our business, who will want railroads? We do not ride on the railroad, it rides upon us. Did you ever think what those sleepers are that underlie the railroad? Each one is a man, an Irishman, or a Yankee man. The rails are laid on them, and they are covered with sand, and the cars run smoothly over them. They are sound sleepers, I assure you. And every few years a new lot is laid down and run over; so that, if some have the pleasure of riding on a rail, others have the misfortune to be ridden upon. And when they run over a man that is walking in his sleep and wake him up, they suddenly stop the cars and make a hue and cry about it, as if this were an exception. I am glad to know that it takes a gang of men for every five miles to keep the sleepers down and level in their beds, for this is a sign that they may sometime get up again. II Iyself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument About it and about: but evermore Came out by the same door where in I went. With them the seed of wisdom did I saw, And with mine own hand wrought to make it grow; And this was all the harvest that I reaped-- "I came like water, and like wind I go." Into this universe, the why not knowing Nor whence, like water willy-nilly flowing; And out of it, as wind along the waste, I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing. Waste not your hour, nor in the vain pursuit Of This and That endeavor and dispute; Better be jocund with the fruitful grape Than sadden after none, or bitter, fruit. The moving finger writes; and, having writ, loves on: nor all your piety nor wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a line, Nor all your tears wash out a word of it. ‘ sleepers= railroad ties III No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather in- to barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, 0 ye of little faith? Therefore, take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek: for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Part I DIRECTIONS: Iark the best answer. 1. Which of the following questions is the central concern of all three passages? 1. Is the pursuit of pleasure a desireable goal in life? 2. Is hard work necessary for success in life? 3. What should be our chief purpose in life? 4. Is the pursuit of material values contrary to religion? 2. Which of the following best represents the goal proposed in Passage I? 1. The development of the Nation. 2. Simplicity and elevation of purpose. 3. To ride upon the railroad rather than to be ridden upon. 4. To keep the sleepers down and level in their beds. 3. Which of the following best represents the opposite of the goal proposed in Passage I? 1. The Nation. 2. Spartan simplicity. 3. The sleepers. 4. Building railroads. 10. 11. Which of proposed 1. To 2. To 3. To 4. To the following best represents the goal in Passage II? sow the seed of wisdom. come like water and to go like wind. be jocund with the fruitful grape, do whatever the moving finger writes. Which of opposite the following best represents the of the goal proposed in Passage II? 1. Doctor and Saint. 2. Sowing the seed of wisdom. 3. Whatever the moving finger writes. 4. Endeavor and dispute over This and That. Which of the following best represents the goal proposed in Passage III? 1. The kingdom of God and his righteousness. 2. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. 3. Take no thought for your life. 4. Refrain from any sort of labor. Which of the following best represents the opposite of the goal proposed in Passage III? 1. Nammon. 2. The morrow. 3. Food and clothing. 4. Hard work of any kind. Which of the following descriptions of man's role in life as conceived in these passages is least accurate? 1. 2. 3. I: Ian is a tool-using animal. II: Ian is a puppet of fate. III: Nan is a child of God. Which passage expresses concern over the ex- ploitation of workmen in the pursuit values? 1. Passage I. 2. Passage II. 3. Passage III. 4. None of them. Which passage places chief emphasis upon serv- ice £2_others? 1. Passage I. 2. Passage II. 3. Passage III. 4. None of them. Which passage or passages emphasize simplicity as essential to a good life? 1. All, about equally. 2. None of them. 3. Passages I and III. 4. Passage II. of material 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. Which of these views is based on the feeling that there are no answers, that effort is useless? 1. Passage I. 2. Passage II. 3. Passage III. 4. None of them. Passages II and III both deny the value of "taking thought." How do they differ? 1. II regards thought as unrewarding; III as a necessary evil. 2. II refers to thought about philosophic issues; III to thought about making a living. 3. II prefers action to thought; III pre— fers faith. 4. II refers to thought about fate; III to thought about God. All three passages seem to regard material possessions as unimportant. Which statement of their reason for thinking so is legs; accurate? 1. We should reduce our wants rather than increase our means of satisfying them. It is pleasanter to drink wine. Striving for worldly goods interferes with the service of God. 2. 3. In which of the following ways are the "sleep- ers" in Passage I like the "lilies" in Passage III? 1. Both are subjects of parables. 2. Both illustrate how men should act. 3. Both illustrate what happens to people who concentrate on material things. 4. Both illustrate the advantages of sim- plicity. Which of the following pairs of passages are closest together in point of view? 1. I and II. 2. I and III. 3. II and III. Which passage or passages emphasize the thought expressed in the following quotation? "The world is too much with,us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay-waste our powers." . 1. All of them. 2. None of them. 3. I and III. 4. II. (Go on to the next page.) 18. Which passage agrees with the thought expres- sed in the following quotation: "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more; it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing." 1. Passage I. 2. Passage II. 3. Passage III. 4. None of them. Which passage agrees with the point of view expressed in the following quotation: "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; Consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no chief, Overseer or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, And gathereth her food in the harvest." 19. 1. Passage I. 2. Passage II. 3. Passage III. 4. None of them. 20. Which passage emphasizes the thought expressed in the following quotation: "And the great cry that rises from our manu— facturing cities, louder than their furnace blast, is all in very deed for this,—-that we manufacture everything there except men; we blanch cotton, and strengthen steel, and re- fine sugar, and shape pottery; but to brighten, to strengthen, to refine, or to form a single living spirit never enters into our estimate of advantages." 1. Passage I. 2. Passage II. 3. Passage III. 4. None of them. PART II DIRECTIONS: First, read the following paper. The student was asked to review and compare the posi— tions of the three authors and then to state his own. ’ The three authors regard success in I JOh as unimportant because many in obtaining success use others as stepping stones. Success is seeing the good in others and living a good life. Q e.u NtH Passage I considers any improvement in mechanical things as unnecessary and unsuccessful because thousands of people are often hurt in making the improvement. Gimifi G 10 Passage II says learning is important; 11 it also says that if you're going to do 12 anything, don't do something you'll regret, 13 for what's done can't be undone. - 4 _ 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 37 38 39 4O 41 42 43 44 DIRECTIONS: Passage III stresses the point that you shouldn't struggle for material things; food and clothing are nothing compared to everlasting life. All the authors agree that in success there is happiness, and there is no happiness in gains made crookedly. I believe success in work can't be the most important element in life but is very important. Being successful in business doesn't necessarily mean that you're leading a good life. lany success- ful people have reached their goal by robbing and cheating others. Success in business often leads to conceit, and many successful people can't see the beauty in life for thinking only of themselves. Success in business is important in that it proves you can accomplish something. It is a good thing if you reach your goal honestly and get happiness out of your success. [any successful people aren't happy. The real success in life is happiness and making others happy. Iany people are so busy rushing toward their goal that they haven't time to be happy. I believe success in business is important if you don't let it obstruct your vision so that you can't see good in people, and it takes up all your time. lark the best answer to each of the following questions. 21. 22. In items 21-29 assume that this student's purpose was to show that success in work is important, provided that—-and he mentioned all of the following but one. Which one did he overlook? 1. Provided that it is honestly attained. 2. Provided that it brings happiness in itself and leaves time for other forms of happiness. 3. Provided that it makes a constructive contribution to the common welfare. 4. Provided that it does not inflate the ego and prevent seeing good in others. In the light of this purpose, as stated in Item 21, his review of the passages is 1. adequate, for he covers their chief ob- jections to regarding success in work as important . 2. adequate. for he points out that the only fundamental objection is to dig: hggggt success in work. 3. inadequate, for he includes only what is relevant to his purpose and leaves out many other points that could be made. 4. inadequate, for he neither recognizes nor refutes important objections to his position that may be found in the passages. 23.1n the lig Item 21. t 1, star pass only tion 2. star fall 3. star poin favo 4. star tell poin hold 24.1n the lig Item 21, t1 1. is t] his 1 2. is on his 1 3. is 01 in 81 4. 18 11 his 1 25.The student 'Ork 18 in; 1. first three own c 2. setti the o and t 3- Overl of th ISSer 4. the p beggi reite 26.The student in his PeVi. he says abo‘ interprEtat; ' paSsa‘ 2& 23. 24. 1. 1. In the light of this purpose, as stated in Item 21, the opening sentence starts at a good point in reviewing the passages and immediately shows their only serious objection to his own posi- tion. starts at a good point but immediately falls into a misinterpretation. starts at a bad point; he first should point out what these passages say in favor of his position. starts at a bad point; he should first tell what each passage said before pointing to any conclusion that they hold in common. In the light of this purpose, as stated in Item 21, the sentence in lines 37-38 is the logical Conclusion toward which his whole argument is directed. is one of the major reasons upon which his conclusion is based. is only a restatement of his conclusion in slightly different terms. is irrelevant to and inconsistent with ‘his conclusion. 25. The student attempts to show that "success in 1. 2. work is important" by first refuting the objections of the three passages and then building up his own case. setting up a straw man by misstating the objections of the three passages and then knocking it down. overlooking or misstating the objections of the three passages and then chiefly asserting and qualifying his conclusion. the propaganda devices of'name-calling, begging the question, exaggeration, and reiteration without proof. ' 26. The student misinterprets at least one point in his review of each passage, but everything he says about one of the passages is a mis- 27. 28. interpretation. 1. 2. 3. At what point Which passage is that? Passage I. Passage II. Passage III. in the paper does the student's development of his own position begin? 1. 2. 3. 4. There the student's conclusion. 18. 21. 31. 37. line In line In line In line In one logical argument in support of In which of the is following lines does it occur? 1. 2 3. 4 23-25. 27-30. 31-32. 37-38. lines lines lines lines In In In In 29. Which of the following is the best comment on the student's own arguments in support of his conclusion? 1. 2. 30. Lines They are true as far as they go, but the argument is incomplete. They are chiefly repetitions of the con- clusion in different terms, not argu- ments to support it. They sound plausible but commit many logical fallacies. There are about twice as many statements opposed to his conclusion as there are in favor of it. 3-4, "use others as stepping stones." This phrase is suggested by 1. 31. Lines 1. 4. 32. Lines 1. 2. 3. 4. 33. Lines 1. the remarks about the "sleepers" in Passage I . a misinterpretation of what Passage II means by "the moving finger." the position of all three authors. nothing that is stated or implied in any of the three passages. 4-5. This sentence is intended as a statement of the position of the three authors. intended as a statement of the writer's own position. intended as a statement both of the writer's own position and of that of the three authors. not clear as to which position is in- tended. 21-30. This paragraph is a fair statement of the main point at issue. misses the point, which is whether even honest success in work is an essential element of the good life. misses the point, which is whether in- dividual success makes for social pro- gross. misses the point, because none of the passages mentions "conceit." 31-32. This sentence is good, because it gives a reason for re- garding success in work as important. good, because it makes no mistakes in grammar or punctuation. poor, because "something" is vague. poor, because no one needs to be told why success in business is important. (Go on to the next page.) 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. '39. 40. Lines 37—38. Compare this sentence with the sentence in lines 4-5. 1. The writer is inconsistent in these two sentences. 2. The writer is consistent because the two sentences mean the same thing. 3. The writer is consistent 1f the first sentence is taken as the position of the three authors while the second is taken as his own position. 4. Even so, the writer is inconsistent, be- cause "happiness" is not necessarily the same thing as "living a good life." Lines 8-9. Which is the most accurate inter- pretation of what Passage I meant? 1. people are often hurt 2. workmen are injured 3. investors are defrauded 4. lives are used up Line 10. Which is the most accurate inter- pretation of what Passage II meant? 1. important 2. vital 3. insufficient 4. useless Lines 11-15. Which is the most accurate in- terpretation of what Passage II meant? I. if you're going to do anything, don't do something you'll regret, for what's done can't be undone. 2. if you have to decide on a course of action, be very careful, for one mistake may ruin you. 3. striving to accomplish anything is futile, because everything that happens is determined by fate. 4. life should be devoted to pleasure, be- cause it will end soon enough anyway. Line 17. Which is the most accurate inter— pretation of what Passage III meant? 1. everlasting life. 2. health and success in life. 3. the birds and the lilies. 4. the service of God. Line 20. Which is the most accurate inter- pretation of all three passages? 1. gains made crookedly. 2. ill—gotten gains. 3. material wealth. 4. the fruitful grape. Line 43. Which states most accurately what the student means? 1. it takes 2. it does not take 3. if you let it take 4. if you don't let it take a a a t t END OF TEST it' we .5, r; "'1; '- '. ROOM USE Om 9U I‘UUUI’ MAR G '56‘ "WW?" ”3': mar “\AL .:--. .iiY aJlJ N'Y10'56 Dec 9 58 0'8 3119a! 4791‘ , eé/ .: ’ :4. .. 2.x 4 ‘ .‘u, I , . ,f’ . r . , ' \c. h \ i',- I ‘Z ,r I, ~ _, .‘ «- .y . ...__ ...:k.. __4‘ ”'TITI'ITHMLISIL'IEULIWflifli‘IJEII't‘JJTI'ILIflfli/jflififlfifS