Date of Award

12-1988

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. Uldis Smidchens

Second Advisor

Dr. JoAnn Simon

Third Advisor

Dr. David Cowden

Abstract

There was an examination in this study of the relationship of classroom experiences (cues) and professorial initiative to the frequency of informal student-faculty interaction in the freshman year. The research was conducted at an independent, four-year urban college in the state of Michigan with a predominantly commuter population. A survey instrument was administered to the entire freshman class in the Spring semester of 1988. Information was derived from the survey on the nature and frequency of informal faculty-student contact.

Out of the 137 freshman receiving surveys, 101 returned them. The response rate was 74%. Data from one survey returned were omitted since the survey was improperly filled out. Of the 100 survey responses used 50 were from women and 50 were from men.

The hypotheses associated with the research questions were tested employing the chi-square statistic. The alpha level selected was.05. The null hypothesis was not rejected in both instances because the numbers were not significant. There was no evidence from the research conducted that informal interaction level between students and faculty is dependent upon the variables of professorial initiative or classroom experiences (cues).

The research did not support the idea that increasing professorial initiative or classroom experiences (cues) will result in a greater frequency of informal contact between students and faculty. Additional studies need to be conducted with these variables and others to discover the determinants of student-faculty informal contact.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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