Date of Award

8-1992

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. William Redmon

Second Advisor

Dr. Jack Michael

Third Advisor

Dr. Alan Poling

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

This study assessed the effects of a public-posting intervention on photocopy machine use by faculty members in an academic department. Public posting included posting of a chart that displayed number of copies made each week by individual faculty members along with the average cumulative rate of copying for previous weeks for each person. The intervention was applied in an A-B-A reversal design where data were collected prior to the intervention under usual conditions (A), during public posting (B), and after the public posting intervention was removed and usual conditions were restored (A). The results indicated that: (1) number of copies made decreased during the intervention, (2) the greatest reduction was among those who showed the highest usage rates prior to the study, and (3) some whose usage rates were low prior to the intervention increased copy usage rates during the program. A cost analysis showed that this strategy reduced photocopy costs during the intervention. It was suggested that differential strategies for low and high users be developed and considered in future research.

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