Date of Award
2002
Document Type
Practicum
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Pansy Collins
Keywords
child and family development, child care providers, chi-square test, college enrollment, college plans, cross-tabulation, early childhood education, education level, ex post facto research, higher education, likelihood ratio, linear-by-linear analysis, marketing, Pearson chi-square, professional development conference, program recruitment, recruitment, Southwest Missouri State University-West Plains, student enrollment, survey research, university marketing, university recruitment
Abstract
The problem for this study was that enrollment numbers in the child and family development program at Southwest Missouri State University-West Plains were unexplainably low. At the request of the University 's Chancellor, survey data was analyzed to explore the relationship between key variables.
There were two research questions for this study. First, "Is there a relationship between types of child care providers and their college plans?" Second, ''Is there a relationship between the respondent's level of education and their college plans?"
Datum gathered from a survey developed and administered at an early childhood professional development conference in Springfield, Missouri provided the basis of this study. The research was ex post facto, in that it explored the relationship of pre-existing variables, to predict the future college plans of respondents.
For the first research question, a cross tabulation and chi-square test was utilized. Respondents and college plans were collapsed into logical categories for the analysis. A statistically significant relationship was found to exist between the collapsed types of child care providers and college plans with X2(6) = 17.13 with a p value of .009. The calculated value for Pearson chi-square was 17.134 while the Likelihood ratio yielded a value of 17.165. Linear-by linear analysis yielded a calculated value of .370.
For the second research question, a cross tabulation and chi-square test were again utilized. In this test a statistically significant relationship failed to exist between the respondent' s level of education and college plans with X2 (20) = 8.99 with a p value of .983. The calculated value for Pearson chi-square was 8.992 while the likelihood ration yielded a value of 9.953. Linear-by-linear analysis yielded a calculated value of .298.
Results of this study demonstrated that different types of child care providers have different college plans and providers with different education levels do not necessarily have different college plans. Many of the findings contradicted University official's ideas about the educational needs of this population. It was recommended that university and program officials modify marketing and recruitment efforts based on the information gained from this study.