Faculty perspectives of the undergraduate laboratory: A survey of faculty goals for the laboratory and comparative analysis of responses using statistical techniques
Abstract
Qualitative research methods were used in a previous study to discover the goals of faculty members teaching undergraduate laboratories. Assertions about the goals and the unique characteristics of innovative lab programs were developed from categories that emerged from the interviews. The purpose of the present research was to create a survey instrument to measure the prevalence of these themes and faculty goals for undergraduate laboratories with a national sample. This was achieved through a two-stage process that utilized a pilot survey to determine the factor structure and reduce the number of survey items to a manageable size. Once the number of survey questions was reduced, the full survey was given to a national sample of undergraduate laboratory faculty. The 312 responses to the survey were then analyzed using factor analysis. Comparative analyses were conducted using analysis of variance (ANOVA). This dissertation focuses on the processes involved in the creation of this survey and the subsequent analyses of the data the survey produced. The results of these analyses and the implications of this research will also be discussed.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Towns, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Science education|Higher education
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