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A STUDY OF MALE PRINCIPALS' ATTITUDES TOWARD WOMEN ASPIRING TO SCHOOL-BASED ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS

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Date Issued:
1980
Summary:
The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of male principals in the State of Florida toward women aspiring to school-based administrative positions. Specifically, the study examined the following: (1) the overall attitudes of male principals toward women, (2) their attitudes toward selected behavior traits, (3) their attitudes toward selected feminine barriers, (4) their attitudes toward selected manager traits, and (5) their overall attitudes toward women with relationship to five selected demographic characteristics: organizational level of employment, age, race, length of time in position, and school enrollment size. In order to assess the attitudes of male principals toward women, a questionnaire was mailed to 700 selected principals in public schools throughout the State of Florida. Of the 700 questionnaires mailed, 74 percent (517) were completed and returned. The questionnaire contained five demographic data items and twenty-one opinion statements which constituted the attitude scale. A seven step Likert-type scale was used to measure the strength of reported attitudes. The seven possible response choices for each item on the attitude scale were as follows: (1) strongly agree, (2) agree, (3) slightly agree, (4) neither agree nor disagree, (5) slightly disagree, (6) disagree, and (7) strongly disagree. Eleven of the opinion statements were positively directed so that agreement response choices indicated favorable attitudes toward women, and ten statements were negatively directed so that agreement response choices indicated unfavorable attitudes. In order to facilitate analysis of the data, each response choice was assigned a numeric weight which ranged from one to seven with the higher weights being assigned to the response choices that were more favorable toward women. Therefore, the higher a respondent's total score on the twenty-one opinion statements, the more favorable were his attitudes toward women. Analysis of the data clearly indicated that male principals in the State of Florida reported favorable attitudes toward women. Only 1.4 percent of the respondents expressed overall attitudes that were unfavorable toward women. A separation of the Women as Managers Scale into its three sub-elements indicated that 98.1 percent expressed favorable attitudes toward selected behavior traits, 90 percent expressed favorable attitudes toward selected feminine barriers and 97.5 percent expressed favorable attitudes toward selected manager traits. However, the intensity of favorable attitudes varied with each opinion statement. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients indicated that the relationship of the five selected demographic variables to male principals' overall attitudes toward women was not statistically significant at the .05 level. The principals' overall attitudes toward women aspiring to school-based administrative positions were not significantly related to their organizational level of employment, age, race, length of time in position, or their school enrollment size. The study concluded with the following recommendations: (1) The study should be repeated with the same target population using a different instrument; (2) An attitude scale should be developed that specifically measures attitudes of principals toward women; (3) Further research is necessary in order to determine if attitude difference exists due to sex of the principal or to the nature of attitudes unique to the principalship; and (4) A method of assessing attitudes of male principals that excludes the social desirability factor identified as prevalent in attitude questionnaires needs to be developed.
Title: A STUDY OF MALE PRINCIPALS' ATTITUDES TOWARD WOMEN ASPIRING TO SCHOOL-BASED ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS.
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Name(s): AIELLO, KATHLEEN H.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1980
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 93 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of male principals in the State of Florida toward women aspiring to school-based administrative positions. Specifically, the study examined the following: (1) the overall attitudes of male principals toward women, (2) their attitudes toward selected behavior traits, (3) their attitudes toward selected feminine barriers, (4) their attitudes toward selected manager traits, and (5) their overall attitudes toward women with relationship to five selected demographic characteristics: organizational level of employment, age, race, length of time in position, and school enrollment size. In order to assess the attitudes of male principals toward women, a questionnaire was mailed to 700 selected principals in public schools throughout the State of Florida. Of the 700 questionnaires mailed, 74 percent (517) were completed and returned. The questionnaire contained five demographic data items and twenty-one opinion statements which constituted the attitude scale. A seven step Likert-type scale was used to measure the strength of reported attitudes. The seven possible response choices for each item on the attitude scale were as follows: (1) strongly agree, (2) agree, (3) slightly agree, (4) neither agree nor disagree, (5) slightly disagree, (6) disagree, and (7) strongly disagree. Eleven of the opinion statements were positively directed so that agreement response choices indicated favorable attitudes toward women, and ten statements were negatively directed so that agreement response choices indicated unfavorable attitudes. In order to facilitate analysis of the data, each response choice was assigned a numeric weight which ranged from one to seven with the higher weights being assigned to the response choices that were more favorable toward women. Therefore, the higher a respondent's total score on the twenty-one opinion statements, the more favorable were his attitudes toward women. Analysis of the data clearly indicated that male principals in the State of Florida reported favorable attitudes toward women. Only 1.4 percent of the respondents expressed overall attitudes that were unfavorable toward women. A separation of the Women as Managers Scale into its three sub-elements indicated that 98.1 percent expressed favorable attitudes toward selected behavior traits, 90 percent expressed favorable attitudes toward selected feminine barriers and 97.5 percent expressed favorable attitudes toward selected manager traits. However, the intensity of favorable attitudes varied with each opinion statement. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients indicated that the relationship of the five selected demographic variables to male principals' overall attitudes toward women was not statistically significant at the .05 level. The principals' overall attitudes toward women aspiring to school-based administrative positions were not significantly related to their organizational level of employment, age, race, length of time in position, or their school enrollment size. The study concluded with the following recommendations: (1) The study should be repeated with the same target population using a different instrument; (2) An attitude scale should be developed that specifically measures attitudes of principals toward women; (3) Further research is necessary in order to determine if attitude difference exists due to sex of the principal or to the nature of attitudes unique to the principalship; and (4) A method of assessing attitudes of male principals that excludes the social desirability factor identified as prevalent in attitude questionnaires needs to be developed.
Identifier: 11769 (digitool), FADT11769 (IID), fau:12573 (fedora)
Note(s): Thesis (Educat.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1980.
College of Education
Subject(s): School principals--Florida--Attitudes
Women school administrators
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/11769
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.