Suchergebnisse

Interview and questionnaire data from approxi mately four hundred American students in France and from over five thousand Fulbright and Smith-Mundt grantees pro vide information concerning the sojourners' overseas interac tion and postaward communication experiences as well as their evaluations of the personal development and professional con sequences of their work abroad. Multivariate analyses of the survey data reveal that evaluations of professional develop ment and prestige are closely related to the lecturers', research scholars', and exchange teachers' appraisals of personal de velopment and over-all satisfaction with their sojourns. For students, however, professional and personal development appear to be alternative outcomes of study abroad: those reporting more extensive interaction with host nationals and greater personal development and satisfaction tend to be less settled in adult roles and less committed to academic goals; whereas those indicating that study abroad furthered their professional development and advancement tend to be older, advanced graduate students who incorporated data gathered abroad in dissertations for advanced degrees, enabling them to obtain college faculty positions. Implications of these findings in terms of the goals of agencies sponsoring inter national educational exchange are discussed.

An investigation of the effects of 3 factors on D response frequencies using a survey of Fulbright & Smith-Mundt grantees: (1) the class of mailing (50% of the 1's were sent by first-class, 50% by 3rd-class mail); (2) the color of the L (50% were printed on green paper, 50% on white); & (3) the type of postage on the return envelope (50% of the envelopes were business reply, 50% had stamps pasted on them). Data from this 2 mean/average 2 mean/average 2 factorial design were analyzed by Reiersl's extension of Neyman's work on the Chi-square test, allowing assessment of interactions among variables as well as main effects. 2 factors had signif consequences: (1) first-class mailing of 1's elicited signif'ly more returns than did 3rd-class mailing (p< .02); & (2) stamped return envelopes were signif'ly more effective than business-reply enclosures (p< .01). The color of the questionaire did not have a signif effect, & none of the interactions among the variables was signif. AA.

Though projective-type questions have been regarded as having greater data yielding power than direct survey-type questions in studies of farmers' reference groups in practice adoption decisions, no direct comparison of the 2 types of techniques has been made. Data were obtained from 120 farm operators to test the reliabilities & comparability of responses to 2 techniques of eliciting reference groups: an ambiguous picture stimulus (indirect-question) approach & a direct-question approach in which a card listing a number of possible reference groups was used as a stimulus. 4 test groups were made comparable on 9 variables signif'ly related to practice adoption. Each subject was interviewed twice with 4 weeks separating the 2 interviews. Reliabilities for the picture & card stimulus approaches were obtained by Wing the 1st & 2nd interview data using the Wilcoxon matched-pairs sign-ranks test. A measure of comparability was obtained by Wing data for direct-question items with data for indirect-question items It was found that: (1) individual responses to the ambiguous reference-group picture were less consistent than those obtained by a card on which a number of possible reference groups were listed, & (2) for all S's interviewed with the pictures, however, the response pattern was more stable from the 1st to the 2nd interview than it was for S's interviewed with the card as a stimulus. Neither approach met usual standards of reliability of consistent individual responses or the stability of group response patterns. AA.

In cross-cultural studies of att's, the greatest progress has come from 3 basic approaches: (a) the identification & manipulation of cultural characteristics related to attitude formation & change; (b) the impact of one culture on another; & (c) the intervening factor of language & conceptual processes in the relation between attitude & behavior. Cross-cultural studies of nat character show promise of identifying att's that are most & least subject to cultural influence & establishing possible dimensions of culture. Studies of inter-cultural impact provide increased understanding of the function & origin of stereotypes; the role of reference groups in the process by which elements are selected from complex context for assimilation into attitude systems; the conditions under which interaction will produce specified changes of att's; & the impact of new experience on the characteristics of attitude change. Communication theory & attitude change theory are being integrated in studies of cultural diffusion. Despite formidable methodological problems, the crosscultural study of language & attitude processes is increasing understanding of the meanings of common concepts among cultures, of the relationship between concept formation & language, & of the adaptability of language in culture change. C. M. Coughenour.