Date of Award

1985

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Abstract

The study's purpose was to examine variation in pupil control ideology (PCI) and existence of pluralistic ignorance in a school for the deaf. Participant observation, survey administration, and ethnographic interview techniques were related to nine hypotheses focused upon informal group structures of hearing and non-hearing teachers within the school culture. The hypotheses were: (1) Hearing teachers will perceive PCI of non-hearing teachers as more custodial than non-hearing teachers report. (2) Non-hearing teachers will perceive PCI of hearing teachers as more custodial than hearing teachers report. (3) Hearing teachers will perceive hearing teachers' PCI as less custodial than non-hearing teachers' PCI. (4) Non-hearing teachers will perceive non-hearing teachers' PCI as more custodial PCI than hearing teachers' PCI. (5) Teachers will perceive PCI of teachers in their informal group as more custodial than those teachers' self PCIs. (6) Teachers will more accurately perceive PCI of teachers in their informal group than PCI of teachers outside their informal group. (7) There will be a positive relationship between individual teacher's PCI and perceived PCI of teachers within the informal group. (8) There will be a positive relationship between individual teacher's PCI and perceived PCI of teachers outside the informal group. (9) There will be a closer association between the teacher's perception of his informal group and the teacher's self PCI than the teacher's perception of PCI of teachers outside the informal group and that teacher's self PCI. Three versions of PCI were administered and collected from 118 teachers. Each teacher indicated his personal PCI, PCI perceptions of hearing teachers, and PCI perceptions of non-hearing teachers. The Bonferroni method was applied to tests of Hypotheses 1-6, the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient to Hypotheses 7-8, and a t test for dependent correlation coefficients to Hypothesis 9. Statistical and qualitative data indicated: (1) pluralistic ignorance exists as a normative structure of teacher interactions in the setting examined; (2) non-hearing teachers hold, and are perceived as holding, more custodial views than hearing teachers; and (3) teachers tend to be influenced in their PCI by the informal group, particularly non-hearing teachers.

Pages

161

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.4168

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