Traditional and nontraditional postsecondary vocational education students: internal-external control of reinforcement

• Main Author: Duncan, Susan Lee
• Other Authors: Vocational and Technical Education
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: Virginia Tech 2014
• Subjects: Occupational training; LD5655.V856 1979.D952; Women > Vocational guidance
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/38736; http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-07082010-020407/

The purpose of this study was to describe and compare the locus of control orientation of nontraditional and traditional, postsecondary vocational education students attending urban area vocational-technical schools in the state of Georgia. The study sample consisted of 77 nontraditional and 77 traditional postsecondary vocational education students attending five different urban area vocational-technical schools in the state of Georgia. The students were enrolled in 18 different vocational education programs. The population was tested using the Adult Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Control scale. An ex post facto research design was used for the study. Analysis of variance was employed to determine the effects of the independent variables (sex, race, age, and traditional or nontraditional classification) on the dependent variable (locus of control orientation). The independent variables were also tested for two-way and three-way interactions. The findings were: 1. There was no significant difference in the locus of control orientation of traditional and nontraditional students. 2. There was no significant difference in the locus of control orientation of male and female students. 3. There was no significant difference in the locus of control orientation of students when divided into two age categories. 4. There was a significant difference on locus of control scores between Black and White students. The major conclusion of this study is that, with the exception of race, the relationships between selected variables and locus of control found in other populations are not evident within the population of postsecondary vocational education students. === Ed. D.