Perceived real and ideal classroom environments of students in nursing in higher education as related to academic success and personality types

• Main Author: Harrell, Sophia Bailey
• Language: ENG
• Published: ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst 1989
• Subjects: Higher education|Nursing
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9011737

Purpose of the study. This study explored three factors pertaining to the discrepancies between nursing students' perceptions of real and ideal social environments of classrooms. They were: the nature of the discrepancies between students' perceptions, differences in academic performance as they related to discrepancies in perceptions, and variances in discrepancies in perceptions among students of different personality types. Methodology. The sample consisted of 335 students, enrolled in a state college in Massachusetts, who volunteered to participate. A classroom environment scale was used to assess discrepancies between subjects' perceptions of real and ideal social environments of classrooms. Personality types were determined by a personality type indicator and academic achievement was indicated by students' final numerical grades in their courses. Results. Discrepancies were evident between mean scores for subunits and total scores for actual and preferred forms of the classroom environment scale. Using students as units of analyses of the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficients for final numerical grades and age separately with the discrepancies between scores produced coefficients ranging from.002 to.448, while using classes as units of analyses rendered coefficients ranging from.105 to.928 with those from.691 to.928 (70%) significant at $\le$.05. Using students as units of analyses for the correlation of age with grades yielded coefficients ranging from.072 to.543 and using classes as units of analyses produced a coefficient of.904 significant at.001. A one-way analysis of variance of scores for the actual form and the discrepancy between the scores for the actual and preferred forms, grouped according to personality types, yielded F values that were not statistically significant. Conclusions. Discrepancies were found between students' perceptions of real and ideal social environments of classrooms. Low to moderate relationships were prevalent between discrepancies in individual students' perceptions with academic achievement and age. However, when students were grouped by class sections, strong associations were evident for mean ages and grades with the mean discrepancies between scores. The composition of the personality types per class were not associated with students' perceptions of the existing press or the degree of discrepancy between their perceptions of real and ideal social environments of classrooms.