Date of Award
Fall 1988
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Education
First Advisor
Tagatz, Glen E.
Second Advisor
Ivanoff, John
Third Advisor
Fox, Robert
Abstract
This study investigated if three treatment conditions; namely, increased individual, staff, or a combination of both individual and staff expectations had an effect on the task performance of vocational trainees within the borderline to moderate range of of mental retardation. To address this question, 80 subjects were chosen at random and divided into 20 blocks based on fullscale I.Q. They were then randomly, assigned to a treatment or control group. The result was a randomized block design with 4 groups of 20 subjects "blocked" according to full-scale I.Q. and randomly assigned to one of the three treatment groups or to the control group. The study was conducted between May 16, 1988 and August 19, 1988. After obtaining each subject's informed consent by having them or their legal guardian sign the Marquette University Agreement of Consent form, they were administered the Purdue Pegboard Test. Subjects in treatment groups 1 and 3 were verbally informed that the test predicted that their production would increase in the next few weeks. The supervisors of the subjects in treatment groups 2 and 3 were informed, in writing, that these particular workers' production rates would increase in the next few weeks. The subjects in group 4 were administered the Purdue Pegboard Test only. After an eight week period, the subjects' production and percentage rates were collected and analyzed along with demographic and interview information...