A Comparison of Attitude Scores Made on the Conover Attitude Inventory Before and After a Course in Driving

An important goal of any course of study is to change or improve the students\u27 attitudes toward that subject. An attempt has been made in this investigation to determine the effect of driver training programs on certain attitudes of individuals toward factors shown to be important in safe driving by a comparison of these attitudes as measured by an objective pre-test taken before the course and the same attitudes as measured by retesting after the course. The general hypothesis of the study may be stated as follows: A course in driver education administered by a competent instructor, will initiate a shift of certain attitudes, improving the individual\u27s outlook toward the specific factors which constitute attitudes toward safe driving in general. It is assumed in this study that a true picture of an individual\u27s attitudes toward these specific factors at a given time may be obtained by administering a pencil-and-paper scale of the type used and described by Conover (1947). The reliability of this scale is given as about +.90. A further analysis of this test is given by Soule and others in this volume (1950). Another assumption is that safe driving is receiving a share of the instructional program of driver education courses