Facilitating and Limiting Factors Relative to Learning to Cope With the Added Role of Student for Adults Who Return to School on a Part-Time Basis in Business Programs

287 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1987.This exploratory study is one of several studies currently looking at the relationship between perceived functionality of role behavior, related learning activities, and related change patterned on the methodology used by Farmer and Knox (1977). The related change in this study is perceived change in performance at work, performance as a student, and satisfaction with work as it related to adapting to the role of part-time students matriculated in business programs.The Three-Foci Models (three different approaches to adapting to change identified by Farmer, 1983; the Impact Model, the Specific Task or Specific Problem Model, and the Difficulty and Anomaly Based Model) were used in this study.A random sample of 140 part-time students responded to a survey questionnaire which was administered in evening and Saturday classes at a large public university in the East.The data from the questionnaire were presented descriptively and then analyzed by dichotomizing key outcome, process, and demographic variables and running crosstabulations against all other variables.Descriptive findings revealed that the amount of change was small for most respondents. Almost half of the students surveyed in this sample were between 22 and 27. These youngest students reported the smallest amount of change and fewer limiting factors such as time and personal restraints. A surprising find in this study was that females tended to be single and not have dependents.Statistical associations revealed that voluntariness of decision to return to school was important in the amount of congruence in the conflict of student role. Users of Model 1 approach to adapting to change were likely to be in the youngest age group (22-27), to not have dependents, and not to pay their own tuition. Model 2 users reported high congruence of expected and actual conflict of student role at no conflict level. They reported their situation as a student puzzling.Model 3a usage associated with negative change in congruence between expected and actual student performance, limiting factors, and many related learning activities and use of assisters. Usage of a sequence of models associated with many variables indicating that more roles created more limiting factors and greater adaptation was necessary.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD