Interdisciplinary Research: Predicting Academic Success

in the Nursing Program

J. Mari Beth Barr, Ph.D., R.N., C.

Assistant Professor

Department of Nursing

Pittsburg State University

1701 S. Broadway

Pittsburg, Kansas 66762

(316) 235-4430

(316) 235-4449 FAX

e-mail: mbarr@pittstate.edu

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH: PREDICTING ACADEMIC SUCCESS

IN THE NURSING PROGRAM

ABSTRACT

As today’s nurse educators increasingly focus on holistic, caring and humanistic education, interdisciplinary approaches to research are gaining credibility. This study was grounded in theory from a variety of disciplines, including nursing education, educational administration, psychology, and educational psychology.

The study investigated predictors of positive attitudes and behaviors toward the collegiate nursing education experience, as perceived by baccalaureate and associate degree-seeking nursing students. Subjects (N = 120) completed a descriptive data form, indicating their age, gender, degree sought, and previous degree(s) earned, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (Myers & McCaulley, 1985) and the Learning Orientation/Grade Orientation Scale II (Eison, 1982). Univariate and multivariate analysis of the data revealed four significant predictors of positive attitudes and behaviors in the nursing education program. These were: 1) intuitive personality tendencies as measured by the MBTI (p = .0028); 2) having earned a previous college degree prior to entering the nursing program (p = .0429); 3) extravert personality type as measured by the MBTI (p = .0345);and 4) male gender (p = .0477).

INTRODUCTION

Contemporary college educators are looking beyond the emphases in the cognitive educational domain toward more humanistic perspectives. Increasingly, credence is given to student needs and learning with the cognitive and psychomotor arenas, as well as the affective domain. The affective domain includes such components as values, feelings, beliefs and preferences about the educational experience (Sonnier & Buschner, 1989. According to Cranton (1989) learners’ "attitudes, values, opinions, beliefs, interests, and preferences can influence learning ... and are perhaps more important than intellectual characteristics" (p. 28).

Degree seeking students possess individual and unique attributes, while interfacing with uniform curricula and complex bureaucracy. in order to have a sound conceptual framework as the basis for teaching and student advising, educators must possess a working knowledge of literature and research regarding learning theories. Structuring learning encounters based on a valid conceptual framework can promote teaching excellence and bolster student achievement and outcomes.

Among instruments used to assess personality type is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). This instrument was developed using Jung’s theory of personality types (Jung, 1923). The instrument is used to assess the strength of four pairs of dichotomous processes: (a) introversion versus introversion, (b) sensing versus intuition, (c) thinking versus feeling, and (d) judging versus perceiving. Studies using the MBTI in educational research have demonstrated that the instrument successfully predicts various educational variables significant for the teaching and learning process (Van, 1992; McNeely, 1992).

Learning preferences can also be assessed using the Learning Orientation/Grade Orientation Scale II. High learning orientation scores have been correlated with high SAT and ACT scores, and other measures of student achievement, as well as low program attrition and low levels of academic dishonesty (Allen, Parker, Curtright, & Rogers, 1989; Eison, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1990; Henry & Adams, 1988; Johnson & Beck, 1989; Kauffman, 1987; McDaniel & Eison, 1986; Milton, Pollio, & Eison, 1986; Pollio, 1984; Redus, Rogers, & Bolen, 1988; Rogers, Palmer, and Bolen, 1988; Stephens & Eison, 1986, 1987; Weiss, Gilbert, Giordano, & Davis, 1993; Roig & Neaman, 1994; Harris & Harris, 1987). Learning orientations possessed by students are an essential area of assessment that can aid in balancing cognitive, psychomotor, and affective approaches to college students.

METHOD

The research hypothesis stated: There is a significant relationship between the criterion (dependent) variable of learning orientation and the composite set of predictor (independent) variables of psychological type, age, gender, degree sought, and previous degrees earned. The ratio of variables to subjects was 1:15.

Subjects were undergraduate nursing students at a private baccalaureate school of nursing and a private associate degree program of nursing education in Missouri. Sample size was 120 subjects, equally divided between baccalaureate (BSN) and associate degree (ADN) seeking student nurses. Participation in the study was voluntary, and confidentiality of responses was ensured. Subjects completed three instruments: the MBTI, Form G, self-scorable, the LOGO II, and a demographic data form. The statistical method of multiple regression using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS-PC) was used for hypothesis testing and data analysis. The .05 alpha level was selected as the level for hypothesis rejection.

RESULTS

Results of the multiple regression analysis with learning orientation score as the dependent variable revealed four significant predicator variables as indicated in the Regression Analysis Summary Table which follows (Table 1). Intuitive type as an independent variable explained approximately 7% of the variance in LO scores. Possessing a previously earned college degree prior to admission to the nursing program accounted for approximately 3% of variance in LO scores, as did the variable of extravert type. It was found that male gender could explain 3% of the variance in learning orientation score. Therefore, approximately 17% of LO score variance was explained by intuitive type, extraverted type, previous degree, and male gender in combination. After these four significant predictor variables entered the regression equation, the remaining variables did not add to its predictive power. Degree sought (ADN or BSN nursing education program) did not contribute significantly to the explanation of variance in learning orientation score�_______________________________

Intuition .07307 3.908 .0500 4, 115

Previous Degree .10513 4.016 .0474 4, 115

Extraversion .13909 5.391 .0220 4, 115

Male Gender .16806 4.004 .0477 4, 115

IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATORS

Educators have a moral responsibility to incorporate affective measures into classroom and clinical settings. Magolda (1989) asserted that masterful teachers incorporate affective measures into their teaching. Understanding the "interpersonal dimension increases student motivation, leading to greater influence in the learning process. This recognition of the affective dimension of learning represents a step forward in defining effective learning environments" (p. 46).

As today’s nurse educators increasingly focus on holistic, caring and humanistic education, the affective educational domain is gaining credibility. The cognitive and psychomotor domains are of paramount importance in nurse education. Cognitive measures such as grade point averages, and other objective, standardized measures are used to document achievement and educational outcomes. The psychomotor domain is emphasized in professional practice, and students are evaluated in their ability to perform certain nursing skills by demonstration of competence. Exploring affective measures is one method of actualizing holistic and caring ideals and serves to balance traditional cognitive and psychomotor emphases and approaches in nursing education.

Results of the present study could be used in academic advising and educational counseling situations commonly encountered in the daily activities of nursing faculty. Through LOGO II and MBTI assessments, the pre-nursing student could receive appropriate guidance to prepare for transition into the professional school environment. Pre-nursing students are engaged in a course of study heavily weighted in scientific and social sciences, and may be accustomed to traditional lecture and teacher-directed work and activities in their studies. It is important to prepare pre-nursing students for the increased autonomy, self-instruction, and independent learning activities that will be required in the nursing program. Attitudes and behaviors toward learning, as measured by LOGO II, could impact these activities.

Recognizing that certain students will have a greater need for personal attention and understanding form the instructor, assessment of student attitudes and behaviors toward leaning and psychologic preferences can assist nurse educators to motivate their students and devise effective, individualized intervention in classroom and clinical areas. Advising students to complete the MBTI and reviewing implications of their type with them could assist them in understanding their preferences of interaction, environment, and decision-making. The experienced nurse educator recognizes that student effort is required for learning to occur. When students are engaged in learning something new, MBTI type theory predicts that they will find some tasks that use their preferred psychological function(s). These tasks will be perceived as interesting, fun and exciting. Other learning activities that require less-preferred functions and attitudes may seem difficult, boring, or of questionable utility to the learner. These learning tasks are accomplished through the "use of willpower", frequently accompanied by a "sense of drudgery" (Myers & McCaulley, 1985, p. 102).

The MBTI can be used by nurse educators to develop different teaching methods to meet the needs of different types of students. The author does not advocate structuring learning or offering choices and alternatives in tasks or evaluation simple to "please" students, rather, learning can be enhanced by addressing individual affective needs in the process of promoting cognitive, psychomotor and affective development in nursing education. Nurse educators can use the MBTI to provide learning environments with support learners as well as challenge their usual ways of thinking and relating. For example, the study demonstrated a majority of preferred sensing typed, as opposed to intuitive types. Sensing type, however, was associated with lower learning orientation scores. Because sensing type rely primarily of actual facts and/or input via the five senses, they may need assistance to learn to generalize beyond facts learned by rote. Intuitive type preferences were significantly associated with high LO scores in the analysis of data. Intuitive types may find that they are "so intent on pursuing possibilities that they overlook actualities" (Myers & McCaulley, 1985, p. 12). Although intuitive type was associate with higher LO scores in the study, certain intuitive tendencies can by problematic for nursing students. In testing situations, for example, intuitive types may "read-into" multiple-choice questions, generating elaborate rationale for each item distracter. They should be taught how to approach multiple-choice items, and not make the process of eliminating distracters more complex than is necessary in order to select the correct option. Thus, the MBTI is useful to help teachers and students understand their tendencies and gain control of their own learning.

Once educators understand type differences, they can appreciate the needs and strengths of various types. When assigning group work or projects, group membership can be selected with sufficient type diversity to solve problems from varied perspectives. Each member of the workgroup can benefit from the contributions of each type. Alternatively, it may be useful to pair or group students of similar MBTI type. In Junior-Senior nursing student "study buddy" of mentoring programs, introducing students to others of similar type can help them find a "kindred spirit" in another student also experiencing the challenges of the nursing program.

LOGO classifications reflect students/behavioral and attitudinal commonalities, thus predicting those at risk for less-than-positive responses to the learning experiences encountered in nurse education. Advising nursing students to complete the instrument and reviewing their LOGO II score profiles could assist student in identifying attitudes and behaviors which contribute to or delete from success in the nursing program. Eison (1981, 1982, 1989) emphasized that personal traits and behavior tendencies of each LOGO classification may not be enduring. Thus, students can be assisted to recognize and modify self-defeating attitudes, in order that more positive learning behaviors necessary for program success can result. Students who already have positive attitudes and behaviors toward learning as categorized by the LOGO II can benefit from knowledge gained through self-exploration.

For students who LOGO II profile suggests vulnerability, early interventions can be accomplished. Students should be encouraged to discuss their perception of stressors faced in the program, and work with faculty and school counselors to develop strategies which can overcome these identified stressors. The involved faculty or the student’s advisor can work with the student one-on-one to problem solve; they can make appropriate referrals to the school counselor or outside agencies to help those with low LO scores deal with their tension and frustration with the college experience.

Results of the study demonstrate the value and utility of both the MBTI and LOGO II in nurse education. Both affective measures have implications for program success and student retention in the nursing program. In classroom and clinical learning, educators can use these tools to create a climate where differing types, attitudes, and behaviors toward learning are seen as interesting and valuable, rather than irritating or problematic. In order to achieve these educational environments, educational inservices or workshops for faculty and administrators may be needed. Faculty development activities can guide nurse educators in the careful and attentive appraisal of individual student’s preferences, and attitudes and behaviors toward learning. Through knowledge gained in affective assessment, the nurse education experience can be placed on a rational and holistic foundation.

In conclusion, the statistical strength, and theoretical relevance of relationships between variables in the study provide educators and researchers with additional information regarding academic behavior, MBTI type preferences, and learning attitudes and behaviors of undergraduate nursing students. The results of this study demonstrate that certain psychologic preferences, gender, and previous academic success (as demonstrated by successful completion of a college degree previously) may be inherent factors to indicate which students will possess positive attitudes and display positive behaviors toward learning for its own sake.

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