| The major problem of this experimental study was to determine the relative effectiveness of deductive and inductive text-form programmed instruction. The secondary problem was to determine student attitude toward programmed instruction based on student exposure to deductive and inductive approaches.;The treatment was deductive and inductive text-form programmed instruction in sixteen selected elements of grammar and punctuation. Criterion instruments were used to assess treatment effect on achievement and attitude and to describe attitude.;The two-way analysis-of-variance procedure was used to test for overall effects of treatment, and the Scheffe multiple-comparisons procedure was used to test for differences among means. Other procedures used in the statistical analysis were Spearman's rank-order correlation and the arithmetic mean.;The findings revealed that there were no significant differences in either achievement or attitude due to treatment. However, there were significant differences (.0001 level) in attitude due to instructor influence.;The random replications design employed sixteen replications of the simple randomized type. Random sampling from a population of forty-two sections of a basic business communication course was accomplished by using a five-stage sampling cycle.;The following major conclusions were drawn: (1) University students enrolled in a basic business communication course may be expected to achieve equally well using either deductive or inductive text-form programmed instruction in selected elements of grammar and punctuation, regardless of grade level, age, sex, major field of study, or grade-point average. (2) Two related attitudes of university business students in a basic business communication course are not influenced by treatment: attitude about the extent to which they like or dislike programmed instruction and attitude about the extent to which they believe they have learned as a result of the programmed instruction. (3) An instructor in a university basic business communication course may have a significant influence on student attitude about programmed instruction, including the extent to which students like or dislike the instructional method and the extent to which students feel they have learned from instructional method. |
