A content analysis of the attention to microcultural factors in selected multicultural education college textbooks used in the United States

Author

Sandra Farmer Baugh, College of William & Mary - School of Education

Date Awarded

1992

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Education

Advisor

William F. Losito

Abstract

Problem. The purpose of this study was to conduct a content analysis of the attention to nine microcultural factors (race, ethnicity, language, gender, social class, religion, disability, age, and giftedness) in selected multicultural education college textbooks used in the U.S. to seek an answer to the following question: "Are there significant differences in attention to nine microcultural factors in selected editions of the same textbook?".;Methodology. Two textbooks were examined both qualitatively and quantitatively using topical and analytical categories to develop a display analysis outlining attention scores for microcultural factors in message units. These scores provided raw data for the calculation of t-tests. The reliability of the procedures was established by two reviewers who independently generated, assigned, and coded scores for 30 units of data. Reliability figures were.66 and.76, respectively.;Findings and conclusions. Although the later edition was expanded, revised, and updated, no statistically significant differences were found between the two textbooks. Research Hypotheses postulated that the later edition would show a significant increase in attention to microcultural factors when compared to the earlier edition. Since the Research Hypotheses were unsupported, null hypotheses were accepted at the.05 level. Therefore, research hypotheses were rejected.;While mean attention scores for microcultural factors in the later edition were higher in many instances, it was concluded that the content of the two editions was basically the same. This suggested that the definition, meaning, rationale, and interpretation of the multicultural education concept is evolving and apparently dictated by demographic trends that tend to slowly force increasing attention to microcultural factors.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.25774/w4-e02v-ag49

Rights

© The Author

Recommended Citation

Baugh, Sandra Farmer, "A content analysis of the attention to microcultural factors in selected multicultural education college textbooks used in the United States" (1992). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. William & Mary. Paper 1539618294.
https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.25774/w4-e02v-ag49