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AN INVESTIGATION OF THE OUTBOUNDNESS, DOMINANCE, AND DOGMATISM OF BLACK STUDENTS ON TWO PREDOMINANTLY WHITE CAMPUSES
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to test a research method that purported to yield fruitful research and a description of some of the problems of Black students on predominantly white campuses. This research took Park's marginal man theory, operationalized it in terms of questionnaire scales of outboundness and dominance, and examined the relationship of Rokeach's dogmatism scale to the two scales. The sample consisted of 115 Black freshman students--58 from an urban, commuter university and 57 from a "flagship" state university. The outbound scale of the instrument measured how much respondents wanted to come out of their "home culture." The dominance scale measured the extent of the respondents' feelings of being in control of their world. Data from the questionnaire scales were presented in four-fold tables formed by the outbound and dominance dimensions. Because of the method of scoring the instrument, the findings were based on a small number of cases. Findings of the study dealt with characteristics of students who fell into each of the quadrants formed by the outbound and dominance dimensions. The largest percentage of respondents fell into the high outbound/high dominance quadrant. Overrepresentations of students from the commuter school and female students were found in this quadrant; they had a higher mean age and a lower mean number of siblings than students represented in all of the other quadrants. Males and students from the "flagship" university were overrepresented in the low outbound/low dominance quadrant. The mean age of the students represented here was lower than the mean age of the students in any other quadrant. A significant negative correlation between scores on the dominance scale and the dogmatism scale was found. The study suggest that this research method yields both fruitful research and a description of some of the problems of Black students on predominantly white campuses; however, because of the small number of cases used, more research is needed.
Subject Area
Educational sociology
Recommended Citation
ZIMMERN, JOAN COOK, "AN INVESTIGATION OF THE OUTBOUNDNESS, DOMINANCE, AND DOGMATISM OF BLACK STUDENTS ON TWO PREDOMINANTLY WHITE CAMPUSES" (1986). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8620826.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8620826