ATTITUDES ABOUT SALARIES OF COLLEGE FACULTY

• Quality of work
• Type of work (teaching/research)
• Market forces
• Being a compatible colleague
• Amount of work
• Reputation
• Amount of funding brought in
• Willingness to accept the salary you are given

1. Faculty should be paid according to what are normal salaries for different disciplines (ie, engineering, or business, or education)
2. Faculty salaries should be largely determined by supply and demand; ie, when the candidate pool is large, we should pay less (and vice versa)
3. When supply of the faculty candidate pool is large, then salary offers should be low
4. University faculty should be compensated for the type of work they do (ie, faculty doing comparable work should be compensated approximately the same)
5. One associate professor teaches a heavy load (and very well) but, does little research. Another associate professor does alot of research (and very well) but does little teaching. Both faculty should be compensated at approximately the same salary level.
6. Assume that 2 faculty at the Associate Professor level teach about 2 courses per semester, do about the same amount and quality of research, and mentor approximately the same number of graduate students.If one is in Engineering and the other is in Liberal Arts, it is fair to pay them considerably different salaries

ATTITUDES ABOUT ENGLISH AS THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE IN THE US of A

For the Edpsy 450 course that I am teaching down at our Great Valley graduate campus near Philly ... we decided on Friday night (April 5) to attempt to create an attitude scale about "Eng as the Official Language in the US". Then, Saturday morning, we first tried to tie down a bit "what" that meant ... and suggested that possible components of such a scale might include things like national unity, continuance of cultural heritage, and trade implications. Then, after back and forth debate item by item ... of which students had produced some samples ... we came up with a first cut set, and here they are.

• 1. All immigrants who are candidates for receiving citizenship should pass an English competency test prior to becoming a citizen.
• 2. Having English as the official language would discourage illegal aliens from crossing the borders into the United States.
• 3. The current practice of publishing official signs and documents in multiple languages (Spanish, English, etc.) should be discontinued.
• 4. Having English as the official language in the US undermines the ability of immigrants to continue their heritage.
• 5. US companies should recognize English as the official language by transactiing all their business, including international, in English even if the consequence of that may include loss of some business.
• 6. Making English the official language in the United States would help to increase national unity.
• 7. School children whose native language is NOT English should be required to take English as a second language until mastery is achieved.
• 8. Students who cannot pass a stringent English compentency test would NOT be allowed to graduate from high school.
• 9. All drivers tests in all states should be given exclusively in English (directions, items, etc.).
• 10. To be eligible to vote in any election in the US, voters must be able to demonstrate an understanding of English.
• 11. Requiring immigrants to become fluent in English before granting them their citizenship would help them to become more productive citizens in the US.
• 12. The United States should pass a bill that would require English to be recognized as the official language in the US unless the State could demonstrate that at least 30% of its residents had a native tongue other than English.

Meanwhile, for the Attitudes about Faculty Salaries scale, we kind of spent the period with the English as the Official Language scale ... so did not make much progress. But, I did suggest that we needed to narrow the focus of the Fac Salary attitude scale ... and suggested that it represent at one end, those that thought faculty salaries should be determined by "market forces" and at the other end, should be determined by quality of work and productivity. We agreed that these are not necessarily mutually exclusive but, as the same time, were not necessarily the same either. Friday we will work more on items related to this scale ... and hopefully have some items to take down to Great Valley and let THEM do some "critiquing" in kind. Stay tuned.

ATTITUDES ABOUT FACULTY SALARIES: FINAL VERSION

Attitudes about Market Forces determining Faculty Salaries

• 1. Faculty should be paid according to what are the normal salaries at other institutions for different disciplines (ie, like engineering, or business, or education).
• 2. University faculty should be compensated for the type of work that they do (ie, they teach and do research) and not according to the discipline they belong to. 3. Assume that two faculty who are at the Associate Professor level teach about two courses per semester, do about the same amount/quality of research, and advise about the same number of doctoral students. If one is in Engineering and the other is in Liberal Arts, it is fair to pay them considerably different salaries.
• 4. Primarily, market forces (ie, discipline driven) should determine the salaries of faculty.
• 5. One Associate Professor teaches a heavy load (very well) but, does little research. Another Associate Professor in the same department does a lot of research (very well) but does little teaching. Both faculty should be compensated with approximately the same salary.
• 6. Professor X has been working at the university for 25 years, coming as an Assistant Professor, being relatively productive, and moving through the ranks to the rank of Full Professor. Currently, the department is searching for another professor, perhaps at the beginning Associate Professor level, who would be a second addition to complement the work done by Professor X (assume that the department has grown and more sections of courses need to be offered). The department is successful in finding a person but has to offer that new person a higher salary than Professor X. This seems fair.
• 7. Faculty, regardless of discipline, who have been at an institution for approximately the same length of time, and have been approximately equally productive, and who have achieved the same rank (say Full Professor with 4 years in rank) ... should be earning approximately the same annual salary.
• 8. A survey was done that showed that Associate Professors in Engineering made about 35% more, on average at the top 25 schools, than Associate Professors in Liberal Arts (with similar records of productivity) at these same top 25 schools. These data seem adequate reason and argument for continuing this practice.
• 9. Let's say that quality of a group of universities is categorized into 3 tiers: Level 1 (Best) to level 3 (Weakest). Also assume that in all of these institutions, there are programs in education, business, and engineering, and liberal arts, etc. There should be more variation (ie, differences) in salaries across the different levels of institutions than across the disciplines WITHIN the institutions.
• 10. Assume that in Institution Y ... the typical Associate Professor of English makes 40% less than the typical Associate Professor of Business. Because of this, it is reasonable for the Institution to expect that the Associate Professor of Business to do approximately 40% more work.
• 11. A university is part of the larger community, where salaries vary according to the professions in which people work. Therefore, similar salary variation should exist across disciplines within the university.
• 12. The role of any university/college should be to produce well trained professionals to fill the job needs of society. In society, some professionals (doctors, lawyers, engineers) earn higher salaries than others (school teachers, social workers, writers for local newspapers). Because of this, salaries of faculty should reflect these differences too.
• 13. Assume that two faculty members are similar in terms of quality of work. Any difference In their general levels of salary should primarily be based on their different years of experience.
• 14. The salaries of university professors should be based primarily on the number of years of work experience within the institution (ie, one associate professor who has been at that rank at University X should be paid more than another associate professor who has only been in that rank for 5 years at that institution).
• 15. Salaries for different levels of professorship (Assistant, Associate, etc.) should follow the same general pay scale across the different departments (engineering, business, liberal arts, etc.) within the same institution.
• 16. Some colleges have a salary scale where the years of experience and the degree you have (masters, doctorate) are the major factors in levels of compensation no matter what subject you teach or department you work in. This seems a reasonable way to determine faculty pay.
• 17. One would expect that the morale of faculty with respect to their pay would be similar in institutions where there is a relatively fixed pay schedule compared to other institutions where faculty are paid much more in some disciplines than others.
• 18. Salaries of faculty should be based solely on the discussions between the faculty member and the department head or dean.
• 19. Above and beyond some base salary that is common to all faculty in all disciplines based on rank and years in rank ... differences in salary between those at the same rank should primarily be determined by productivity differences (ie, better quality of teaching .. more funded research, etc.).
• 20. The Dean should have the authority to offer whatever salary he/she must in order to get a good faculty candidate to commit to come to that institution, independent of what other faculty in his/her college earn.

DIFFICULTIES IN ATTITUDE SCALE CONSTRUCTION

It is morally wrong for the public schools to get involved with teaching material about sex.

Now, readers of the above statement might claim that there is a problem with the statement and, better statements can be written that don't have the difficulty just alluded to. Well ... good luck! We have found that this is easier said than done. So, our recommendation is that one try to decide the MAIN purpose of the scale ... in the case above ... is it to identify those who are strong opponents of sex education in the schools or advocates? If you can identify that ... then perhaps you can write the items with that in mind such that the responses are clearEST and contribute MOST to that end of the total score scale ... while not being as "informative" at the other end of the scale. Again .. easier said than done.

Attitudes about Sex Education in the Public Schools

• 1. Sex education should be the exclusive responsibility of the parents.
• 2. Schools should be able to distribute contraceptives to students.
• 3. Since some kids are likely to experiment with sex, it is a good idea to have sex education taught in the public schools.
• 4. It is morally wrong for the public schools to get involved with teaching material about sex.
• 5. Local school districts should develop and implement a sex education program in the public schools.
• 6. Allowing sex education to be taught in the public schools would lead to an increase in teenage pregnancy.
• 7. The thought of public schools distributing information about birth control is repulsive to me.
• 8. Sex education should not be taught in the public schools since it will lead to kids experimenting with sex earlier than they might otherwise.
• 9. Lack of resources should not be a factor in whether sex education is taught in the public schools. If necessary, reallocation of resources should be made to make sure that sex education is taught in the public schools.
• 10. I am against having public schools teach sex education because it is impossible to know exactly when is the most appropriate time for school kids to be exposed to such material.
• 11. Parents are much better at providing information to their children about sex education than are teachers in the public schools.
• 12. While I don't think that contraceptions should be distributed in the public schools, I do feel that schools should discuss contraceptive methods in the health education classes.
• 13. Even in schools that do not have a formal sex education program, health education teachers who are asked by students about sex education should be able to answer the students' questions.
• 14. Since school age kids do sometimes get involved in experimenting with sex, it is the role of the schools to help students better understand matters related to sex.
• 15. Junior high schools should have 1 or more sex education courses and require that all students take at least one of the courses.
• 16. Sex education should be discussed in public schools as long as no graphic material is presented in during these discussions.
• 17. While the public schools might have some program of sex education, it is the ultimate responsibility and right of parents to decide if they want their children to participate in such programs.
• 18. No financial resources (teachers, space, etc.) should be allocated in the public schools and put towards providing a sex education program.
• 19. Because most teachers are parents too, it would be better to leave sex education to parents rather than formally have sex education in the schools.
• 20. Local citizens within a school district should be able to vote on the issue of allowing sex education in the public schools and, if they vote no, then the public schools should not have a sex education program.

FINAL 550 TEST

• 1. How can doing an item analysis help you in the process of continual improvement of the quality of your class tests?
• 2. What is a table of specifications and, how can it help you make a better test?
• 3. What are the assumptions on which the classical correction for guessing formula is based?
• 4. In what way does the confidence or probabilistic method of testing (MC testing) allow for partial knowledge and discourage guessing?
• 5. What does the term "psychophysical" scaling mean? Draw a small diagram to clarify your points.
• 6. Discuss why allowing a choice of questions (say 4 out of 6) on an essay exam is bad measurement practice.
• 7. In Likert type scaling for questionnaires and attitude surveys, what is the main problem with using a midpoint or ? or neutral point? What is a better way to handle this?
• 8. Here is an item from my Stat Attitude Scale. "I make a lot of errors when I calculate statistics problems"
  Now ... the scale is score in such a way that high scores mean positive attitudes about stat and low values mean negative attitudes about stat ... at least that is the intention. So ... for the item above, discuss if one SA or SD ... and how that would be clear evidence for contributing + or - weight towards the total attitude score.
  

  FINAL NOTE

  This has been a blast .... and I hope some of the material in the page has been of use. Again, any comments welcome ... send note to ... Roberts the guy with an "Attitude"