Master's Theses

Department

Nursing

Degree Name

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Abstract

The rapid growth of computer information technologies (CITs) has made a significant difference in our society. CITs are changing the learning methods from traditional face to face teaching 10 different types of distance teaching/education deliveries. Some faculty may still have negative attitudes toward CIT and such attitudes may affect students' learning. Therefore, examining faculty members' attitudes toward CIT and their level of CIT background provided important data. An exploratory, comparative correlational design was utilized with a convenience sample of 17 faculty in two university departments in a rural mid-western slate university setting. Rogers' (1964) Science of Unitary Human Beings nursing theory guided this investigation. Attitudes or patterns of two groups (nursing faculty: n= 13; M =281.77; SD = 37.83 and teacher education faculty: n= 4; M = 308.00; SD =27.15) were examined using the Faculty Attitudes Toward Information Technology (FAIT) instrument by capturing group scores at a particular moment in time. The first research quest ion addressed the total FAIT scores in two faculty groups while research questions two through seven asked about differences in the total score and the five subscales of the FAIT between these two groups. The finding for the tola1 FAIT scores showed generally positive attitudes in these two faculty groups. The differences were computed in the Mann-Whitney 11 tests in two groups of faculty. The findings were as follows: total attitudes U = 39, anxiety U = 37, avoidance U = 32, e-mail use U = 32, enthusiasm/enjoyment U = 40, and productivity improvement U = 38 (CVU >= 8). There were statistically significant differences in all total and five subscales of the FAIT at .05 level. Research question number eight utilized a Spearman rank correlation coefficient to investigate the relationship between the total score of the FA IT instrument and the number of Internet/Internet enhanced courses offered by the subjects. The result reveals there was a statistically significant relationship (r,=.647. t = 3.286, CVt >= 2.947, [alpha]= .0 1) between these variables. The findings were compared with the Gilmore's (1998) study. In general, the only differences that stand out are the differences in anxiety and avoidance. It seems that both of these subscales have slightly higher scores than the Gilmore's study from two years ago. Recommendations were made for future research, nursing practice and nursing education, such as replication of the investigation in a larger university, possibly using more departments and/or faculty groups with equal numbers of females and males.

Keywords

Nursing

Advisor

Dr. Karyolyn Kells

Date of Award

Summer 2001

Document Type

Thesis - campus only access

Rights

© The Author(s)

Comments

For questions contact ScholarsRepository@fhsu.edu

Download

Off Campus FHSU Users Click Here

Share

COinS