AN EVALUATION BY MAIL QUESTIONNAIRE OE SERVICES AT A VETERANS GUIDANCE CENTER A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Graduate School The University of Southern California In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by John Edward Westeen June' 1950 UMI Number: EP64003 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI EP64003 Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 This thesis, written by John Edward Westeen under the guidance of h.X-.P... Faculty Committee, and approved by all its members, has been presented to and accepted by the Council on Graduate Study and Research in partial fulfill­ ment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Faculty Committee arman TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED. . . 1 The problem • • • • • • • . « • 1 Statement of the problem • • • • • . * * • 1 Importance of the study ........... 2 Definitions of terms used ................. 4 Vocational guidance • • • • • • • • • • 4 Vocational counseling • . . . 4 Vocational advisement . . . • 4 Counselee, client, claimant ........ . ♦ 4 II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ................ 6 III. DESCRIPTION OF THE VETERANS GUIDANCE CENTER . . 14 IV. THE MATERIALS USED AND GROUPS STUDIED . . . . 21 The questionnaire . . . . . . . . 21 Method of sampling and other technical matters « • • • • • • • . • • • « • • • • 25 V. DESCRIPTION AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS . . . 28 Discussion of item results of both groups • • 30 Summary and discussion of questions and. comments on items thirteen and fourteen • • 38 Significance and interpretation of inter­ item and inter-individual comparisons with P. L. 346 group • • • • • • • • • • • • • 42 CHAPTER PAGE VI. SUMMARY. AND CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . .................................. 53. APPENDIX .................................. . . . . . 55 LIST OP TABLES TABLE PAGE I. Influence of Intelligence as a Factor in Satisfaction with Vocational Guidance Giving Percentages of Responses to Each Category (Gordon) ................................. 11 II. Numbers and Percentages of Questionnaires Returned by P. L. 16 and P. L. 346 Groups • « 29 III* Analysisnof Responses to Each Category of Questionnaire Items by P* L* 16 and P* L. 346 Groups and Significance of Differences Between Groups • • • • • • • 32 IV* Frequency with Which Categories on Item Twelve were Checked by Both Groups * * * * * 36 V* Percentage of Checks in Each Category on Item Twelve for Both Groups • * • • • • • • • 37 VI. Correlations Between Individual Items and Total Questionnaire for P. L. 346 Group Using Satisfaction Point Scores • • • • • • « 46 VII. Frequency Table of Point Scores of One Hundred Thirty Six P. L. 346 Questionnaires........ 47 v:. TABLE PAGE VIII. Summary Table of Computations in Finding Significance of Difference in Means of Line Check Values Between P. L. 16 and P. L. 346 Groups. • • • • • • • • • • • • • 55 IX. Summary Table of Computations in Finding Significance of Difference in Point Scores Between P. L. 346 Respondents Answering All Items and Those Not Answering All Items gg CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED The establishment of veterans guidance centers by the Veterans Administration at the close of the war caused great expansion of psychological techniques of vocational guidance* As of May 1, 1947, approximately 292,000 veterans applying for rehabilitation training were required to go through this advisement process and some ninety thousand other veterans voluntarily elected to be interviewed and tested in the hope that they would then be better able to choose a suitable vocation#-*- The task of carrying out this program has been handled almost entirely by colleges and universities. Because it was in colleges and universities that vocational guidance was originally developed only a few years ago, this program of the Veterans Administration became a valid as well as severe test of T/tfiat vocational guidance could accomplish# I. THE PROBLEM Statement of the problem# The.purpose of this study 1 This information was obtained for the writer by a V.A* Training Officer through a telephone call to the V.A* Regional Office. Because these figures do not appear in any V.A. publication (in the form of cumulative monthly totals), the Regional Office in Los Angeles secured the information from V.A* Headquarters in Washington by telegram. 2 was to find out as accurately and objectively as possible how well one veterans guidance center was performing its function of providing vocational guidance to those veterans coming to it* Specifically, it was hoped that useful information might be obtained relevant to the following points ( ) present 1 activity and goals of the claimants; ( ) attitudes toward the 2 guidance experience; (3) attitudes toward the Center and to­ ward the counselor; and (4) opinions with respect to weaknesses and possible ways the service might be improved* Importance of the study* At the time this study was begun, the guidance center selected for study had been in operation about eighteen months and no organized effort had been made to evaluate its services. It was felt that such an effort should be made. The director and his staff were eager to know of ways in which the service might be improved# Because the Center s methods .-.were considered basically repre­ 1 sentative of current guidance techniques it was believed in­ formation obtained about the Center’s services would be relevant to an evaluation of vocational guidance in general* In this study the primary criteria for evaluation were the personal, private feelings of the counselees regarding the various aspects of the service. There are no reports in the literature of a similar approach to the problem. 3 o The writer believes that the work of Carl Rogers and others in the development of iron-directive counseling prin­ ciples .with its emphasis on recognition, acceptance, and clarification of feelings provides abundant justification for an evaluation of vocational guidance usings feelings as criteria# 3 Rogers includes vocational guidance among the counseling activities where non-directive techniques should be used* Briefly, the attitude of non-directive counselors is that the importance of emotions in governing behavior cannot be ignored in the guidance situation any more than in any counseling situation* Advice, even when bolstered by test data, will be of little value to a counselee if it runs con­ trary to drives and ambitions. Failure to recognize and ac­ cept a counseleefs feelings seems certain to cause dissatisfac­ tion, even though it may be vague. It was felt that a ques­ tionnaire which emphasized feelings would reflect even vague feelings. Thus, the questions of accuracy of test results and advice were bypassed to get at the more basic matter of what the counselee got out of his advisement. 2 Carl R. Rogers, Counseling and Psychotherapy (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1942>♦ 3 Carl R. Rogers* "Psychometric Tests and Client- Centered Counseling,* Educational and Psychological Measure­ ment, 6:141-144, 1946.