Date of Award
8-1-1974
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Kinesiology & Public Health Education
Abstract
There was some concern among certain staff members of the Men's Physical Education Division at the University of North Dakota about the "disappearance" of physical education majors. The enrollment for certain junior and senior major cl*sses for the fall semester, 1973, was lower than expected and the prospects for the second semester were similar.
The HPER-107, Introduction to Physical Education,course was originally designed as a first semester freshman course for prospective majors. Most of the staff members agreed that enrollment figures for HPER-107 had been normal, or above, for the last three or four years. The question arose as to what had happened to those students who had enrolled in HPER-107 during the years previous. Did these students transfer, drop-out, or switch to another field of study, and, secondly, what kind of students were enrolling in the course--majors, minors, non-majors, freshmen, sophomores, etc?
The purpose of the study, therefore, was to determine the relationship between the number of students who enrolled in HPER-107 (from the fall semester 1970 through the spring semester 1973) and the number who graduated or were continuing toward a degree in physical education.
A questionnaire was constructed, and each subject's cumulative record was searched. From the cumulative records the following data were collected:
1. The subject's class status (e.g. junior) x^hile enrolled in HPER-107.
2. The subject's original reason (e.g. major requirement) for enrolling in HPER-107.
3. The subject's current class status (i.e. for the school year 1973-74).
4. The subject's current status (e.g. drop-out) as pertaining to his being a physical education major at the University of North Dakota.
The Kolmogorov-Smirnov one sample test was applied to the obtained data. Each of the four questions for each of the 6 semesters was analyzed individually.
The main conclusion was that a significant number of students, who enrolled in HPER-107 from the fall semester 1970 through the spring semester 1973, were freshmen physical education majors who were continuing toward, or had already graduated with, a degree in physical education at the University of North Dakota. A secondary conclusion was that for four of the six semesters studied, the expected rate of advancement (i.e. from freshman to senior) was not significant at the .05 level of confidence.
Recommended Citation
Gilroy, Edward H., "A Study of Male Professional Physical Education Student Retention at the University of North Dakota From 1970 Through 1973" (1974). Theses and Dissertations. 3475.
https://commons.und.edu/theses/3475