Susan Kuntz

Date of Award

8-13-2008

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Biomedical Sciences

First Advisor

Meyer, Katrina

Abstract

A unique alliance has been formed among seven institutions of higher education in North Dakota, Minnesota and Montana to allow the institutions to retain their Clinical Laboratory Science programs. One institution, the University of North Dakota (UND), maintains program accreditation and provides the senior-year curriculum for all members of the alliance. The students from the institutions other than UND (host institutions) complete four prerequisite courses (parasitology, immunology, microbiology and hematology) prior to coming to the UND campus for the senior-year program. UND faculty noted a higher anxiety level and a difference in the knowledge base for the students from the other institutions as compared to their UND counterparts. The anxiety level regarding prerequisite knowledge level was measured when the students entered the senior-year program to determine if there were a statistically significant difference between the two student groups. Pre-tests and post-tests based on the prerequisite course objectives, a UND comprehensive final and a national board examination were utilized to determine if a statistically significant difference existed initially between the UND students and the students from the host institutions and if the senior year program brought all of the students to the same final outcome level. The data was analyzed using the t-test and MANOVA. Results indicated that the students from host institutions had a higher state anxiety level than the UND students (F (1,11) = 14.54, p = .001) and they had significantly lower scores on all of the pretests (Wilks' lambda = .47, F( 1,21) = 5.17 p = .006). MANOVA demonstrated that the senior-year program brought all of the students to the same final outcomes as evidenced by their performance on the final comprehensive and the national board examination (Wilks' lambda = .994, F(1,21) = .063, p = .939 ) regardless of curricular discrepancies between UND prerequisite courses and courses from the other host institutions. This study provides some support for the assertion that a common curriculum can bring students from different institutions to nearly the same knowledge levels.

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