A comparative study of the perceived behavioral dispositions of female and male superintendents

Abstract

This study examined the behavioral dispositions of female and male superintendents in order to determine if differences do, in fact, exist between these two groups. Specifically, the following research questions were examined:

What, if any, is the overall difference between the behavioral dispositions of female and male superintendents?

What is the relationship between years of service as a superintendent and the sex of superintendents?

What is the relationship between size of immediate staff and the sex of superintendents?

What is the relationship between the percent of females on the immediate staff and the sex of superintendents?

What is the relationship between age and the sex of su~erintendents?

The dispositions of female and male superintendents were identified by the responses to items on a forced-choice instrument, the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule. A personal data sheet provided the demographic information needed. The discriminate analysis program as taken from the Biomedical Statistical package (BMD05M) was employed to compare male and female dispositions. The univariate F-test was included to statistically test these two groups across the fifteen variable field of the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule for the first research question. Questions two through five were explored by way of the chisquare test of significance. These four research questions were recorded in contingency tables. The variables were: sex, years of service as a superintendent, size of immediate staff, percent of females on the immediate staff, and age of the superintendent. An alpha level (a) of .05 was used. CONCLUSIONS

A valid conclusion which was drawn from the evidence of this study was that behavioral disposition similarity existed between the female and male superintendents.

It was concluded that female and male superintendents operated along the same personality continuum except in their behavior to deal with friends and to form strong attachments.

A relationship did exist between years of service as a superintendent and the sex of the superintendent. Males generally have more years of experience as superintendents than do their counterpart female superintendents.

There is no relationship between the size of the immediate staff and the sex of the female and male superintendents.

A relationship did exist between the percent of females on the immediate staff of the superintendent and the sex of the incumbent, and it was concluded that the staff of the majority of female superintendents who responded was composed of a higher percent of females than the staff of their male counterparts.

The ages of the responding superintendents were spread over the continuum with no significant pattern of difference; therefore, it was concluded that sex of the superintendent does not have a hearing upon the age of the incumbent.