Publication Date

1981

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Winsor, Helen Bruce

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Home Economics

LCSH

Home economics--Study and teaching; Class size; School publicity

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a home economics public relations program in regard to class enrollment. The research sample was selected from the eighth grade student population feeding into the same high school in a moderate size town in northern Illinois. A public relations campaign consisting of a slide and audio cassette tape presentation, printed handout, class discussion, and bulletin board, was prepared. The effectiveness of this campaign was determined by freshmen enrollment figures for the home economics classes from the involved feeder schools for the 1981-82 school year and students completed evaluation forms of the program. The sample was divided into an experimental group and a control group, selected by random assignment. According to the questionnaire, more than half of the treatment group indicated a greater awareness of the high school home economics program after being exposed to the campaign. Chi Square was completed to determine the effectiveness of the public relations campaign. A .05 level of significance with one degree of freedom has a critical value of 3.84. After the calculations were performed, the results of this research had a 4.92 critical value. This indicates support for the hypothesis that an effective public relations campaign does have a positive influence on enrollment. Enrollment for the 1981-82 school year increase 9 percent over the past three years of enrollment figures. Of this 9 percent, half of the students were from the treatment group indicating still further support for the hypothesis. According to this research, effective public relations are a positive tool in strengthening home economics enrollment.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

iv, 69 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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