Graduate versus Undergraduate Scholarship: A Comparison of Essay Responses Concerning Professional Responsibilities of Music Teachers

Abstract

This study compared the abilities of 150 music graduate and undergraduate students to make transfers concerning legal, moral, and ethical issues involved in the use of behavioral techniques in music classes. An essay concerned with these issues served as the basis for comparison. Five aspects of the essays were analyzed: (1) length of the essay (number of words); (2) a score that reflected the quality of writing plus the number of transfers plus credit for typing (3) number of transfers that referred to the writers' personal experiences, including their own jobs; (4) number of transfers that dealt with another person, or were hypothetical, or referred to one or more music professions as a whole; and (5) total number of transfers of both types. Analysis indicated that there were no significant differences in the lengths of the essays or in the number of personal transfers made by the two groups. The overall composite score, which reflected the quality of writing as well as the number of both types of transfers, was significantly higher for graduate students. The number of professional transfers as well as the total number of transfers were higher for graduate students. However, a comparison of the number of professional transfers written by both groups after practice in making transfers had been completed found no significant difference between these numbers.

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