Date of Award
5-3-1995
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Liberal Studies
First Advisor
Patricia R. Whitfield, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Rachel Mathews, Ed.D.
Third Advisor
Terry L. Overton, Ed.D.
Abstract
With the growing need for special education teachers, institutions of higher education need new ways to screen candidates for admissions purposes. Since research shows that people with specific personality characteristics/traits seem to be attracted to and better suited for certain careers, screening with personality inventories may be a solution to the admissions problem. The purpose of this study was to gain information regarding personality types of three groups of graduate special education students: 1) those with a special education teacher preparation background, 2) those with a regular education teacher preparation background, and 3) those with a non-education teacher preparation background. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was given to 76 graduate special education students. Each student was also asked to complete a demographic questionnaire. A total of 70 questionnaires were returned. After performing a chi square statistical significance test, the results of the MBTI showed no significant differences between the three groups of students. However, there were two personality types which required further attention because they did not appear in any of the three groups. In addition, there were several personality types that occurred more frequently than others.
Recommended Citation
Crawley, Carla, "Personality Traits of Special Education, Regular Education, and Non-Education Teacher Preparation Graduate Students" (1995). Theses & Honors Papers. 255.
https://digitalcommons.longwood.edu/etd/255
