Date of Award

8-2016

Document Type

Master's Project

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

STEM Education & Professional Studies

Program/Concentration

Occupational and Technical Studies

Committee Director

Reed, Philip A.

Committee Director

Ritz, John M.

Abstract

A well trained radiographer is necessary in hospital settings, clinics and physician’s offices. It is necessary for radiologic technologists to have mathematical skills, to possess knowledge of radiation science, to graduate from an accredited radiology program and to pass the national registry certification examination given by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists. When looking at the attributes necessary for these individuals, a problem was determined. The problem of this study was to see if there is a correlation between grades of radiography students in mathematics and radiation science as predictors of program completion. To guide this study the following hypothesis was developed: H1: Radiography students who score a B or higher in mathematics classes will score a C or higher in radiation science classes and complete the program for graduation.

The method used for this quasi-experiment was to assess the Radiologic Technology students enrolled in the tri-college program at Southwest Virginia Community College to facilitate this study. Data collection consisted of gathering mathematic grades from classes taken prior to admission into the radiology program and radiation science grades from classes taken during the program. The data were obtained from the master student files held by the Southwest Virginia Community College cooperative radiography program. The data from mathematic and radiation science classes were then divided into three groups. The first group were students who completed the program. The second group were students who did not complete the program due to academic reasons in radiation science classes. All data collected from the classes of 2013-2015 and 2014-2016 was used to establish whether there was a connection between mathematical scores and passing radiation science.

The data analysis concluded that there was no significant difference in mathematical grades and radiation science grades from this sample. The chi-square test result was X2=0.5333 and the p value 0.465209. The degree of freedom was (2-1) (2-1) =1. The result was not significant at the p< 0.05 using software calculation and the Chi-square Distribution Table. The results concluded that the chi-square test did not support the hypothesis so the hypothesis was rejected.

Comments

A Research Paper Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE OCCUPATIONAL AND TECHNICAL STUDIES

Download
COinS