HERE COMES A time in most men's es when they would like to fulfill the quirements of their given trade or ofession by acquiring a Master's or octor's degree. Graduate files are full of records on ople who have all the doctorate reirements finished "except the dissertion." Several years ago, a registrar a great eastern university showed e four, four-drawer files of folders of aduate students who had finished eir course requirements and had yet finish the dissertation. Who is at ult? Clearly, many of those failing finish should not have been allowed continue graduate course work; oths simply failed to get started. Among the first things one should do fore embarking on a Master's or docrate degree program is to survey the quirements of the various institutions Tering work in his chosen field. A esis is usually required for a Master's gree, but some institutions now grant e degree without the thesis. Since the ctorate degree requires a dissertaon, the aspirant to that degree essenally does "want to write a dissertaon." It is because of my experience, and y errors, that I wish to present some n-professional advice to those who ay be thinking about writing a thesis dissertation. There are the problems selecting and planning the design for e research, selecting the bibliography, stracting the reading of the bibliogphy, conducting the research, writing e manuscript, arranging and typing. A course in "methods of educational search" and one or more seminars in lucational research are recommended s first steps to an early decision relave to the proposed dissertation. electing a Topic The problem, then, is to get started nd the most important thing to do in etting started is to decide upon a probm. A simple listing of your topics ad a checking of these ideas against hat has been done in the field seems to the best procedure. Checking through all available sources, such as Methods in Educational Research,1 which lists many proposed topics and AAHPER's Research Methods Applied to Health, Physical Education and Recreation,2 will provide ideas and procedures. The next step after arriving at a list of several topics which you feel will be acceptable to a graduate committee is a little research into the originality of these topics. A careful review of all sources of reported studies should be made. These sources may be found in many libraries. The following are suggested:3 1. Bibliography of Research Studies in Education, U. S. Office of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, D. C. Series began in 1926-27. Useful headings are Health and Physical Education, Athletics, Curriculum Studies, Mental Hygiene, Play and Recreation, Physical Ability. 2. Annual List of Doctoral Dissertations, Washington, D. C., Library of Congress, 1912 to date. Published by the University of Illinois, 1917-27, and by the U. S. Office of Education since then. 3. Doctors' Theses in Education, U. S. Office of Education, Washington, D. C., Pamphlet 60, 1934 (797 theses available for loan). 4. Gilchrist, D. B. Doctoral Dissertations Accepted by American Universities. New York: H. W. Wilson and Co., Vol. 1, 1933-34 and annually to date. 5. Derring, Clara E. "Lists and Abstracts of Masters' Theses and Doctoral Dissertations in Education." Teachers College Record 34: 490-502; March 1933. 6. Cureton, T. K., Jr. Doctorate Theses Reported by Graduate Departments of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, 1930-1946, inclusive. AAHPER. 39 pp. 7. Cureton, T. K., Jr. Masters' Theses Reported by Graduate Departments of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, 1930-1946, inclusive. AAHPER, 1952, 292 pp. 1 Methods in Educational Research by W. C. Kavaraceus, Boston University, 1949. 2 Research Methods Applied to Health, Physical Education and Recreation, American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, Washington, D. C., 1949. 3 Ibid., pp. 103-104. Attention, Student Majors Suggestions for organizing Student Major Clubs and sample constitutions are available from Student Major Clubs, AAHPER, 1201 - 16th St., N.W., Wash. 6, D. C. Colleges that already have Major Clubs and wish to affiliate with AAHPER should send to the National Office: name of college, faculty adviser, and club president, and a copy of the club constitution. Contributions for this page should be sent to the JOURNAL Editor, AAHPER, 1201 - 16th St., N.W., Wash. 6, D. C. Design and Outline Once a list of two or three topics has been cleared and the decision as to which one will be proposed has been made in consultation with your major adviser, the preliminary work of preparing the design of the research and the outline of the problem can begin. mentioned The procedures above might well be reversed, since major advisers have a great propensity for suggesting ideas which they feel you ought to pursue, and from which you might find just the topic you should have been thinking about all the time which, with the advisers' backing, has a pretty good chance of being accepted. Indeed, your original lists may have to be abandoned entirely and the new problem cleared just as you have the others. Considerable research and thought should be given to the preparation of the outline. The experience of others should be sought, and sample copies of other successful outlines should be read prior to the preparation of the final draft. The type of study should be carefully determined; the design of the research and the proposed treatment of the data should be clearly stated. Sufficient mimeographed copies carefully stenciled in the acceptable form should be prepared and distributed prior to the committee meeting and also at the actual committee meeting. Approval of Committee Your problem at the committee meeting is to gain acceptance of your proposed study, so that you can get along with the job. If you are convinced of the worth of your study, have the approval of your adviser, make a convincing statement of the problem, defend it in an intelligent manner against attempts by the committee to depreciate it, you may win the necessary approval. Be prepared to repeat the performance several times. "Par on your course" may be one or two, but three, four, and five may be the average for most. Once approval has been given and a subcommittee appointed with your major adviser as the chairman, you are ready for one of the most arduous jobs of your life. ⭑ By AMES CASTLE Sports and Industrial Relations Executive, AAHPER Softball Bats Especially for PE Hanna Mfg. Co., Athens, Ga., is now producing a line of softball bats designed especially for PE. After a year's research in which opinions of leading physical educators were analyzed, Hanna decided its bats had been too big. So it is introducing the elementary school PE softball bat in 29-in. and 30in. lengths, with medium-size barrel and large knob to provide safe grip for small hands; and the PE-H, for secondary schools, with larger barrel, 2in. knob, and medium grip. See details in advertisement, this issue. Seal-O-San Basketball Digest Huntington Laboratories, Huntington, Ind has released its 1955-56, 15th annua Basketball Coaches Digest which re prints outstanding articles on coachin published during the past year. It fea tures articles by 20 leading basketbal coaches on play patterns. Other see tions deal with coaching of fundamen tals and more general problems. Thi Digest is free to basketball coaches of written request and available to play ers and fans at 50¢. Cent-R-Strut Backstop A recent introduction by AALCO Mfg Co., 2737 Wyandotte, St. Louis 11, this indoor basketball backstop locates greatest sup port directly behind point of greatest shock-at juncture of goal with back board. Simplicity makes the design adaptable to almost any building condi tion. The Cent-R-Strut is usable with all types of backboards. Extensions up to 10 ft. from wall are available. Main support boom is of 3" pipe secured with special wall flange. Support braces are 14" pipe, and attach to boom with adjustable clamps to permit goal-leveling at correct height. Tennis, Badminton Rules Leaflets Dayton Steel Racquet Co., Arcanum, Ohie, has a new approach for presenting its products in its sales literature. Sheets illustrating and describing the firm's steel tennis and badminton rackets have rules printed on reverse. They are co venient pocket or portfolio pieces and are offered in quantity for redistribu tion to students. Dayton's models rackets would be quite surprising coaches who have not inspected these products in recent years. They dup cate wood in feel and appearance bat retain the climate-resisting qualities steel which they have always feature (Concluded on page 74) How Fit Are... Children? (Continued from page 15) These results might be interpreted to mean that the Indiana pre-school child is over-protected as compared to the European pre-school child. However, the trend of the comparative figures indicates that the European superiority disappears as age increases. In any case, these results do not support the statement that "Weakness as well as flexibility failires show that at no time do American statistics approach the fitness evels of the European." MOST CHILDREN ARE FIT Other interesting facts were rerealed by the Indiana investigation. Two of the subtests of the KrausWeber Test are designed to measure back strength. Among the 1,456 chilIren measured, only five of them failed the upper back test and only six failed the lower back test, and 6 Kraus, Hans and Ruth P. Hirschland, Muscular Fitness and Health. Journal of the American Association for Health, Physial Education and Recreation. 24:17, Detember, 1953. CORTLAND RACKET DIVISION A third subtest was designed to measure the flexor muscles of the hip joint. On this test the Indiana children showed less than 3 per cent failure on the average for the different age levels. The only strength test item which showed substantial percentages of failure was one of the abdominal tests. On this one test the successful performances increased rapidly with age, so that by age 12 less than 5 per cent of all boys and girls were failing. Analyzed by sex, by age, and by subtest, the results dispel the alarming picture concerning the health and fitness of American children that has been portrayed in several reports. These results found by the Indiana investigators are similar to those 7 U. S. News and World Report, loc. cit. found by a research team making a parallel investigation in Iowa.s IMPLICATION The implication of this article. should not be interpreted to mean that health and physical educators and others concerned with the total welfare of American children can in any way relinquish their constant efforts towards providing adequate and ever better developmental programs. Nor should it be inferred that the Kraus-Weber Test is of no value in locating children with deficiencies. There is every reason to believe that the abdominal tests are valuable in detecting weaknesses in the muscle groups they are designed to measure. The suggestion is strong, however, that serious misrepresentation of true conditions may result from the inept analysis of figures and/or irresponsible reporting. ★ 8 News and Information Service Bulletin. An Iowa Research Story. State University of Iowa, 1955. See the article on page 20 of this issue. Sportsmanship (from p. 36) major commentaries on these such as the Educational Policies Commission's Moral and Spiritual Values in the Public Schools,3 should form the basis for such discussions. If sports are going to be used to preserve the democratic way of life, those truths upon which it is built must serve as guides to the conduct of sport. 6. The sports instructor is the crucial figure in sportsmanship education. The connotation of the term "coach" is probably less desirable than that of "sports instructor." The sports instructor should be more than a coach of skill; he should be a full-fledged educator capable of molding character. He is directly responsible for the conduct of the contest. The students receive their cues as to what is permissible and ethical from the sports instructor. Cheerleaders, parents, reporters, officials, and others follow his lead. None of the obstacles to sportsmanship education mentioned above are really decisive until the sports instructor is swayed by them. No crowd, gambler, fixer, or pressure group can upset the character of a student as long as the sports instructor wields the influence he should. 7. Sportsmanship education must be deliberate, planned, and taught as an integral part of instruction in playing skills. Most efforts that are being made in the improvement in standards of conduct are directed at an evaluation and rewarding of the display of good sportsmanship. There is a greater need for sportsmanship education. A general misconception prevails that participation in school and college sport automatically results in the development of moral and social qualities. When conducted at its best, sports participation must be accompanied with deliberate, planned instruction in sportsmanship. If sportsmanship is to improve the qual 3 Educational Policies Commission, Moral and Spiritual Values in the Public Schools. Washington: National Education Association, 1951, 100 pp. 4 Richard C. Babcock, "Honor-System Basketball." Journal of the American A880ciation for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, 21:220 (April 1950). ity of life and living, it must be taught not caught. Sports are conducive to character development only under proper leadership. People are not innately good or moral or respectful-they must learn to be. 8. The sports instructor must know how sportsmanship is learned. The sports instructor is an educator, and is responsible for knowing the learning process. In general, three steps can be outlined: (1) a specific experience; (2) identification of the behavior; and (3) arriving at generalization. The student must directly or vicariously experience a situation in which a choice involving moral behavior must be made. The alternative courses of action must be identified and evaluated (e.g., "honest", "discourteous", "fair", "true", "bad", "good", "sportsmanlike"). The student must then be helped to see the similarity between that behavior and others like it, so that he can eventually arrive at an understanding of the general concept of sportsmanship. This process is facilitated when students are encouraged to discuss their behavior with the sports instructor in terms of the standards of conduct which they have adopted. 9. The sports instructor must know what is desirable behavior. Here is one great bottleneck in sportsmanship education-frequently sports instructors do not know good sportsmanship when they see it. There is too much uncertainty about the merits or demerits of intentional fouling, sucker shifts, stalling for time, harassing opponents, coaching from the bench, elbowing, and faking injuries. These tactics and many others are not easy to identify and evaluate. Sports instructors have the responsibility, however, of helping players form convictions about them. It is a serious misunderstanding that sportsmanship consists only of such things as determination, courage, self-confidence, and quick thinking. Sportsmanship must go beyond these psychological condi perseverance, 5 Delbert Oberteuffer, Physical Education. New York: Harper and Bros., 1951, Chapters 2-5. 6 James B. Kirkpatrick, "Sportsmanship, What Do You Mean?" The School: Secondary Edition, 29:505-4 (Sept. 1940). tions, and involve choices about moral values and convictions regarding various alternatives. 10. Effort must be made to close the gap between knowledge of what is desirable and actual conduct. Learning what a particular behavior pattern is, and learning how good or bad it is, does not guarantee desirable conduct. There is always a gap between what a person knows he should do and his actual behavior. Closing this gap is a major part of sportsmanship education. Several suggestions follow: (1) the example of the sports instructor is a powerful determiner of the quality of sportsmanship in those who are associated with him; (2) knowledge of the reason why certain conduct is better than some other conduct predisposes one toward better behavior; (3) group effort in setting and adopting standards of conduct provides a potent deterrent to those who may be inclined to violate group standards; (4) the degree of seriousness which the sports instructor attaches to sportsmanship is proportional to the importance with which the students will consider their efforts at sportsmanship; (5) the climate of the sports environment must be friendly and free from extreme emphasis on those influences which suggest the use of poor sportsmanship to relieve the pressures; (6) improvement in behavior will be enhanced when students are encouraged to evaluate themselves to see if they live up to the standards they have set. PUT SPORTSMANSHIP FIRST Too much is known about education and sportsmanship to escape the guilt for the defective character which results from thoughtless and ever-intensive efforts for bowl bids, trophies, and gate receipts. The prob lem is a matter of values. What is most important-winning or sportsmanship? It is not true that sportsmanship and victory are incompatible. There are situations, however, in which a choice must be made between a touchdown or sportsmanship, between a goal or respect, between a victory or honesty. It is then that the very basis of democracy is at stake. If winning is chosen above the exercise of sportsmanship, it is precisely at this point that sports be come subversive. Sportsmanship must not be sacrificed for the sake of temporary moments of prestige and acclaim. ★ |