Demographic Variables Related to Chemists' Participation in Professional Continuing Education Courses Leslie C. Smedley, Jr. The Metropolitan Edison Company, P.O. Box 16001, Reading, PA 19640 Chemists must continue to update their professional skills as technology changes and as advances in their chosen specialities occur. For many, participation in formal continuing education courses is a useful method. Yet fewer than half of the American Chemical Society members who participated in a study of chemists as learners took even one professional continuing education course during a two-year period.' Additional analyses of the data collected in an earlier study were conducted to determine which, if any, of a group of demographic variables are related to the numher of courses taken. Information gathered from these analyses can be useful to developers and providers of formal professional continuing education courses. It can assist them in understanding which chemists tend to participate in coursework and which do not. And i t can be used as a rationale for making courses more attractive to chemists not currently participating in them. Method Data from 441 questionnaires returned by Society members as part of an earlier study1 were analyzed. The number of courses taken during a two-year period prior to June 1984 was compared to the variables age, sex, education level, years since last deeree. emolovment cateeorv. .. and preference for formal contiking ed&tion format. For var&bles found to have a sienificant relationshiv to the numher of courses taken, a correlationmatrix was created and a forced stepwise regression analysis was conducted. Statistical analyses were conducted using SAS computer s o f t w a ~ e .Level ~ . ~ of significance was set a t 0.05.
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Sienificant relationshios t o the number of courses taken " were found for the variables age, sex, years since last degree, and preference for lecture format. The Table contains information about the statistical test used and the level of significance found for each of these relationships. The variables age, years since last degree, and sex were found to correlate significantly with one another. The forced stepwise linear regression analysis indicated that years since last degree and sex were included as simificant variables in the linear equation for the numher i f courses taken, that reference for lecture was included as a variable hut not a t a significant level, and that age was not included as a variable. Dlscusslon The two variables age and years since last degree account for much of the same variability in the numher of courses
' Smedley, L. J. Chem. Educ. 1987, 64,321.
SAS lnstitute lnc. %AS Users Guide: Basics. Version 5 Edition"; 1985. SAS Institute: Cary, NC, 1985. lsers Guide: Statistics, Version 5 EdiSAS lnstitute inc. "SAS Users 5. tion"; SAS Institute: Cary. NC. 1985. 130
Journal of Chemlcal Education
Relalionshlp ol Selected Varlables to Number of Continuing Education Courses Taken Variable ( N = 441)
Age
StatisticalTest (Value:Level of Significance) Pearson Correlation
(R = -0.2555: p < 0.0001)
Sex
ANOVA
(382 male. 59 female) Yrs Since LBSt Degree
( F = 14.92: P < 0.0001) Pearson Correlation (R = -0.2572: p < 0.0001) Pearson Correlation (R = -0.1003; p < 0.0414)
PTeferenCB Ranking
lor Lecture Format
taken. Yerlrs since last degree accounts for the variance attributable LO age and for a slight amount of additional vari. ance. Older chemists, especiaily those who have been away from degree work, are less likely t o participate in formal courses than are younger chemists who havi recently completed their degrees. Course developers and providers who can target meaningful continuing education to more experienced chemists may he able to increase participation for that group. On the average, female Society members participated in more than twice as many courses as male memhers (females = 2.71 courses; males = 1.33 courses). Age is a factor in this difference. since. on averaee. .. . female Societv memhers are younger than their male colleagues. ~onetheiess,the regression analvsis indicates that. indeoendent of aee. " . females are more 1ik;ly to participate in coukework than males. Course providers mav benefit bv marketine continuine education bpportunities-to females more aggressively. The significant negative correlation between preference for ledur< format and number of courses taken isinexpected, since more than one third of the courses were offered in that format.' Nonetheless, since chemists prefer seminar, recitation, and laboratory formats over lecture', course develooers should use one of these other formats whenever possible. Sienificant differences in level of varticioation were not fauna for different employment categories ?academic, government, industry, consultants, combination). This information, as well as the absence of a significant relationship between the number of courses taken and level of education may challenge assumptions that course developers and marketers have used. One should not assume, then, all other factors being equal, that those in industry are more likely to participate in formal courses or that those with terminal degrees are less likely to do so. Knowledge of which chemists participate in formal continuing education coursework is useful to those who provide
and market these services. Further research into the appropriate methods, marketing, and delivery of continuing education for our profession is warranted. I t can be used to improve the quality of and participation in this important aspect of chemists' professional development.
Acknowledgment
The author wishes to thank Robert Nakon for suggesting this analysis and the ~ ~~ d company ~i ~for access to its computer services,
Volume 67
Number 2
February 1990
131
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