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Abstract
An aptitude-treatment interaction was sought to indicate which model of consultation would be most successful with which group of consultees using locus of control as the aptitude measure. Subjects were 300 students of Education with at least one and not more than three credit hours of teaching experience. Subjects were assigned to treatment groups based on their scores on the Adult Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Control Scale (ANSIE). Extreme groups were formed by drawing from the top (more external) and bottom (more internal) 27% of the score distribution (Kelly, 1939).
Two video tapes of the problem-solving and planning phases of consultation were produced. One of the tapes portrayed a collaborative consultation relationship while the other portrayed a directive consultation relationship. Approximately half of the externals and half of the internals viewed the directive video tape. The remaining subjects viewed the tape of the collaborative consultation sessions. All subjects then viewed a second video tape of a classroom situation in which one child was having behavioral difficulty.
Following the final tape, subjects responded to four dependent measures. These measures assessed subjects' skills at identifying the problem and developing intervention plans, their ranked expectations that their plans would be successful, and their interpersonal attraction to the consultant in the consultation tape viewed. It was expected that external subjects viewing the directive consultation and internal subjects viewing the collaborative consultation would obtain more successful scores on the dependent measures than their counterparts in unmatched treatments.
A multivariate analysis of variance indicated no significant results at any level of analysis. The main effects and interaction effect were measured by obtaining Wilk's Lambda values and performing Rao's F transformations to derive approximate F values.
No significant evidence of the benefit of matching consultation approach with consultee locus of control was found. Although futher investigations are needed to determine if other cognitive or personality variables would interact with specific consultation approaches, the current findings do indicate the possibility that directive and collaborative consultation are equally well received by young educators regardless of their locus of control perspectives.
