Citation

Frisby CL, Kim S, Wolfmeyer MA. J. School Violence 2005; 4(4): 5-29.

Affiliation

Dept of Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology, University of Missouri, 7 Hill Hall, Columbia, MO 65211

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1300/J202v04n04_02

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Focus group methods for studying opinions and perceptions of school violence are effective for understanding differences among individuals, but cannot report these differences in a concise manner. Traditional quantitative methods for analyzing data from school violence perception surveys allow for the concise reporting of data, but cannot effectively provide information on individual differences. Typically, survey studies report group frequencies separately for individual items and/or subscales, which obscures individual differences. The Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS) approach provides a means for researchers to study individual differences in the degree to which a person's data on multivariate instruments correspond with a smaller number of "core" profiles that underlie data. An Attitude Toward School Violence inventory, rooted in Q methodology, was developed to assess participants' attitudes toward statements designed to explain the causes of, or appropriate interventions for, school (particularly gun) violence. The inventory was administered to a diverse convenience sample of 456 participants consisting of university students, public school teachers and administrators, school psychologists, and others. After appropriate data analyses, the original 64 item inventory was reduced to 37 items, from which 7 acceptable components were extracted. A PAMS analysis was performed on this data, which extracted two "core" profiles. One core profile reflects attitudes that blame school violence on the media, the lack of religious perspectives in schools and society, and irresponsible parenting. The second core profile reflects a strong endorsement of gun control and increased efforts to get direct help for students with emotional problems. The interpretation of person weights and implications for future research are discussed.

Language: en