NEW THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION
Year:2010 | Volume:6 | Issue:3|Papers Count:10

A sample of 30 couples who were clients at different counseling centers in Yazd was randomly assigned to two groups of experimental and control. Both groups' forgiveness was initially measured using Enrite's questionnaire. The experimental group attended a seven week long course on forgiving. The effect of the course was assessed by comparing the two groups' forgiveness after the course. Results showed that the experimental group improved significantly in all three dimensions of forgiveness.

To determine the relationship between achievement motivation and leadership style, a random sample of 430 elementary school principals in Tehran was selected, 37.9% of which were women. Two measures were used to assess leadership style (with reliability of 0.76) and achievement motivation (with reliability of 0.74). The analysis of the collected data showed a negative correlation between the two constructs. Thus, it seems that with the increase in motivation, the principals become less task and relation oriented, whereas with the increase in motivation they tend to gravitate towards delegating their responsibilities.

To explore the relationship between perceived communication patterns within the family with the religion orientation of the students, a sample of 172 university students was randomly selected and two measures of family communication and religious self-regulation were administered. The analysis of the collected data revealed that students coming from families that are more oriented towards conversation tend to have an identifying religious orientation. This was not true of those with an introjective orientation. Families oriented towards conformity tend to have both identification and introjection religious orientations.

To assess the philosophical mentality and the attitude of math teachers towards the active methods of teaching, a sample of 88 middle school math teachers was randomly selected from among a population of 216 in Esfahaan. Two instruments were used: the P.M. and A.T.M. Questionnaires with 0.84 and 0.77 reliability respectively. Results show a significant relationship between philosophical mentality and attitude towards active teaching methods. Within the philosophical mentality, the comprehensive dimension was higher than the other two. The flexibility dimension was highly correlated to problem solving methods.

To study the leadership style and organizational atmosphere in neurotic organizations, a sample of 145 workers from among a total of 600 in three industrial plants in Esfahaan was randomly selected. Three measures of Neurotic Organizations, Leadership Styles, and Organizational Atmosphere, with internal consistencies of over 0.85, were administered. The analyses of the data show that expressive organizations have task oriented leadership style, clear goals, and are satisfied with the bonuses received, while the schizoid organizations have relation oriented leadership style, and exhibit role clarity and procedural agreement as well. The depressed organizations seem to have both types of leadership styles. Effective communications seems to be a significant predictor of the type of organization.

To evaluate the impact of career narrative therapy on job satisfaction and organizational self-esteem, a sample of 20 educational staff members were selected and divided into two groups of equal size, one of which went through a group career narrative therapy course. Both groups' job satisfaction and organizational self-esteem was assessed before and after the treatment using Smith's Job Description List and Pierce, et.al.'s Organizational Self Esteem Questionnaire. Results show that the therapy has been effective as far as job satisfaction is concerned, but the organizational self-esteem has not been affected.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the E-learning program at the virtual college of Oloom Hadees, a questionnaire on valuing and satisfaction was administered to a sample of 325 students. The reliability of the instrument was assessed to be 0.95. The analysis of the collected data showed no significant relationship between valuing and satisfaction as they have different factorial structures. Valuing seems to be a function of environmental support for the learners, technology, technical support and classmates, and subject and teacher collectively explain 61.5% of the variance. Satisfaction, on the other hand, seems to be a function of subject and teacher, accessibility, technology and technical support, and the learner and classmate which together explain to 50% of the variance. Further analyses of the data revealed that the effectiveness of the program is rather moderate.