Undergraduate student attitude toward studying music as related to the Perry Scheme of Intellectual and Ethical Development

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if student attitude toward studying music is related to their position on the Perry Scheme of Intellectual and Ethical Development and/or the mode of music instruction experienced at the collegiate level. Subjects were undergraduate nonmusic majors enrolled in music classes which satisfy general education degree requirements. Subjects were initially divided into two groups by type of musical experience inherent in the class. Stratification was further determined by the student's score on the Learning Environment Preferences (LEP). This yielded six cells having a uniform cell size of 35. For the purposes of this study, attitude was defined as the score each student achieved on an attitude questionnaire constructed by the researcher entitled Why Study Music? (WSM). The WSM contained 29 questions which represented either an intrinsic or extrinsic motivation for studying music. The attitude score was calculated by adding together the scores from each of these questions which yielded separate intrinsic and extrinsic scores. These scores were then subjected to an ANOVA where the main effects and interactions of Type of Musical Experience, Perry Level, and Time (pretest and posttest) were considered. Student attitudes were divided into two motivations: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic attitudes were significantly affected by both intellectual development and mode of instruction. Moreover, students enrolled in classes with participation have more positive intrinsic attitudes toward music study than do students enrolled in classes without the element of participation. Intrinsic motivation did not change over the course of the study. Extrinsic attitudes were not significantly affected by either intellectual development or mode of instruction, but did become more positive over the course of the study. Intellectual development, mode of music instruction, and time do not interact in any way to significantly influence either intrinsic or extrinsic student attitudes toward studying music.