Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Older people--Iowa--Black Hawk County; Older people; Iowa--Black Hawk County;
Abstract
The present study was constructed as an exploratory model design and defense for a needs assessment survey in the state of Iowa. It was determined that a need existed for the development of a comprehensive empirical instrument for a pilot study in Black Hawk County, Iowa which could be employed by the Hawkeye Valley Area Agency on Aging (H.V.A.A.A.) and the writer. The purpose of the pilot study was: (1) to empirically test the model instrument for validity and reliability: (2) to give an analytical review of and argument for the utilization of each question used in the survey; (3) to set up and test a sampling method and cost inquiry for the instrument's further use in a larger ten county survey in Northeastern Iowa; (4) to review literature in the general area of gerontology with specific emphasis on the topics of religion and death and dying, in order to construct a number of research hypotheses which would suggest ways of testing relevant ideas in the much larger ten county survey. The data extracted from this study was to give the author only a glimpse of what the assessed subjective and objective needs of elderly might be in the larger survey. The data for the study was collected by using a pre-coded interview schedule. Two middle aged female interviewers were hired and trained for the pilot study. It was decided to take a random sample of 20 respondents, 10 in a rural enumerated district and 10 in an urban enumerated district. For the hypotheses section the respondent's religiosity was measured both by two single items; church attendance and religious self-perception, and a composite of the two items entitled "Religiosity. " It was hypothesized that religiosity would be associated with the sex of the respondent, would be related to a strong belief in life after death, would be positively associated with life satisfaction and positively correlated with aging. It was predicted that over fifty percent of the respondents would have a strong belief in and wish for life after death. It was further hypothesized that church attendance would be positively associated with a belief in and wish for life after death. Finally, it was hypothesized that religion would be the most frequent choice of influence for personal attitudes about life after death. The development of the hypotheses and technique of testing them were stressed instead of the calculated findings. This is due to the low sample size (20 respondents) and the high probability of sampling error (instrument and interviewing error). It was concluded that the results of the pilot study were sufficient to test the instrument for reliability and validity, to get an estimate of the costs for the larger ten county survey, to validate the sample design and finally to show the researcher that the technique of analysis of data was sound.
Year of Submission
1977
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work
First Advisor
Robert E. Claus
Second Advisor
Gene M. Lutz
Third Advisor
Edward W. Amend
Date Original
1976
Object Description
1 PDF file (170 leaves)
Copyright
©1977 Christopher J. Johnson
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Christopher J., "A Model Design and Defense for a Needs Assessment Survey of a Mixed Urban and Rural Elderly Population in a Midwestern State" (1977). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 3074.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/3074
Comments
If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to [email protected] and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.