Lecture versus Discussion as Related to Students' Personality Factors

In a time of readily available books and audio-visual techniques, the college classroom, according to cer tain observers of this scene, is more appropriately de voted to discussions and student centered (i.e., student led), activities which allow the student to participate, question, and express his own ideas. The instructor be comes a facilitator of discussion, a resource person, or perhaps just another member of the group who "learns along with" those who are formally designated as stu dents. Rare indeed is the issue of a college newspaper which does not contain an eloquent attack upon the lecture method or a plea for more "relevant" and hu manistic methods of education. A preliminary survey by the senior author of 212 undergraduate students (not those in the study reported below) indicated a 72% preference for Discussion as opposed to Lecture classes. If it is asserted that the lecture method does have merits which are appreciated by some students, a second theme of criticism may ap pear. This is to the effect that preference or even tolera tion of lectures is apt to be a reflection of the personality warping which has occurred in a society structured on authoritarian and passive conformity principles, valuing transmission of information over self-actualization and non-critical acceptance over creative self-expression ; in effect, that such students are maladjusted, authoritarian personalities who have become alienated from them selves (Haigh and Schmidt, 1956). A factor-analytic study of 107 undergraduate students in small groups (Mann, et al. 1970) suggests that in a non-academic setting there is a negative relationship between self confidence or security and interest in lectures. Canter (1971) found that mental hospital patients who score higher on the California F-Scale of authoritarianism tend to prefer lectures over group discussions in ward therapy programs. Studies of student attitudes toward lectures as op posed to discussion are, however, frequently compli cated by the fact that tests over the specific factual ma terial of the course itself (which may be technical and Unfamiliar material to the student) are better prepared for by organized lectures which allow the student to take systematic notes, with reasonable confidence that review of this material will result in better performance on the test (Kerrick et al. 1967). The student's expressed preference for the lecture thus may be based on the practical considerations of passing the course (Wispe, 1951). The present study examines student preferences for the lecture or discussion approach under conditions where no achievement test or grading is involved and where the subject matter is something on which the student has personal knowledge and interest (sleeping and dreaming) so that prior study is not necessary in order for a "discussion" to occur. Subjects of the study were 38 male and 57 female students from a college Introductory Psychology course. They participated as part of the course requirement and selection was on the basis of availability at the time of the study. In a preliminary session, each subject com pleted the Rokeach Dogmatism Scale, the California F-Scale of Authoritarianism, and a specially constructed Expectation of Benefits from a Learning Experience Scale. This latter scale asked the subject to rank from 1 (most desired) to 7 (least desired) the following items: "opportunity to express my own opinions about the subject," "opportunity to ask questions about the subject," "opportunity to hear what other people in the group think," "opportunity to get sound and expert or authoritative information on the subject," "oppor tunity to interact with and get to know other people in the group and exchange ideas with them," "opportunity to hear an organized and consistent presentation of the material," "opportunity to find out what the instructor or group leader thinks about the subject matter." From this pool of subjects, groups of ten subjects per group were selected for the experimental phase of the study. Five of the groups were informed that they would hear a lecture on Sleep and Dreams and five of the groups were asked to engage in a free discussion of the topic Sleep and Dreams, with the Experimenter serving as a resource person and a member of the group. Following the Lecture or Discussion, the subjects were asked to complete a special Rating Scale (described below). They were then asked to leave the room briefly and while they were out (2-3 minutes), the chairs were in