Dissertations

Date of Award

12-2012

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

Advisor

Dr. Gordon Sutherlin

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to add to the limited research with regard to bullying in private schools in general and specifically to member schools of the National Christian School Association (NCSA). Middle school students in grades 6, 7, and 6 were given a survey concerning bullying and bullying behavior in their schools. The effects by grade level of students in rural school settings versus urban school settings were determined with regard to the responses of the survey in four areas: prevalence of bullying, willingness to seek help, aggressive attitudes about bullying, and the overall results of the survey.

The quantitative, non-experimental study was conducted in four NCSA member schools in Arkansas. Two of these schools were in rural settings and two in urban settings as defined by the United States Census Bureau. The data collected were the results of a survey administered by a third party.

Students were selected in a stratified random sampling. They were stratified by grade and gender before being randomly selected for the study. A total of 20 students were selected from each grade at each school, when the total number of subjects in that group exceeded 20. In some cases, the number of students in a specific grade was less than the desired sample size. In these instances, the entire group was selected for the sample.

A 2 x 3 factorial analysis of variance was used for the analysis of collected data for each of the four hypotheses. The independent variables for each hypothesis were the grade levels of the respondent (sixth, seventh, and eighth) and the location of the school (rural and urban). The dependent variables were the four areas measured by the survey: prevalence of bullying, willingness to seek help, aggressive attitudes about bullying, and the overall results of the survey, respectively.

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