An investigation of allied health faculty attitudes toward faculty development concepts

Allied health faculty attitudes toward faculty development issues were determined by using a semantic differential technique. The faculty development issues included: (1) faculty evaluation by students, (2) faculty evaluation by peers, (3) faculty evaluation by chairperson and/or program director, (4) continuing education and (5) faculty tenure. Subjects (n=128) included students and graduates of a graduate program in allied health education and administration (program affiliates) with a master's degree in education. Other subjects included faculty located within geographic proximity to the graduate program who had received a master's degree other than in education as their most advanced degree (nonprogram affiliates). Differences in allied health faculty attitudes toward the faculty development issues were attributed to the degree to which faculty had been socialized into the educational system. Four factors emerged from factor analytic procedures on which subject attitudes were compared: the merit, organization, style and rigor of faculty development activities. Significant differences were found among program affiliates but no between program affiliates and nonprogram affiliates.