The Relationship Between Use of Characters and Authors' Sex in the 1982 Young Authors Manuscripts

Date of Graduation

Spring 1982

Degree

Master of Science in Education in Literacy

Department

Reading, Foundations, and Technology

Committee Chair

James Layton

Abstract

This study investigated the difference between number of characters used by female and male authors. The sample of the study consisted of 84 females and 54 males in southwest Missouri whose manuscripts were selected for the 1982 Young Authors Conference at Southwest Missouri State University. The two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to assess differences between the number of characters used and the sex of the authors. One research hypothesis was tested. The conclusion drawn from this study is as follows: There is no difference in the number of characters used by female and male authors. A review of the mean table seemed to indicate that females utilized approximately the same number of characters as males. There was no appreciable difference. Although the findings of this study did not establish the existence of a relationship between number of characters and authors' sex, additional information indicated that children created characters of their own sex. Female authors created more female elementary age characters and male authors created more male characters, the majority of which were unclassifiable as to their age and sex.

Subject Categories

Other Education

Copyright

© Nancy K Steury

Citation-only

Dissertation/Thesis

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