Using a Vignette Technique to Compare Various Groups' Beliefs About the Future

Abstract

The effectiveness of using the vignette as a research device for determining preservice elementary teachers', African American high school students', and Young Scholars' perceptions of the future was investigated. Similar results were found among groups regarding future transportation, communication, and various labor-saving inventions. Different results were found among groups concerning positive, negative, and uncertain happenings in the future. A large percentage of the negative, positive, and uncertain comments collected from the vignettes of the groups focused on environmental issues in the future. Vignettes of preservice elementary teachers at one of the universities used in the study were, as a whole, more pessimistic than the vignettes submitted by the other groups. Recommendations from the study were to (a) use the device to collect prerequisite knowledge from students prior to instruction about the future, (b) increase the group sizes for data collection, (c) use the device with other data-collecting techniques, and (d) use the device to determine the effectiveness of a curriculum centered on the future.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lillie S. West

William J. Sumrall is with the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Mississippi State University. Lillie S. West is with the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Millersville University, Pennsylvania.