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An Examination Of Factors Contributing To Compatibility Between Interns And Mentors Within The Education Pre-Service Internship

Date

2017-07-07

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

ORCID

0000-0001-7638-9735

Type

Thesis

Degree Level

Doctoral

Abstract

The pre-service undergraduate education internship is a short, but intensely influential period of time for both interns and mentors. Compatibility between the intern and mentor can contribute to a positive relationship and help to ensure a successful internship experience for both parties. Predicting compatibility can increase the chance of successful internship experiences. The primary purpose of this study was to identify measurable factors contributing to intern-mentor compatibility, and to assemble those factors into a compatibility instrument. A theoretical framework informed the structure of the compatibility instrument in four categories: personality, relationship skills, applied skills, and expectations. The secondary purpose of this study was to gain insight into the ways in which personality, skills, and expectations intersect within the intern-mentor relationship, and how those intersections are reflected in the theoretical framework. The results of this study were applied to five research questions: 1) What traits are perceived as critical to describe a successful internship match? 2) How do those traits group together into measurable factors? 3) How can these factors and traits be combined to create a compatibility instrument that attains the highest coverage of those factors in the smallest number of items? 4) What theoretical and practical intersections exist between categories and factors? 5) What theoretical and practical advancements can be achieved from the intersections of categories, factors, and traits? A mixed methods research design was used to address these questions. Qualitative data was collected through interpretation panels. The results of the qualitative phase informed the creation of a 100-item pilot survey, which was deployed in the quantitative phase. Quantitative analysis refined the pilot survey to a final 50-item compatibility instrument. The final 50-item instrument measures 17 factors across the four categories of the theoretical framework. Implications for deployment of the compatibility instrument, and directions for future research are presented.

Description

Keywords

Internship, Mentorship, Compatibility, Survey Development

Citation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Department

Educational Administration

Program

Educational Administration

Part Of

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DOI

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