Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2008, ED Teaching and Learning (Columbus campus)

This descriptive survey research explores and identifies duties and tasks on the demand side of what industry needs in a plastics technologist. An occupational study was initiated with the endorsement of five professional organizations and covered 29 plastics manufacturers in the greater Dayton, Ohio area. The occupational analysis method called DACUM (Developing A Curriculum) was used to identify the duties and tasks and related core competencies. An expert panel for the DACUM process consisted of experienced practitioners working within the plastics manufacturing field. The expert panel identified, organized and verified the duties and tasks, which led to the DACUM Research Chart containing 11 duties, 78 tasks and 72 enablers. The DACUM Research Chart was used to develop a task verification survey instrument for plastics technologists and consisted of enablers, demographics from responders, processes used in manufacturing, and the three most important research questions. The questions are as follows: 1) Does an entry level plastics technologist PERFORM this task? 2) How IMPORTANT is this task in the performance of your job? and 3) How DIFFICULT is it to perform this task? The population of plastics companies in the Dayton, Ohio area was determined to be 29 and one task verification survey questionnaire per company was mailed to the qualifying and volunteer plastics technologists employed in the manufacturing of plastic products. The survey data collection period of 30 days yielded a response rate of 93 percent. The survey responses led to the following findings: (1) the DACUM process has resulted in information useful for plastics technology curriculum development for a two-year community college; (2) the differences in the tasks percentages and means were small indicating possible curriculum improvement for entry level, tasks importance to the job, and difficulty to perform job; (3) the respondents with post secondary degrees tended to rate certain tasks and enab (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Paul E. Post PhD (Advisor); Robert E. Norton PhD (Committee Member); Christopher J. Zirkle PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Technology