Zilite Ligita, Dr. of AND STUDENTS’ Administration, Lecturer CHARACTERISTICS FROM POINT OF VIEW Turiba University, Set out in the article, the aim of the study is to describe the student groups in tourism and Latvia education management study directions, on the basis of the sociotypes research to improve educators knowledge of the nature of students. So tourism students and education management students have Conference participant, National championship in statistically signifi cant differing sociotype features. Therefore the research of the author proves that scientifi c analytics, the sociotype structure of tourism educators corresponds to the sociotype structure of tourism stu- Open European and dents and it has a social orientation but sociotype of tertiary educators as a whole has a more Asian research analytics humanitarian nature. championship Keywords: Socionics; sociotype; student; educator

Introduction Socionics as well as Type theory char- half hundred (61) type theory research- acterises individuals using 4 dichoto- ers, carrying out a comparative analysis The pedagogical profi ciency of mies (Extroversion – internationally of the dichotomy characteristics in the teaching staff is not only refl ected by recognised designation with the letter type theory and socionics as well as di- the individual’s pedagogical competence E /Introversion (I), (N)/Sens- chotomy features and other aspects that but also the understanding of interper- ing (S), Logic (T; Thinking in MBTI)/ determine the work motivation factors, sonal relationships [6]. But it can be seen Ethics (F; feeling in MBTI), Rational (J; learning styles and the optimal fi elds of from the results of the survey conducted judging in MBTI/Irrational (P; perceiv- an individual’s activity came to con- among Latvian school directors and ing in MBTI), and combining the poles clusion that both specialists of type teachers on the preparedness of gradu- results in 16 variants or 16 combinations theory as well as socionics have the ates for the job of teachers – one of the of letter codes that refer to a defi nite so- same opinions regarding these issues. frequently mentioned conclusions is that ciotype. Certain intertype relationships Therefore the author in her research the new teachers are well educated in the are formed between defi nite types of in- has used the discoveries of both type subjects but lack knowledge and skills in dividuals. theory as well as socionic researchers. other areas, including understanding the The aim of the study is to research The MBTI test is copyrighted and it personality of the learners [5]. The pri- students groups in tourism and educa- is expensive. The author upon empiri- mary task of all education employees is tion management directions, to test the cally testing the Jung typology on-line to gather precise information about their assumption that certain professions are Humanmetrics test in English found it learners [4]. attractive for individuals of certain so- well formulated and easily accessible. One of the aids that could provide in- ciotypes. It provides respondents the opportunity formation about students for successful to see their results – the sociotype letter decision-making in the education pro- Research metodology combination and a description. There- cess is Socionics - the theory on individ- fore the author organised the transla- ual sociotypes, their interrelationships Several methods of determination of tion of the test in Latvian requesting and management of human potential de- sociotypes can be applied depending on the translator to focus on the transfer velopment. Sociotype is the natural set of the goals. The visual-verbal method can of the essence of the questions into individual physic features that determine be used for the precise determination of the Latvian language as emphasised how the individual gets , perceives sociotype. The sociotype tendencies of by the specialist M. Raščevska [9] on information, make decisions and struc- social groups can be determined using psychological tests and questionnaires. tures his/her own life. tests as the incorrect reply of a respond- The test consists of 72 statements with At the end of the sixties and the be- ent regarding dichotomy features is com- just a “YES” or “NO” answer for each ginning of seventies the 20th century, the pensated with the same probability of in- of the statements. The author added Lithuanian scholar A. Augustinavichute correct reply of another respondent in the instructions to the test wherein she (04.04.1927. – 19.08.2005.) developed opposite direction and therefore the over- underlined that there are no incorrect, the theory on 16 all picture will refl ect the real situation better or worse answers and that the based on the typology of C.G. Jung, as [12]. If the researcher is only interested evaluation of each respondent for the well as using the A. Kempinski con- in the overall result then the responses of respective statement is the most impor- cept of informative metabolism [11], each respondent are not refl ected [7]. tant. Answering the test questions the and termed it as Socionics. Socionics is Although several tests have been respondents must be able to objectively widely renowned in and . formulated in socionics none of them analyse themselves. Some personality Socionics research was approved and ap- as acknowledged by socionic research- features should not be considered more pended by the other contemporary vari- ers themselves are qualitative enough valuable than others. Respondents have ant of C.G. Jung’s theory, an instrument as it is a relatively new fi eld. There- to also try to understand their subcon- widely known in the USA and Western fore the author, having investigated the scious behaviour and motivation for Europe as Type theory – the application works of more than one hundred (117) choices in different circumstances. of MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator). socionics researchers and more than a The author provided tourism stu- 24 dents the opportunity to complete the and an in depth study of their type de- Results analysis test in Latvian during the personnel scriptions there is justifi able grounds to management class while discussing the consider the results reliable. Comparing the results of the 1st and topic “Personnel interaction” and the Research has been carried out world- 2nd stage (Fig. 1) it could be concluded respondents could later fi lling the same wide in several study fi elds and it is con- that there is similarity in the sociotype answers for the English version on the cluded that a defi nite type of individual is structure. Internet site www.humanmetrics.com/ more or less connected with the fi eld. No In order to ascertain the average re- cgi-win/JTypes2.asp [8] get the results - such research has been published in Latvia. sult of statistical signifi cance the author the four letter sociotype combination and As the author in her day to day activities proposed a statistical hypothesis for the could get a description of their sociotype has more contact with tourism manage- dichotomy features SF, ST, NF and NT features developed by socionic research- ment students, students of these study of each professional discipline group ers. If the students themselves deemed disciplines were basically involved in fur- and tested it with the Mann-Whitney that the sociotype character 85%-100% ther research. There were four stages of test. The critical limits of test values are corresponds to their own thinking they the practical research. The fi rst two stages not exceeded at probability of 95%, and submitted the 4 letter combination to were carried out to ascertain whether in- level of signifi cance 0.936>0.05, which the author. If the students deemed that dividuals with a certain sociotype were indicates that the distribution for SF for the sociotype character corresponds to attracted to a certain study discipline. 448 tourism students of one HEI who deter- their own thinking less than 85%, they students of tourism study programme of mined their sociotype complementing changed the sociotype code by changing a Latvian Higher Educational Institution their sociotype description acquired as a letter and getting acquainted with the (herein after referred to as the HEI) were result of the test with their own evalua- relevant sociotype features. The letter of respondents in the 1st research stage and tion and tourism students of seven other the sociotype code that they were least 264 tourism students and 46 students of HEIs who just determined their socio- sure of while answering the test ques- education management study programme type in accordance to C.G. Jung’s test tions was the one that they changed. For of 7 other Latvian HEIs were respondents are similar. The NF (signifi cance level example if the student while answering during the 2nd research stage. At the same 0.065>0.05) and NT (signifi cance level the test in English got the result - „ISTJ” the author evaluated the conform- 0.969>0.05) features have the same dis- with a percentage 78:1:50:33, and read- ity of theoretical concepts of socionics in tribution in both groups. ing the description admits that it did not practice and their application possibilities Only the distribution of ST features fi t his personality then probably his code in academic management. (signifi cance level 0.027<0.05) for both was „INTJ”, and only the answers de- The 3rd research stage goal is to ascer- respondent groups differ. The ST feature scribing the sensory sociotype sounded tain the dominant sociotype of educational is not characteristic for tourism students attractive to him. If the student still could management students and the 4th research and therefore does not signifi cantly af- not recognise himself in the sociotype stage goal is to ascertain the dominant so- fect the distribution. It is characteristic description the author applied the visual ciotype of educators. Comparing the edu- of students in their self-evaluation to –verbal method asking additional ques- cators’ and students’ sociotype structure confuse logical thinking with logics type tions that helped the student to under- the possible problems in interrelationship features in socionics and as indicated in stand one’s sociotype. As shown by the during the pedagogical process can be the literature the answers characterising practical testing the test measurements ascertained. All educators from one HEI the logic features seem statistically more led to consistent results. and tourism course educators from 4 HEIs attractive than ethical [3]. These research In order to test and compare acces- were selected as respondents. results prove the validity of this tool – sible tests of different socionic authors and Jung typology test results the author carried out 2 experimental studies and concluded that using 4 different socio- type determination tests the best results in both the cases including the corre- spondence of students’ self evaluation were results got from Jung typology test and consequently the test was used for further research. During the one semester of the aca- demic year the author gave the fi nal Lat- vian variant of the Jung test to students in September and November. The sociotype determined with the help of Jung test for 76% of the students in September was the same as in November. As the students Figure 1. Comparison of sociotype of tourism students in Latvian Higher had also carried out independent studies Educational Institutions (comparison of 1st and 2nd stage research results) 25 market research [2] concludes that corre- spondence of employment gained to the respective fi eld of education after com- pletion of studies or during studies in a professional education institution is for example 58% in the service sector and only 44% in the commerce and adminis- trative sector. Therefore the information grounds and solutions should be sought. The 4th research stage. Analysing the sociotypes of educators of an HEI as a whole it could be concluded that out of 16 sociotypes the ENFJ type of educator is the dominant – 25%. Such a result is consistent as it points out the social role Figure 2. Comparison of sociotypes of education management of this sociotype - ”teacher”. Majority and tourism students of HEI educators are extraverted 62.5% rather than introverted more of intuitive contents of the 72 point test for determin- the same for tourism and education man- type – 61% that is characterised by fo- ing the sociotype. The research results agement students. cus on abilities, correlations rather than indicate that C.G. Jung’s typology test is So tourism students and education sensory, more of the ethical type - 70% applicable to study the sociotype of large management students have statistically rather than logical and more rational– respondent groups. The responses of the signifi cant differing sociotype features. 75% rather than irrational. tourism students of 7 HEIs differ from The student group differences corre- Comparing the educators of tourism the responses of education management spond to socionics theoretical concepts courses by sociotype with educators of students. It can be seen in the comparison on sociotypes for professional orienta- the HEI as a whole it can be concluded made by the author on the distribution of tion – majority of tourism students are tourism educators are more sensory sociotypes of respondents of both pro- SF sociotype oriented towards service (69%) rather than intuitive (31%). These grammes in accordance to their fi eld of and assisting people whereas majority results are similar to those of 1st research professional activity (Fig.2.). of education management students are of stage results on sociotype of tourism stu- A statistical hypothesis was proposed humanitarian group NF sociotype who dents– sensory (66%). The other dichot- and tested with the Mann-Whitney test for are interested in human potential and omy results of tourism students are very comparing the average research results. their capabilities. similar to the tourism educators rather The critical limits of Mann-Whitney test In higher education student move- than results of educators of HEI on the values were exceeded at probability of ment from one study programme to an- whole. It also corresponds to the research 95%, for SF feature (signifi cance level other can be observed or even termina- results that educators of study subjects (alpha) 0.018<0.05), that indicates that tion of studies. One of the reasons for it is use variation in accordance to their type. SF feature distribution is not the same for that students do not feel secure and confi - It also means that teaching habits of edu- tourism and education management stu- dent about their conformity of the choice cators of tourism subjects correspond to dents – SF feature is more characteristic of profession to their abilities, interests the cognitive styles of tourism students, for tourism students; for NF feature (sig- and the needs. The 2007 edition which cannot be said about educators of nifi cance level (alpha) 0.007<0.05), that of “Augstākās izglītības pamatrādītāji” general subjects – , microeco- indicates NF feature distribution is not [Basic indicators of higher education] of nomics, management etc. the same for tourism and education man- the education and culture general direc- Analysing the research data in ac- agement students - NF feature is more torate mentions that student dropouts in cordance to divisions of fi elds of pro- characteristic for education management higher education is a topic that should be fessional activity in Socionics and Type students; for NT feature (signifi cance paid special attention. Student retention theory the similarities and differences level (alpha) 0.014<0.05), that indicates indicators differ considerably in differ- between the results of educators of HEIs NT feature distribution is not the same ent countries. For example International on the whole, educators of tourism sub- for tourism and education management Standard Classifi cation of Education jects and tourism students can be clearly students - NT feature is more character- (ISCED) data indicate that at level 5A observed. The author proposed a statisti- istic for education management students. – the student ratio in tertiary education cal hypothesis to compare the sociotype The critical limits of Mann-Whitney who continue studies can be higher or structure of tourism educators and tour- test values were not exceeded at prob- equal to 80% - such is the case in Bul- ism students and tested it with Mann- ability of 95%, for ST feature (signifi - garia, Ireland, Italy, Cyprus and Malta. Whitney test. cance level (alpha) 0.085>0.050), that However in Estonia and Latvia it is ap- The level of signifi cance of SF indicates that ST feature distribution is proximately 50% [1]. The Latvian labour (0.687), ST (0.977), NF (0.522) and

26 calculations also prove that. The distri- bution of sociotype features of educa- tion management students and tertiary educators are the same (SF – 0.838; ST – 0.980; NF – 0.843; NT – 0.992). Among tourism educators and tour- ism students however the social group sociotype dominates, i.e. sensory and ethical: 53% and 51% respectively. These are people whose optimal fi elds of activity are fi elds where it is necessary to practically assist and serve people. Figure 3. Distribution (%) of tertiary educators as a whole, tourism subject Summing up the case study, carried educators and tourism students in accordance to their fi elds of professional activity out on the basis of theoretical concepts and in three stages on student and edu- NT (0.792) features exceed 0.05, so the The most common sociotype among ter- cators groups confi rmed the assumption distribution of features for tourism edu- tiary educators as whole is the humani- that certain professions are attractive to cators and tourism students is the same tarian group – intuitive and ethical NF individuals of certain socio-types. Tour- with probability 95% in accordance to (41%). This type is characterised by fo- ism students and education management groups of all professional activity fi elds. cus on capabilities, and human potential. students have statistically signifi cant dif- The author also put forward a sta- As mentioned in literature the optimal fering sociotype features. The research tistical hypothesis on the differences in fi elds of activity in accordance to their of the author proves that the sociotype sociotype structure between educators interests are fi elds where understanding structure of tourism educators corre- of HEIs as a whole and tourism educa- of human nature and motivation is in- sponds to the sociotype structure of tour- tors in relation to professional activity volved e.g. , human resourc- ism students and it has a social orienta- in groups. The hypothesis was tested us- es, , research in the aforemen- tion but sociotype of tertiary educators as ing the Mann-Whitney test. The criti- tioned fi elds, writing etc. Educators of a a whole has a more humanitarian nature. cal limits of Mann-Whitney test values certain sociotype apply a certain typical Researches in the fi eld of socionics were exceeded at probability of 95%, for such types infl uencing, persuasion, may contribute to successful decision- for SF feature (signifi cance level (alpha) stimulation methods as well as a com- making in the process of educational man- 0.003<0.05), 0.029<0.05 for NF feature munication style that is characteristic for agement. Differences in sociotype of edu- and 0.005 for NT feature that confi rms this type [13]. cators of general subjects and students can that SF, NF and NT feature distribution These results could be compared lead to interrelationship problems as the is not the same for tertiary educators and to the results of the 3nd research stage participants may lack the understanding tourism student sociotype structure are analysed before regarding sociotype of the features and different needs of one not the same. There is similarity only re- structure of education management post- another. On the basis of the theory on in- garding the ST feature. graduate students as the students parallel dividual socio-types and their interrelation- The author created a bar chart re- to their studies also carry out pedagogi- ships and management of human potential fl ecting the results of analysis of socio- cal activity at various education levels in development, socionics may provide the type structures of tertiary educators as schools (Fig.4.). information favouring the understanding a whole, tourism subject educators and In both cases the NF sociotype was of the personality of learners. The fore- tourism students in accordance to their most common among respondents, and casting ability of socionics is of great im- fi elds of professional activity (Fig.3). the most rare – ST sociotype. Statistical portance as it provides the opportunity to foresee what the interests of the individual in the educational process are. It is recom- mended to study the sociotype structure dominant in student groups. It would allow the educator to foresee the students’ work- ing habits and skills, build rapport with the students, motivate them towards academic excellence and enrich the students’ educa- tion process. The socionic concepts based on C.G. Jung’s psychological type theory could be used in the creation of professiogram and psychogram, for consulting in the Figure 4. Comparison of sociotype of education management students choice of study disciplines and for stu- and tertiary educators dent career consultations. 27 References: 4. Fjelds S.E. No parlamenta līdz kla- 10. Zīlīte L. “ Possibilities of use of sei. [From parliament to class].– R.: Rīgas Socionics information in the manage- 1. Augstākās izglītības pamatrādītāji. pilsētas skolu valde, 1998. – 74 lpp. ment of education process in Latvia” ./ [Basic indicators of higher education]. 5. Koķe T. Pieaugušo izglītības Synopsis of doctoral thesis (latv., eng.) (Key Data on Higher Education in Europe attīstība: raksturīgākās iezīmes. [The Rīga, 2011 – 74 p. ISBN 978-9984-49- – 2007 Edition. Eurydice Brussels: Eury- characteristics of the development of 1000-8 dice, 2007. – 252 p.) adult education]. R., SIA „Mācību 11. Букалов А.В. Соционика, 2. Augstāko un profesionālo apgāds NT”, 1999. – 102 lpp. ментология и психология личности. mācību iestāžu absolventu profesionālā 6. Garleja R. Links Between peda- [Socionics, mentology and personal- darbība pēc mācību beigšanas. gogy and Socio-economic Sciences in ity psychology] // Международныий [Professional activity of graduates of Education.// and social sci- институт соционики. № 1, 1995. / higher and professional education in- ences. Latvia. University of Latvia. 2 электронический ресурсс/. www. stitutions after completion]. (Eiropas 23//99. p. 137 – 146. socionics.ibc.com.ua/t/as195.html Savienības struktūrfondu nacionālā pro- 7. Geske A., Grīnfelds A. Izglītības [10.05.2005]. gramma „Darba tirgus pētījumi”). LU: pētniecība. [Education Research].LU 12. Гуленко В.В. Структурно- Rīga, 2007, XIV + 241 lpp. Akadēmiskais apgāds, 2006 – 261 lpp. функциональная соционика.: 3. Brown L.H. Using personal- 8. Humanmetrics. Jung Typology Разработка метода комбинаторики ity type to predict student success in a Test. Online test based on Jung-Myers- полярностей./ - К.: Транспорт Украiни, technology-rich classroom environment. Briggs Typology. www.humanmetrics. 1999. – Ч.1 – 187 с. Full Citation & Abstract. EdD. North com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp.[12.03.2012] 13. Румянцева Е. А. На пути к Carolina State University, 2006. 102 p. 9. Raščevska M. Psiholoģisko testu взаимопониманию.[On the road to http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/ un aptauju konstruēšana un adaptācija. mutual understanding]. - М.: «Армада- fullcit/3223113. [12.09.2007.] RaKa, 2005. – 281 lpp. пресс», 2002. - 250 с.

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