TPC-Journal-V4-Issue5

The Professional Counselor \Volume 4, Issue 5 524 Furthermore, independent t tests were conducted to determine whether students’ ratings of counseling services differed significantly between genders and between students who had or had not sought counseling services. A statistically significant result was found in students’ ratings of school counselors’ availability in the independent t test based on gender. Female students rated school counselors’ availability significantly higher than male students did ( F = 4.196, p < .05). Statistically significant results also were found based on whether or not the students had sought counseling services. As shown in Table 2, students who had received prior counseling services rated counselors significantly higher in the following areas than did students who had never received counseling services: knowledge of achievement tests, friendliness and approachability, understanding students’ point of view, advocate for students, promptness in responding to requests, ability to explain things clearly, reliability to keep promises, availability, and overall effectiveness. Table 2 Students’ Evaluations of School Counselors Depending on Whether or Not They Seek Services School counseling services evaluated Levene’s test a t test b F p t df p M difference SE difference Knowledge of college admission .59 .443 1.84 139 .068 .46 .25 Knowledge of vocational information .55 .460 2.22 135 .028 .51 .23 Knowledge of achievement tests 7.61 .007 1.53 134 .128 .40 .26 Friendliness and approachability 7.34 .008 2.10 135 .038 .47 .22 Understanding students’ points of view 8.26 .005 2.46 136 .015 .57 .23 Advocate for students’ 2.89 .092 2.50 135 .014 .67 .27 Promptness in responding to requests 18.23 .000 2.12 135 .036 .55 .26 Ability to explain things clearly 17.92 .000 2.24 135 .027 .53 .24 Reliability to keep promises 9.28 .003 2.44 135 .016 .70 .29 Availability to students 9.59 .002 2.24 135 .027 .55 .25 Overall effectiveness 39.95 .000 3.03 135 .003 .74 .25 a Levene’s test for equality of variances. b t test for equality of means. A 2 × 2 between-subjects ANOVA was conducted to evaluate the effects that gender and students’ experiences with counseling services had on students’ perceptions of counseling services. Levene’s test and Fmax indicated that the homogeneity of variances assumption was met. A statistically significant interaction effect was found between gender and whether or not the students had received counseling services, F (1, 133) = 5.923, p = .016. As shown in Figure 1, the relationship between whether or not students had received counseling services and their perceptions of school counselors differed depending on gender. Among students who had had individual meetings with their counselors, males rated the counselors higher than females did, while females rated the counselors higher than males did if they had never received counseling services.