Students and Teachers on Etiquette Behavior: A Comparative Analysis of Notions

Abstract

Introduction. Compliance with the rules of etiquette at universities is a prerequisite for productive educational process and beneficial psychological climate. Changes in the system of higher education increase the importance of studying notions of etiquette behavior among educational process participants. The aim of this study is to reveal common and specific features in notions of etiquette behavior of university students and teachers. Methods. The sample was comprised of 69 teachers and 141 students from Russian universities. Indicators of etiquette behavior were used for analysis. Data was gathered through the original questionnaire and the Subjective Evaluation of Etiquette Functions Significance questionnaire by O. I. Danilenko. To process the results, descriptive statistics, frequency analysis, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, and Mann–Whitney U test were used. Results. The results correspond with the novelty of this study’s aim. Compared to teachers, more students think that students always comply with traditional rules of university etiquette. At the same time, both students and teachers gave high ratings to this indicator of students’ etiquette behavior. Compliance with strict dress code is not considered a necessity by the majority of respondents in both groups. At the same time, the desirability of teachers dressing in business style is higher. No significant differences were revealed in attitudes towards the institutionalization of etiquette rules – slightly more than half of the respondents in both groups support including these rules in university charter. All functions of etiquette were rated highly by students and teachers. Similarities were revealed in ranking of etiquette functions subjective significance in the samples. The revealed differences in evaluation of etiquette functions correspond with students’ and teachers’ age and status characteristics. Discussion. The results of the study revealed that there are more similarities than differences in notions of etiquette behavior between the groups of students and teachers. Recognition of the importance of university etiquette was revealed in both groups.

Keywords

• etiquette behavior
• rules of etiquette
• university etiquette
• functions of etiquette
• etiquette significance
• university students
• university teachers
• status differences
• appearance
• dress code