The Influence of School Building Conditions on Students and Teachers :

A theory-based research program is a dedicated effort to focus research studies on certain aspects of organizational life so that a coherent knowledge corpus can be developed. Such an effort also can add to and strengthen the theory under consideration. A focused research program is difficult to plan from the beginning. Even after the goal of the plan is agreed upon, developing the theoretical construct of the plan is painstaking work. Considerable input must be given to establishing the bounds of the theory to be explored. Implementation of such a program is equally difficult, again for several reasons. The first reason is the difficulty in enlisting more than one researcher to participate in such an effort. A theory-based research program requires a commitment of several individuals who agree with the basic theoretical constructs under investigation. Second, funding for such a program in the social sciences field is extremely difficult to attain because of the lack of funding sources. In addition, it is difficult to enlist university students to complete studies directly related to the theory under consideration. The theory-based program presented in this paper can be considered a paradigm, a model to investigate how school buildings influence their users. The paradigm consists of a series of relationships that explain how school authorities are responsible for the condition of the school building and how the condition of the school building influences faculty, administrators, parents, and students. Further, it explains how the condition of the building influences the attitudes and achievement of the students who attend school in the building. Theory in the field of educational administration is used to try to explain, in the absence of empirical evidence, how humans and organizations behave. The theoretical model used in this paradigm tries to explain human phenomena related to how the physical environment influences humans. The model explains how school buildings come to be in their current conditions and how the conditions then influence school staff, parents, and students. or over 18 years research based upon a theoretical model to explain relationships between building condition and the health and productivity of the users has been promoted in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The systematic efforts of professors and students have resulted in a large quantity of valuable research produced from the model and presented here. The purpose of this manuscript is to describe this cooperative research program that is theory-based and to illustrate the research efforts that have derived from the theoretical model used. The research described here is a result of individuals wanting to examine the possible relationships embodied in the theoretical model and is presented in an evolving chronological order from the first research effort to those 18 years later using the same model. The research resulting from the theoretical model is presented in this order, rather than organized or grouped F The Influence of School Building Conditions August 2011 / ACEF 16 into separate themes or components, because the integrity of the theoretical model requires the recognition that there is a continuum of relationships from school leadership and financial ability influence upon building condition to the end result of subsequent influence of building condition on student and teacher health and productivity. A theory-based research program is a dedicated effort to focus research studies on certain aspects of organizational life so that a coherent knowledge corpus can be developed. Such an effort also can add to and strengthen the theory under consideration. By repeated investigations into the possible relationships between the human effort and the work of the organization, theory can be developed and refined. It is also possible to explore, through a theory-based research program, new relationships that were heretofore unknown or unrecognized by researchers. A theory-based research program requires considerable diligence and effort on the part of the investigators to mount such an effort and to maintain the direction of research efforts once the program is in operation. A focused research program is difficult to plan from the beginning. If one researcher intends to develop the plan and implement it, considerable thought must be given to developing the theoretical construct to be investigated. If several researchers are intent on working out a program, the task is even more difficult, because consensus must be attained on the goals of the program, area of investigation, and reporting of results. Because several researchers must agree to engage in the original planning effort with only a nebulous goal, similar research interests must be identified for those individuals who might participate in the plan. Even after the goal of the plan is agreed upon, developing the theoretical construct of the plan requires painstaking attention to detail. Considerable input must be given to establish the bounds of the theory to be explored. Implementation of such a program is equally difficult, again for several reasons. The first reason is the difficulty in enlisting more than one researcher to participate in such an effort. A theory-based research program requires a commitment of several individuals who agree with the basic theoretical constructs under investigation. The second reason is the extreme difficulty of attaining funding for such a program in the field of the social sciences because of the scarcity of funding sources. In addition, there is always difficulty in enlisting university students to complete studies or work on professor-funded studies that are directly related to the theory under consideration. In many situations, the funding of such a program rests upon the individual efforts of the researchers engaged in the program and the scant resources they may gain from their organization(s). In the vernacular, the research program in this area of study is usually carried out on the backs of individual researchers. The theory-based program presented in this paper can be considered a paradigm, a model to investigate how school buildings influence their users. The model is also a series of relationships that explain how school authorities are responsible for the condition of the school building and how the condition of the school building influences faculty, administrators, parents, and students. Further, the paradigm explains how the condition of the building influences the attitudes and achievement of the students who attend school in the building. Initial planning of the paradigm took place at an initial dissertation prospectus examination in which the student and professor proposed a research study dealing with the relationship between the condition of a school building and student achievement and behavior. Questions from the research committee related to how the research study would explain human activity in an organization and at the same time relate to the actual manner in which a school organization functioned. Thus, the goal of trying to explain all of the relationships involved in the research study arose from the questions of the committee. Planning of the theoretical model by the