Dental Students’ and Faculty Members’ Perceptions of Incivility in the Classroom

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare dental students' and faculty members' perceptions of classroom incivility and to determine how many students willingly engage in uncivil behavior in the classroom. A web-based survey research design was used to obtain information regarding uncivil classroom behaviors from dental students and full- and part-time dental faculty members at a midwestern U.S. dental school. Responses were received from sixty-eight dental faculty members and 127 third- and fourth-year students. The perceptions of faculty members about what constitutes uncivil classroom behavior differed from those of students. In fact, of the eighteen questions asked of both groups, statistical differences were found for eleven (61 percent).