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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN
3.1 NATURE OF DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH
Descriptive research studies are designed to obtain pertinent
and precise information concerning the current status of phenomena
and whenever possible to draw valid general conclusions from the
facts discovered. They are restricted not only to fact finding but may
often result in formulation of important principles of knowledge and
solution of significant problems concerning local, state, national and
international issues. Descriptive studies are more than just a
collection of data; they involve measurement, classification,
analysis, comparison and interpretation:
of what exists with respect to variables or conditions in a
situation;
of what we want by identifying standards or norms with which to
compare the present conditions or what experts consider to be
desirable, and
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of how to achieve goals by exploring possible ways and means
on the basis of the experience of others or the opinions of
experts.
3.2 SURVEY METHOD
Survey studies are conducted to collect detailed descriptions
of existing phenomena with the intent of employing data to justify
current conditions and practices or to make more intelligent plans
for improving them. Their objective is not only to analyze, interpret,
and report the status of an institution, group, or area in order to
guide practice in the immediate future, but also to determine the
adequacy of status by comparing it with established standards. Some
surveys are confined to gather all three types of information:
data concerning existing status
comparison of existing status with the established status and
standards, and
means of improving the existing status;
while others are limited to one or two of these types.
3.3 EX-POST-FACTO DESIGN
The literal meaning of the phrase ex-post facto from what is
done afterwards. In this method of research facts are observed and
noted as to their differences and the antecedent conditions are
46
analyzed respectively. The term 'ex-post-facto', was first used by
Chapin and Greenwood to mean a quasi experiment in which an
attempt is made to control independent variables by matching and
symbolic means.
Fred N. Kerlinger has defined "Ex-post facto research as a
systematic empirical enquiry in which the scientist does not have
direct control of independent variables because their manifestations
have already occurred or because they are inherently not
manipulatable. Inferences about relations among variables are made
without direct invention from concomitant variation of independent
and dependent variables."
The logic of ex-post facto method is that analysis and
empirical verification of variable "X" can be undertaken from the
variable "Y" in a background manner. The researchers can proceed
from the observed differences in "Y", to find out the possible causal
factor.
Kerlinger observed, "In ex-post facto research, direct control
is not possible-neither experimental manipulation not random
assignment can be used by researcher. Thus, the rationale of this
method is that a conceptual structure be worked out for analyzing
the facts and their relationships in accordance with their natural
manipulation because many research questions in education do not
lend themselves to experimental manipulation.
47
3.4 SAMPLE
The sample is confined to 300 teachers and 1500 students
were taken from 15 Grant-in-Aid and 15 Self-Finance Secondary
School Students. The selection of sample was done through random
technique of sampling. The sample selection will be done in that
manner that the sample represents the total Gujarat State and for this
purpose 3 Grant-in-aid and 3 Self-Finance secondary schools were
taken from North, South, East, West and Middle Gujarat.
3.5 SAMPLE DESIGN
Particulars Grant-in-aid
Self Finance
Total
No. of school 15 15 30
No. of Teachers
Male 75 75 150
Female 75 75 150
No. of Students
Boys 375 375 750
Girls 375 375 750
48
Test and Tools Used For the Study
Table shows the test and tools used for the present study.
For Teachers
1 Personal Information
Sheet
Self Made
2 Achievement Motivation Robert Helmreich and
Janet Spence
3 Study Habit Self Made
For Students
1 Personal Information
Sheet
Self Made
2 Achievement Motivation Achievement Motivation
Test (ACMT) by V.P.
Bhargava
3 Study Habit PSSHI Palsane & Sharma
Study Habits Inventory by
M.N. Palsane & Sadhana
Sharma
49
Brief Description of Tests and Tools Used
FOR TEACHERS
Personal Bio-Data Sheet
The self made personal bio-data sheet was used for the study.
It includes questions relating to subject's name, father's name,
subject's age, sex, present designation, marital status, service
experience, monthly family income, permanent residence, local
residence and telephone number. It takes nearly 5 minutes to
complete it.
Achievement Motivation Test
Although McClelland and his colleagues rely on TAT to
measure need for achievement, other researches have developed
methods requiring less time to administer and less expertise to
interpret. One of these measures, developed by Robert Helmreich
and Janet Spence, divides the need for achievement into three
factors. The Work factor represents "the desire to work and to do a
good job", the mastery factor reflects "a preference for difficult,
challenging task or meeting internally prescribed standards of
performance excellence". and the competitiveness factor describes,
"the enjoyment of interpersonal competition and the desire to win"
(Spence & Helmreich, 1983, p 41) see Appendix A1. (Copy of the
tool).
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ADMINISTRATION OF TOOL
After selecting the schools randomly out of total schools, the
investigator personally visited all these Schools during their working
sessions.
The investigator developed personal rapport with the teachers
of schools during their lunch break time and free period. After
giving brief introduction of the tool on achievement motivation,
investigator described the questionnaire and gave the instructions for
filling up the questionnaire, which comprised of 19 items divided
into three components. No time limit was imposed for filling up the
questionnaire. After 30 minutes the papers were collected and
investigator thanked the teachers for their co-operation. Same
process was followed at all the selected schools.
SCORING
As per manual of the tool assessing your own personality
(Achievement Motivation) Robert Helreich and Janet Spence, the
rating on each item is done using the following scale:
1. Strongly Agree
2. Somewhat Agree
3. Neither Agree Nor Disagree
4. Somewhat Disagree
5. Strongly Disagree
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Table gives the whole picture of the tool used to collect the
data.
Table 3.1
Components of Achievement Motivation on 5 point scale
S.No. Components Items Minimum
Score
Maximum
Score
Middle
Mark
1. Work 06 06 30 18
2. Mastery 08 08 40 24
3. Competitiveness 05 05 25 15
Total Three 19 19 95 57
Table shows that there are three components of achievement
motivation i.e. work, mastery and competitiveness having six eight
and five items respectively which are measured on 5 point scale.
Study Habit Scale for Teachers
The Study Habit Scale is constructed and standardized by
researcher himself with the help of Dr. Ajay Kumar Chaudhary,
Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychology, Government Meera
Girls College, Udaipur. The scale consists of twenty questions,
depending upon the results of pilot study and opinions of several
52
psychologists, 30 questions in each of the study habit were finally
selected out of 40 questions originally framed for each. Later on the
basis of t value finally 20 items were found appropriate for the scale.
The questions elicit answers on a 5 point continuum scale. Some of
the questions indicate the presence of study habit when these are
answered negatively, and are given scores accordingly. These
negative answers imply social or interpersonal deprivations which
are liable to give rise to less study habits. Most of the questions
indicate the presence of study habit when these are answered
positively, and are given scores accordingly. The positive answers
show personal ability and reactive features.
The scale was constructed through Likert Method of Scale
Construction. On the basis of the responses obtained by 100
respondents (teachers) the upper group and lower group was
ascertained. The ‘t’ value was calculated for item selection. The ‘t’
value obtained for each question (on 30 questions) is presented here
in the following table:
53
Item
No.
‘t’ value Selected/
Rejected
Item
No.
‘t’ value Selected/
Rejected
1 2.32 Selected 16 3.56 Selected
2 2.15 Selected 17 1.17 Rejected
3 1.23 Rejected 18 2.21 Selected
4 0.89 Rejected 19 2.09 Selected
5 3.00 Selected 20 1.98 Selected
6 2.19 Selected 21 0.55 Rejected
7 1.99 Selected 22 2.35 Selected
8 1.98 Selected 23 2.61 Selected
9 1.55 Rejected 24 3.22 Selected
10 2.01 Selected 25 1.29 Rejected
11 0.99 Rejected 26 1.96 Selected
12 2.35 Selected 27 1.54 Rejected
13 0.98 Rejected 28 2.01 Selected
14 3.06 Selected 29 4.10 Selected
15 1.55 Rejected 30 2.35 Selected
54
Mode of Administration
Written application - The subject is supplied with a copy of the scale
and is requested to read the instruction and act accordingly.
Validity
To find out their empirical validity, self-rating by the subjects
were obtained on a five point scale as the certain is employed. This
method is used because no other suitable criterion was available for
the purpose. The correct use of this method required proper selection
of subjects. For rating their own feelings of study habit in a scale,
the subjects were expected to know the purpose of study habit. They
should be able to understand the scale, and judge their own study
habit in reference to that. Therefore, teachers were selected as
subjects. The subjects were consecutively given questionnaires to
answer, and scales to rate their own study habits. Correlation
coefficient was calculated to obtained to obtain the Validity
Coefficients which is presented in table 3.2.
Table 3.2
Validity Coefficients of Self Made Teachers Study Habit Scale
Comparable test N Group Validity
Coefficient
Self-rating 60 Teachers 0.717
55
These are sufficiently high validity coefficient, significant
above one percent level.
Reliability
Statistics of “test-retest” reliability was used for measuring
consistency coefficients of study habit scale. For that, scale was
administrated twice at the interval of three weeks to a group of
eighty under-graduate and post-graduate students. The findings are
given in Table 3.3
Table 3.3
Reliability Coefficients of Study Habit Scale
Tests Retest
Interval
N Product moment reliability
Study Habit
Scale
3 weeks 80 0.920
These above figures indicate very high reliability coefficients.
Such high reliability coefficients might be questioned, because in
the field of psychological testing such is not a common occurrence.
The group of subjects was drawn from 6 colleges and from both
sexes. Heterogeneity itself apart from the test accuracy is known to
effect the correlation coefficient (reliability in this case) in raising it
56
to a certain extent. Therefore, when due allowance is made for the
effect of heterogeneity, these high reliability coefficients might be
accepted as reliable figures.
Scoring
Subjects are given scores according to the scoring schedules.
The procedure that was followed for constructing scoring schedules
is described below.
Scoring
The scoring key is given in table 3.4 & 3.5 for study habits
respectively.
Table 3.4
Scoring Schedule of Teacher’s Study Habit Scale
Question No.
Scores
Very
Much
Much Average Less Very
Less
1 1 2 3 4 5
2 5 4 3 2 1
3 1 2 3 4 5
4 5 4 3 2 1
57
5 1 2 3 4 5
6 1 2 3 4 5
7 1 2 3 4 5
8 5 4 3 2 1
9 5 4 3 2 1
10 5 4 3 2 1
11 5 4 3 2 1
12 5 4 3 2 1
13 5 4 3 2 1
14 5 4 3 2 1
15 5 4 3 2 1
16 5 4 3 2 1
17 5 4 3 2 1
18 5 4 3 2 1
19 5 4 3 2 1
20 5 4 3 2 1
58
Questions 1, 3, 5, 6 & 7 in the questionnaire are scored according
to the schedule for negative answers only. Other questions are
scored for positive answer. The maximum score obtainable is 100.
Scores below 34 indicate very less study habits.
Scores between 35 & 51 indicate Less Study Habits.
Scores between 52 & 68 indicate Moderate Study Habits.
Scores on and above 69 indicate Very Much Study Habits.
Brief Description of Tests and Tools Used
FOR STUDENTS
Personal Bio-Data Sheet
The self made personal bio-data sheet was used for the study.
It includes questions relating to subject's name, father's name,
subject's age, sex, father's occupation, mother's occupation, number
of siblings, monthly family income, permanent residence, local
residence, telephone number and type of family. It takes nearly 5
minutes to complete it.
Achievement Motive Test
The Achievement Motive Test (ACMT) is constructed and
standardize by Dr. V. P. Bhargava of Agra in 1984. It is available at
National Psychological Corporation, Agra. The test has 50 items.
59
The present test is intended to measure N Ach score of the
person. It is based on the lines following the pattern on Dr.
Bishwanath Mukherji and the method of Sentence Completion Test.
The test consists of 50 items of incomplete sentences (items) which
are to be completed by the Ss by putting a check-mark on any one of
the three alternative responses given against each items.
The Ss are instructed about what they to do and are required
to check the item by choosing one of the alternative responses which
indicate his true feelings with respect to the point asked through a
particular item. It is expected and believed that the subject while
engaged in the process of checking the item would consider all the
aspects which may be round-about him at that time. Thus, his check
on the alternative responses (which he chooses so) would indicate
his true feelings. In this way all the items are to be checked
indicating his responses on the whole test. Another special feature of
the test is that items are repeated more than once in order to know
the level of consistency with which the subject is answering the test.
Similar responses on similar test items indicate the
consistency in responding to the test. This has been done so as to
avoid the time-interval gap effect which is usually present where test
retest is done allowing a time-gap. Care has been taken to cover as
many aspects as are conveniently permissible and possible from
administration point of view. The usual time which is needed for
administrating the test is 30 minutes, including the time needed for
60
giving the instruction to the Ss. It is desirable that the test
administrator while giving the test to the Ss should get them seated
in such a way that they may not talk to each other or consult each
other about the responses which they should check. This is sufficient
to check the faking of responses which is usually happening when
the test is being administrated in a group situation. The author feels
that language variable influences cannot possibly be reduced.
The construction of the test was done by following the
procedure which was collection of items in Hindi from different
sources (through experts in Hindi language and Psychology),
pooling them and then selecting them according to the respective
merits of the items. The similar procedure was followed for fixing
the possible alternative responses which have similar competitive
attraction value. In this the help given by the experts and consultants
is thankful acknowledged. When a rough format of the test (with 75)
items was ready a preliminary testing programme was carried on 35
subjects in order to check the administrative feasibility of the test
and also to find out which of the items are ‘not good’ and may be
easily dropped (without loosing anything) in the test. The final draft
was accepted after taking into consideration the reliability and
validity of the test. The inter-consistency among the test items, the
reliability of the responses and criterion validity was obtained which
was high enough for accepting the test for use as a measure of
Achievement Motivation.
61
Reliabilities
Test-retest reliability after an interval of one month : 0.87.
By comparing the responses of similar items : 0.79.
Considering the responses if they indicate to measure the
same aspects for which they were intended to measure, it was found
that they did so.
Validation Indices
The test was tried for having agreement with the criterion test
of N Ach, and with educational achievement in various faculties. It
was found that the test scores on this test and that with the test-
scores SCT of Dr. Bishwanath Mukherji had an agreement of .80
and with Educational Achievement Test (General) it had an
agreement .75.
Scoring
The procedure for scoring is very simple. It can be done with
the help of a scoring key. Each item indicating Achievement
Motivation (N Ach) is given a score of 1 and the total score earned
on all the items is the N. Ach Score. The scoring method is given in
scoring key in table 3.5
62
Table 3.5
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ewY;kadu dq¡th
ewY;kadu fof/k & izR;sd in ij vius
iz;ksT; }kjk dk fpUg vafdr ns[kdj vki
feyku djsa fd in esa fpUgkafdr izR;qÙkjksa ls fdrus
feyrs gSaA feyus ij izfr in ,d vad fn;k tkuk gSaA dqy vadksa dk ;ksx
gh ijh{k.k ij izkIr vad gksxkA
d [k x d [k x
1 26
2 27
3 28
4 29
5 30
6 31
7 32
8 33
9 34
63
10 35
11 36
12 37
13 38
14 39
15 40
16 41
17 42
18 43
19 44
20 45
21 46
22 47
23 48
24 49
25 50
64
Norms
As a result of administering the Achievement Motivation Test
(ACMT) on a sample of 600 college going students of Agra (300
Males and 300 Females) of the age range 16 to 22 years the category
wise classification as percentile norms was done. The following
table 3.6 presents the classification :-
Table 3.6
Norms Table for Achievement Motive Test
Category Scores
Boys Girls
High 23 & above 23 & above
Above Average 19-22 20-22
Average 17-18 17-19
Below Average 15-16 14-16
Low 11-14 11-13
Low Category : Typifies subjects performance lower than ordinary
one.
65
Below Average : Refers subjects performance is simpler than
routine performance.
Average : Refers to average performance nothing worth mentioning.
Above Average : Refers performance superior than average one.
Casual a appreciation is often done.
High : Refers to outstanding performance worth appreciable and
mentioning.
Palsane & Sharma Study Habits Inventory (PSSHI)
The Palsane & Sharma Study Habits Inventory was
constructed and standardize by M.N. Palsane and Sadhana Sharma
in 1989. It is available on National Psychological corporation, Agra.
The test has 45 items.
Description of each area of Study-habits
The study of the individual cover mainly the reading habits,
learning techniques, memory, time-schedule, physical conditions,
examination, evaluation, etc.
The following table 3.7 shows the items belonging to various
areas.
66
Table 3.7
Areas of Study Habits Inventory
S.No Areas No. of Items
1. Budgeting time 1, 2, 3, 4, 32
2. Physical condition 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 43
3. Reading ability 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 22, 28
4. Note making 11, 18, 19
5. Learning motivation 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 40
6. Memory 12, 26, 27, 37
7. Taking examinations 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 42
8. Health 41, 44, 45
Administration of the Inventory
The inventory can be administered to individuals as well as in
groups of 25 to 50. Still larger numbers can be handled with the help
of assessment supervisors and the public address system (Loud
Speakers).
67
The subjects should be seated comfortably and as far as
possible should not have a chance to talk to other students or glance
at their answers. There should be good ventilation and light in the
room.
By explaining the purpose of the test, the supervisor should
try to get full cooperation from the students. The inventory is self-
administering. All the instructions are printed on the front page of
the inventory.
The supervisor should read these out to the students and
explain to them whatever is necessary. The following points should
be emphasized :
The results are useful only if the subjects give honest answers.
The needed bio-data be filled on the first page of Inventory. The test
administrator should see this personally. Although there is no time-
limit, the subjects should complete the entire inventory within 20 to
25 minutes. The answer of the individuals will be kept confidential.
If the subjects have any difficulty in understanding the meaning of
the words or statements, the test administrator may be consulted.
Scoring
The procedure of scoring is quite simple. For ‘Always’ or
‘Mostly’ response, score of 2 is awarded, whereas 1 and 0 scores are
to be given foe ‘Sometimes’ or ‘Never’ responses respectively. In
case of statement Nos. 6, 9, 13, 15, 24, 26, 34, 36, 37, 41 & 42 the
68
weightage of scoring is reversed and it is as 0, 1 and 2 for ‘always’,
‘sometimes’ and ‘never’ responses respectively. The maximum
obtainable score is 90. Higher score indicates good study habits.
Reliability
The reliability coefficient was found to be .88 by test retest
method (with an interval of 4 weeks) on a sample of 200 male
students of undergraduate classes. The reliability coefficient was
found to be .67 with an interval of 3 months on a sample of 60 girls
studying in intermediate classes. Using split half technique on 150
boys of intermediate and undergraduate classes, the coefficient of
correlation was found to be .56 between odd and even items.
Validity
The Validity Coefficients indicate that the inventory has
sufficiently high Validity with other similar inventors and allied
Measures by other authors and have significant relationship with
other variables which influence the study habits and academic
performances. For research purposes, the inventory can be safely
recommended for use with the sample for which has been prepared.
The inventory, besides having a high face validity, has other validity
Coefficients which are given in table 3.8.
69
Table 3.8
Validity Coefficients of Study Habits Inventory
Name Of Other Tests N Validity
Coefficient
(a) With External Criterion (Similar type of Study Habit
Inventories)
1. Study Habit Inventory - Mukhopadhyaya and
Sansanwal
80 .69
2. Test of Study Habits and Attitudes - C.P.
Mathur
80 .67
3. Study Habit Inventory - B.V. Patel 80 .74
4. Study Involvement Inventory – Asha
Bhatnagar
80 .83
(b) With other Variable Measures
1. Verbal Achievement Motivation Test - V.P.
Bhargava
50 .46
2. Scholastic Achievement (Total Marks in
Annual Examination)
50 .42
3. Level of Aspiration - Shah and Bhargava 50 .58
4. Projective Test of Achievement Motivation -
P. Deo
50 .53
5. Reading Comprehension Test - Ahuja &
Ahuja
50 .76
70
Norms
The norms are decided on the percentile level and category
obtained by students of both sexes studying from Intermediate to
Postgraduate levels are given in Table 3.9
Table 3.9
Norms of Study Habits Inventory
Percentile Level Boys Girls Category Interpretation
100 75 78 A Excellent Study Habits
90 74 73
80 64 68
75 (Q3) 62 67 B Good Study Habits
70 61 65
60 60 64 C Average Study Habits
50(Md.) 59 63
40 57 60
30 55 58 D Unsatisfactory Study Habits
25(Q1) 54 57
20 53 56 E Very Unsatisfactory Study Habits
10 50 53
N = 400 300
Mean = 59.74 63.80
Median = 59.21 63.02
S.D. = 6.40 6.60
71
From the above table, the percentile level or position of a
Student category of his performance and its interpretation can be
made.
3.9 STATISTICAL TECHNIQUE USED
For analysing the data collected, the mean & standard
deviations were calculated and for testing the hypotheses, student ‘t’
test was used. All the statistical analysis is conducted through
computer on SPSS (Statistical Software for Social Sciences,
Version: 17.0). Wherever necessary data is presented through
graphs.
72