FACTORS AFFECTING ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF …

1 FACTORS AFFECTING ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF UNDERGRADUATE students AT UGANDA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY BY KYOSHABA MARTHA BBA (UCU) 2005/HD04/4262U DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FUFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT OF MAKERERE UNIVERSITY DECEMBER 2009 1 DECLARATION I, Martha Kyoshaba, hereby declare that, this dissertation is my original work and has never been presented to any university or institution for any ACADEMIC award. Sign:.. Martha Kyoshaba Date:.. 2 APPROVAL This dissertation has been written under our supervision and has been submitted for the award of the degree of Master of Arts in Educational Management with our approval as supervisors.. Dr. James L. Nkata Date:.. Dr. F. E. K. Bakkabulindi Date:.. 3 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my late mother, Mrs. Petrid K Majara who always wanted me to be a teacher, my husband Jacobs who encouraged me to strive on and my little girls, Isabel and Christabel whom I want to follow in my footsteps.

2 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to thank the following people who in many ways contributed to this piece of work. I am indebted to my supervisor, Dr. James L. Nkata for his patience, inspiration and encouragement. I admired the way in which he explained very difficult concepts in very simple ways. I would like to thank Dr. Beatrice Ssekabembe who led me through the first stages of my research work when I had no experience at all. Words cannot express how grateful I am to Dr. Bakkabulindi whose invaluable knowledge helped me to put this piece of work together, he guided me all through, read through my work and encouraged me not to give up. I am so grateful to my work supervisor, the Rev. Can Dr. Alex Kagume who encouraged me to go back to school and for allowing me to take time off work to study. I thank him and the management of Uganda Christian University who sponsored my studies at Makerere University.

3 I also thank my colleagues at work, Sylvia, Annette and Justine who always stood in for me when I went to meet my supervisor and Godfrey who helped to collect the filled questionnaires from the respondents. I cannot forget to thank my group mates Lydia and Esther, we always encouraged one another to keep on keeping on. I thank you all very much. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration .. i Approval .. ii Dedication .. iii Acknowledgement .. iv Table of Contents .. v List of Tables .. vi List of Figures .. viii Abstract .. xi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .. 1 Introduction .. 1 Background .. 1 Statement of the problem .. 5 Purpose .. 6 Specific objectives .. 6 Questions .. 6 Hypotheses .. 7 Scope .. 7 Significance .. 7 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW .. 9 Introduction .. 9 Theoretical review .. 9 6 Conceptual framework .. 10 Related literature .. 14 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY .. 27 Introduction .. 27 Research Design .. 27 Population.

4 27 Sample size and Sampling techniques .. 27 Research instruments .. 28 Validity of instruments .. 28 Reliability of instruments .. 29 Procedure .. 29 Data Analysis .. 30 Ethical Consideration .. 30 CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA .. 31 .. 31 Background of the .. 31 Description of the dependent .. 34 Verification of Hypotheses .. 39 7 CHAPTER FOUR: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .. 50 .. 50 Discussion of findings .. 50 .. 58 Recommendations .. 58 Areas of further research .. 60 REFERENCES .. 61 APPENDICES .. 67 Appendix A : Questionnaire .. 67 Appendix B : Reliability Analysis .. 72 Appendix C: UCU students enrolment analysis 2006/2007 .. 73 Appendix D: Pearson product moment correlation between former school background and ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE .. 76 Appendix E: Letter of authorization from Dean, School of Education to carry out the research .. 77 8 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Admission points and ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE of some students who graduated in 2007.

5 4 Table 2: Respondents by gender .. 31 Table 3: Respondents according to .. 32 Table 4: Respondents according to faculty of study .. 33 Table 5: Respondents according to the year of .. 34 Table 6 : Level of ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE as perceived by the .. 35 Table 7: Arithmetic mean and standard deviation of ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE .. 36 Table 8: Summary of t-test results for the relationship between gender and ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE .. 36 Table 9: Summary of the descriptive statistics and ANOVA results for the relationship between age and ACADEMIC .. 37 Table 10: Summary of the descriptive statistics and ANOVA results for the Relationship between faculty of study and ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE .. 38 Table 11:Summary of the descriptive statistics and ANOVA results for the Relationship between year of study and ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE .. 39 Table 12: Level of ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE as perceived by the respondents.

6 40 Table13: Summary of the Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis for the relationship between A level admission points and ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE .. 41 9 Table 14: Summary of the Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis for the relationship between diploma admission points and ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE .. 42 Table 15: Summary of the Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis for the relationship between mature age admission points and ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE .. 43 Table 16 : Summary of the Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis for the relationship between other PERFORMANCE in other examinations and ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE .. 44 Table 17: Parents social economic status as perceived by the respondents .. 45 Table 18: Arithmetic mean and standard deviation of social economic 46 Table 19: Summary of the Pearson product moment correlation analysis for the relationship between parents social economic status and ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE .

7 46 Table 20: Former school background as perceived by the respondents .. 47 Table 21: Arithmetic mean and Standard deviation of Former School Background .. 48 Table 22: Summary of the Pearson product moment correlation analysis for the relationship between former school background and ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE .. 49 10 LIST OF FIGURES Fig 1: Conceptual framework of the FACTORS AFFECTING ACADEMIC 11 11 ABSTRACT This study was designed to investigate the FACTORS AFFECTING ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE of undergraduate students of Uganda Christian University (UCU). Emphasis was put on trying to establish the relationship between admission points, parents social economic status, former school background and ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE of undergraduate students at Uganda Christian University. The study employed the use of correlation design to establish the nature of the relationships.

8 The validity and reliability of research instruments was established and data was collected from 340 respondents selected from all the six faculties of Uganda Christian University using the simple random sampling method. To analyze the data, the Pearson product moment correlation statistical tool was used with the aim of establishing the relationship between students admission points, parents social economic status, former school background and ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE of undergraduate students at Uganda Christian University. This formed the basis of the detailed analysis and conclusions and recommendations. The findings revealed the existence of a significant relationship between students A level and Diploma admission points and ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE , but there was no relationship between mature age points and ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE . The findings also revealed that there was a significant relationship between parents social economic status and ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE and a significant relationship between former school background and ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE .

9 On the basis of the findings, the researcher made the following conclusions; A level and diploma admission points are the most objective way to select just a few students from a multitude of applicants for the 12 limited spaces available at universities in Uganda. Parents social economic status is important because parents provide high levels of psychological support for their children through environments that encourage the development of skills necessary for success at school. That location, ownership and ACADEMIC and financial status of schools do count on making a school what it is and in turn influencing the ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE of its students because they set the parameters of a students learning experience. The researcher also confirmed the system s theory input output model. On the basis of the conclusions made, the researcher recommended that; Uganda Christian University maintains its selection criteria of using previous ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE as a measure of admitting students for undergraduate programs.

10 However mature age students could be given supplementary year or probation year to test their competency in addition to the entrance exam. The university should improve the student support system such that students from low social economic backgrounds are identified and assisted through offering scholarships. This study identified the need to investigate and analyze the mature age and international students recipe for success in higher education with the intention of developing some of these aspects for inclusion in all student selections. 13 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Introduction This Chapter contains the background, purpose, objectives, questions, hypotheses and significance of the study. Background ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE is affected by a number of FACTORS including admission points, social economic status and school background. Geiser and Santelices (2007), Acato (2006), and Swart (1999) all argue that admission points which are a reflection of the previous PERFORMANCE influence future ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE .