Comparative Analysis of Upper Basic II Students’ Academic Performance in Basic Technology in Ikwuano L.G.A.

Abstract

This study compared Upper Basic II students’ performance on essay and multiple-choice test instruments in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State. Three research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The quasi experimental design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 1380 students of Basic II students in the 19 public secondary schools in Ikwuano L.G.A, Abia State. Simple random sampling technique was used to select four secondary schools and 160 students constituted the sample for the study from Ikwuano L.G.A. The instruments for data collection were Basic Technology Performance Test (BSPT), and Basic Technology Essay Test (BTET). The reliability of the instrument was established using split half method trial tested on 40 upper Basic II students in Government Secondary School Owerri, Imo State. The Internal consistency of the two instruments was calculated using Spearman Brown’s statistical method which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.89 for the multiple-choice test and 0.83 for the essay test. The mean was used to answer the research questions, while the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at P< 0. 05 level of significance. The study revealed that students who were tested with multiple choice test performed better than students who were tested with essay with a small margin. Female students performed better than male students who were tested with multiple choice test and essay test, and Gender had no significant influence on the mean achievement scores of Basic Technology students in multiple choice test and essay test.