African Journal of Education and Practice ISSN (Online) Vol.2, Issue 2 No.1, pp 1-15, 2017

Transcription

1 EFFECT OF PRACTICAL SPSS TRAINING ON STUDENTS RESEARCH COMPETENCE; A SURVEY OF JOMO KENYATTA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY MOMBASA CAMPUS POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS John Githii Kimani and Dr. Fridah Simba 1

2 Effct of Practical SPSS on Studnts Rsarch Comptnc; A Survy of Jomo Knyatta Univrsity of Agricultur and Tchnology Mombasa Campus Postgraduat Studnts 1* John Githii Kimani Lad Consultant, Finstock Consulting Ltd Ph.D Candidat (Economics), Univrsity of Nairobi Corrsponding Authors mail: John.kimani@finstockconsulting.com 2 Dr. Fridah Simba Dirctor, JKUAT Mombasa Campus Abstract Purpos: Th purpos of th papr is to assss th ffctivnss of th practical SPSS training to studnts rsarch comptncy. Mthodology: An xplanatory rsarch dsign was usd to stablish th rlationship btwn practical SPSS training and rsarch comptnc of studnts. Th population was 38 studnts and a cnsus of th full population was takn. A qustionnair was administrd at th nd of th training to captur th pr and post training xprinc and tst th ffctivnss of th training. Th analysis of th data was conductd through dscriptiv and infrntial statistics. In particular, frquncis, mans, standard dviations and paird t-tst wr usd. Rsults: Th post training valuation rsults rval that majority of th rspondnts had low knowldg in data ntry, dscriptiv statistics, rgrssion and corrlation analysis, paramtric and non-paramtric analysis, and journal articl xtraction and publication. Rsults also rval that th lvl of knowldg significantly incrasd aftr th training. This is supportd by th paird t-tsts conductd on ach aspct of training. Uniqu Contribution to Thory, Policy and Practic: It was rcommndd to th campus dirctor that frqunt trainings b organizd at th convninc of th campus. It was suggstd that DVC acadmic affairs can considr supporting th training financially or th studnts to b rqustd to pay a tokn f to mak th training sustainabl. It was suggstd that th training can b mad compulsory for all studnts undrtaking Businss Rsarch Mthods and points to accru onc thy attnd th training. Th rsults wr usful in thory building as thy validatd th fficacy of practical training pdagogical approachs. Ky words: SPSS, Practical, Rsarch Comptnc, Post Graduat Studnts 2

3 1.0 INTRODUCTION Possssion of rsarch skills is ncssary for studnts pursuing postgraduat studis. Rsarch skills ar also crucial at th workplac now that w ar in th BIG DATA ag. At a macro lvl, improvd rsarch skills imply incrasd rsarch and innovation, all of which ar important for achivmnt of Vision Exprintial larning is on of fw larning mthods that can hav a significanc impact on th participant's mindst. Moving byond thory to th actual act of "larning by doing,' nabls th train gts a first-hand xprinc of practicing what has bn taught. This plays a crucial rol in rtaining concpts and idas (Ptrson, 2017) Svral studis hav shown that thr is a positiv corrlation btwn practical lssons and prformanc vn though thr ar no spcific studis on th spcific ffcts of practical lssons on rsarch studnts acadmic prformanc. Muli (2014) in his study on dtrminants of Studnts Prformanc in Biology in KCSE found out that practical sssions playd a significanc rol in nhancing th prformanc of biology studnts. Mwangi (2016) also stablishd that th frquncy in which chmistry practicals wr usd in taching and larning positivly influncd th studnts prformanc in chmistry. Othr studis; Patton, Marlow & Hannon (2000) and Fltrinlli, Gabril & Trnto (2017) stablishd that thr was a significant improvmnt on prformanc of mploys who attndd training. Morovr, according to th constructivism thory of larning, individuals acquir knowldg and larn diffrntly. Th thory furthr suggsts that humans significantly construct knowldg and maning from thir xprincs. Hands on training thrfor allows studnts ncountr th tchnical problms thy ar likly to fac whn carrying out thir acadmic rsarch and hnc xpctd to nhanc rsarch proficincy. 2.0 METHODOLOGY A formal rqust was snt by th trainrs (Finstock Consulting) to th dirctor of JKUAT Mombasa campus to organiz for th attndanc and vnu. Th Dirctor succssfully organizd for th vnt and th studnt attndanc was quit imprssiv givn th prrgistration (38 studnts). Th vnt bgan at 9 am on Saturday 27 th May Th first activity was installation of SPSS softwar on individual studnt laptops. Th morning sssion which ran from 9 am to 1 pm covrd basic spss, whil th aftrnoon sssion which ran from 2 pm to 4pm covrd intrmdiat spss. A qustionnair was administrd at th nd of th training to captur th pr and post training xprinc and tst th ffctivnss of th training. Th analysis of th data was conductd through dscriptiv and infrntial statistics. In particular, frquncis, mans, standard dviations and paird-tst wr usd. 3.0 REPORT ON PRE TRAINING EVALUATION It also rqustd thm to indicat whthr thy had any xprinc in using SPSS prior to this training. Furthrmor, th studnts wr rqustd to indicat whthr thy had basic knowldg of spss (ability to work with spss) at th bginning of th training. 3.1 Studnt Lvl of Education Th studnts wr rqustd to indicat thir lvl of ducation (Undrgraduat, MBA or PhD). Th rsults ar prsntd in figur 1. 3

4 Studnts' lvl of ducation phd, 2, 6% undrgraduat, 7, 19% mastrs, 27, 75% Figur1: Studnts lvl of ducation From th rsults, 75% of th studnts wr mastrs studnts, 6% wr PhD studnts whil 19% whr undrgraduat studnts. This shows that thr is widsprad intrst by both undrgraduat and post graduat studnts to larn how to analyz data by us of spss softwar. 3.2 Prior Us of SPSS Softwar A qustion was posd to tst whthr studnts possssd basic SPSS knowldg to analyz data. Th rsults ar prsntd in th figur 2. prior us of spss softwar ys 38.9% no 61.1% Figur 2: Prior us of SPSS softwar Th rsults rval that th majority (61.1%) of studnts rvald had not usd th spss softwar prviously. Only 38.9% of studnt had usd SPSS softwar prior to th training. Most studnts also admittd that thy could not us any othr statistical softwar-stata, 4

5 Eviws, SAS, and R. In addition, undrgraduat studnts wr lss proficint with statistical analysis softwar as compard to th post graduat studnts. 3.3 Extnt of Basic Knowldg of SPSS (Ability to input data into spss) Th studnts wr rqustd to indicat th xtnt to which thy wr abl to input data in SPSS (a basic paramtr to tst whthr studnts possss SPSS analysis skill). Rsults wr prsntd in figur 3. Ability to input data into spss mdium 11% low 31% vry low 58% Figur 3: Ability to input data into Spss Rsulsts in figur 3 rval that 58% of th studnts had vry low skills, 31% had low skills bringing to a total of 89% of thos who had low skills. Elvn prcnt (11%) indicatd that thy had mdium skills. This implis a dir nd for hands-on statistical training. 4.0 POST TRAINING EVALUATION A qustionnair was administrd to th participants aftr th training. Th participants wr rqustd to rat thir undrstanding and knowldg of data analysis aspcts namly, Data ntry bfor and aftr training Dscriptiv analysis bfor and aftr analysis, Rgrssion and Corrlation bfor and aftr analysis Journal articl xtraction and publication Ovrall knowldg bfor and aftr training Th rsponss from th studnts wr analyzd using mans, standard dviations frquncis and prsntd using bar graphs. 4.1 Undrstanding and Knowldg of Data Entry bfor and aftr Th rsults prsntd in figur 4 indicatd that 58.3% of th workshop attndants had low or vry low ability to input data into SPSS bfor th training. Howvr, 80.6% (66.7%+ 13.9%) rportd a high ability to input data aftr th training. Ths findings imply that th training on data ntry was ffctiv. 5

6 prcntag African Journal of Education and Practic bfor training aftr training 10 0 vry low low mdium high vry high Figur 4: Undrstanding and knowldg of Data ntry bfor and aftr training Infrntial statistics wr conductd to support th dscriptiv rsults. In particular, a paird t-tst was mployd. Tabl 1 shows th rsults. Th rsults lad to th conclusion that th knowldg of data ntry was significantly highr aftr th training implying that th training was ffctiv. Tabl 1: Paird t-tst for Undrstanding and knowldg of Data ntry bfor and aftr training aspct Man Std. Dviation man diffrnc t stat P valu conclusion Your ability to input data in SPSS-Bfor Your ability to input data in SPSS-Aftr Thr is a significant diffrnc in knowldg bfor and aftr training- This implis that th training in data ntry was ffctiv 4.2 Undrstanding and Knowldg of Dscriptiv Statistics bfor and aftr Th rsults prsntd in th figur 5 indicatd that 80.6% (55.6% %) of th workshop attndants had low or vry low knowldg of dscriptiv statistics bfor training. Howvr, aftr training, 77.8% (55.6%+22.2%) of th rspondnts indicatd that thy had high knowldg of dscriptiv statistics. Ths findings imply that th training was ffctiv. 6

7 p r c n t a g vry low low mdium high vry high bfor training aftr training Figur 5: Undrstanding and knowldg of dscriptiv statistics bfor and aftr training Infrntial statistics wr conductd to support th dscriptiv rsults. In particular, a paird t-tst was mployd. Rsults in tabl 2 show th rsults. Th rsults lad to th conclusion that th knowldg of dscriptiv statistics was significantly highr aftr th training implying that th training was ffctiv. Tabl 2: paird t-tst for undrstanding and knowldg of dscriptiv statistics bfor and aftr training aspct Man Std. Dv Ability to do dscriptiv statistics- Bfor Ability to do dscriptiv statistics- Aftr Man diffrnc t stat P valu Conclusion Thr is a significant diffrnc in knowldg of dscriptiv statistics bfor and aftr training This implis that th training was ffctiv 4.3 Undrstanding and knowldg of rgrssion and corrlation analysis bfor and aftr training Th rsults prsntd in th figur indicatd that 86.1% (44.4% %) of th workshop attndants had low or vry low knowldg of rgrssion and corrlation bfor training. Howvr, aftr training, 83.3% (69.4% %) of th rspondnts indicatd that thy had high knowldg of rgrssion and corrlation. Ths findings imply that th training was ffctiv. 7

8 p r c n t a g bfor training aftr training 0 vry low low mdium high vry high Figur 6: Undrstanding and knowldg of rgrssion and corrlation analysis bfor and aftr training Infrntial statistics wr conductd to support th dscriptiv rsults. In particular, a paird t-tst was mployd. Tabl 3 prsnts th rsults. Th rsults lad to th conclusion that th knowldg of rgrssion and corrlation analysis was significantly highr aftr th training implying that th training was ffctiv. Tabl 3: Undrstanding and knowldg of rgrssion and corrlation analysis bfor and aftr training aspct Ability to do rgrssion and corrlation- Bfor training Ability to do rgrssion and corrlation-aftr Man Std. Dv Man diffrnc t stat P valu Conclusion Thr is a significant diffrnc in knowldg of rgrssion and corrlation bfor and aftr training This implis that th training was ffctiv 4.4 Undrstanding of Paramtric and Non-paramtric Tsts bfor and aftr Th rsults prsntd in figur 7 indicatd that 63.9% (30.6% %) of th workshop attndants had low or vry low knowldg of paramtric and non-paramtric tsts bfor th training. Howvr, aftr training, 94.4% (11.1%+83.3%) rportd to hav high knowldg of paramtric and non-paramtric tsts. Ths findings imply that th training was ffctiv. 8

9 p r c n t a g bfor training aftr training 0 vry low low mdium high vry high Figur 7: Undrstanding of paramtric and non-paramtric tsts bfor and aftr training Infrntial statistics wr conductd to support th dscriptiv rsults. In particular, a paird t-tst was mployd. Tabl 4.4 shows th rsults. Th rsults lad to th conclusion that th knowldg of paramtric and nonparamtric analysis was significantly highr aftr th training implying that th training was ffctiv. Tabl 4: Undrstanding of Paramtric and Non-paramtric Tsts bfor and aftr aspct Man Std. Dv Ovrall knowldg of paramtric and non paramtric tsts in this training-bfor training Ovrall knowldg of th paramtric and non paramtric tsts in this training-aftr man diffrnc t stat P valu conclusion Thr is a significant diffrnc in knowldg of paramtric and non paramtric analysis bfor and aftr training This implis that th training was ffctiv 4.5 Undrstanding of Journal Articl Extraction and Publication bfor and aftr Th rsults prsntd in th figur indicatd that 91.7% (36.1% %) of th workshop attndants had low or vry low knowldg of journal articl xtraction and publication bfor th training. Howvr, aftr training, 91.6% (72.2%+19.4%) rportd to hav high knowldg of journal articl xtraction and publication. Ths findings imply that th training was ffctiv. 9

10 p r c n t a g bfor training aftr training 0 vry low low mdium high vry high Figur 8: Undrstanding of journal articl xtraction and publication bfor and aftr training Infrntial statistics wr conductd to support th dscriptiv rsults. In particular, a paird t-tst was mployd. Tabl 5 blow shows th rsults. Th rsults lad to th conclusion that th knowldg of journal articl xtraction and publication was significantly highr aftr th training implying that th training was ffctiv. Tabl 5: Undrstanding of journal articl xtraction and publication bfor and aftr training aspct Man Std. Dv Ovrall knowldg of journal articl xtraction and publication in this training-bfor training Ovrall knowldg of journal articl xtraction and publication in this training-aftr man diffrnc t stat P valu Applicability and Rlvanc to Studnts Courss conclusion Thr is a significant diffrnc in knowldg of journal articl xtraction and publication bfor and aftr training This implis that th training was ffctiv Studnts wr askd to indicat th xtnt to which th training was applicabl and rlvant to thir courss. Options rangd from vry low xtnt, low xtnt, mdium xtnt, larg xtnt to vry larg xtnt. Ths findings in tabl 4.6 rval that th majority, 88.9% (38.9%+50%) of th studnts thought that th training was applicabl to thir cours to larg xtnt and vry larg xtnt. Th rsults confirm that th training was rlvant to studnts nds. 10

11 Tabl 6: applicability and rlvanc to studnts courss Statmnt Frquncy Prcnt mdium xtnt larg xtnt vry larg xtnt Total Rcommndation for Furthr A qustion was posd rgarding whthr th workshop participants would rcommnd furthr similar training in futur. Rsults in Figur 9, rval that majority of th rspondnts (86%) indicatd that thy rcommndd furthr similar trainings whras 14% said that thy would not rcommndd furthr similar trainings. Going by th majority choic, it was concludd that thr is nd for similar trainings so as to hlp quip studnts with analytical skills. Rcommndation for furthr similar training no 14% ys 86% Figur 9: Rcommndation for furthr training 5.0 SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Summary of ky Findings Pr training valuation rsults rvald that thr was widsprad intrst by both undrgraduat and post graduat studnts to larn how to analyz data by us of spss softwar. Dscriptiv rsults show that majority of rspondnts (61%) had no prior knowldg of SPSS. In addition, majority (89%) wr familiar to basic spss to a low xtnt implying a dir nd for training on spss basics. Th post training valuation rsults rval that majority of th rspondnts had low knowldg in data ntry, dscriptiv statistics, rgrssion and corrlation analysis, paramtric and non paramtric analysis, and journal articl xtraction and publication. Rsults also rval that th lvl of knowldg significantly incrasd aftr th training. This is supportd by th paird t-tsts conductd on ach aspct of training. 11

12 Majority of th rspondnts (88.9%) indicatd that th training was rlvant to thir cours work. Th majority of th rspondnts (86%) indicatd that thy rcommndd furthr similar trainings and this ld to th conclusion that thr is nd for similar trainings so as to hlp quip studnts with analytical skills. 5.2 Conclusions Th rport concluds that thr was widsprad intrst by both undrgraduat and post graduat studnts to larn how to analyz data by us of SPSS softwar. Thr is a nd for continud training in statistical softwar s and th hands-on training mthodology is ffctiv in improving undrstanding of SPSS data ntry, dscriptiv statistics, rgrssion and corrlation analysis, paramtric and non paramtric analysis, journal articl xtraction and publication. It was concludd that th training is rlvant to studnts cours work and studnts would attnd futur trainings if organizd. Finally, th training workshops ar usful for imparting vision 2030 rlvant skills. 5.3 Rcommndations Th rcommndations givn may influnc practic, policy and thory as follows; Rcommndation for practic W thrfor rcommnd to th campus dirctor that frqunt trainings b organizd at th convninc of th campus Rcommndation for policy W rcommnd that th DVC acadmic affairs can considr; That for th sustainability of th trainings, ithr th dirctor is supportd financially by th campus so that sh/h can b giving a tokn of apprciation to th trainrs or in th vnt that is impossibl, th studnts should b rqustd to pay a tokn f of say ks 2,000 instad of th commrcial rat of ks 18,000 (ks 7500 for basic spss, ks 7500 for intrmdiat spss and ks 3,000 for th softwar installation). In th vnt that th lattr option is tnabl, it is furthr proposd that th studnts should pay to a paybill providd by Finstock Consulting to avoid adding an administrativ burdn to th campus. That th training can b mad compulsory for all studnts undrtaking Businss Rsarch Mthods and points to accru onc thy attnd th training. This will b similar to points that accru for CPD hours whn accountants attnd trainings or points accru whn studnts go for attachmnts Rcommndation for Thory Building W rcommnd that th trainings workshops can b usd to tst pdagogical thoris which stablish th right mix of training tchniqus. That is, th right mix of thortical and hands on data analysis training approachs. 12

13 REFERENCES Fltrinlli, E., Gabril, R., & Trnto, S. (2017). Th Impact of Middl Managr on Productivity: A Tst on Italian Companis. Industrial Rlations: A Journal of Economy and Socity, 56(2), Goos, M., Val, C., & Stillman, G. (2017). Taching scondary school mathmatics: Rsarch and practic for th 21st cntury. Alln & Unwin. Muli, N. (2014). Som Dtrminants of Studnts Prformanc in Biology in KCSE: A Cas of Cntral Division of Machakos District. Intrnational Journal of Innovativ Rsarch and Studis, 3(1), Mwangi, J. T. O. (2016). Effct of Chmistry Practical s on Studnts prformanc In Chmistry in Public Scondary Schools of Machakos and Nairobi Countis in Knya. Doctoral Dissrtation, Univrsity of Nairobi. Patton, D., Marlow, S., & Hannon, P. (2000). Th rlationship btwn training and small firm prformanc; rsarch framworks and lost qusts. Intrnational small businss journal, 19(1), Rouillr, J. Z., & Goldstin, I. L. (1993). Th rlationship btwn organizational transfr climat and positiv transfr of training. Human rsourc dvlopmnt quartrly, 4(4),

14 Appndix 1: Pictorial rprsntation of th training activity and participants 14

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