ON EXAMINATION MALPRACTICE IN NIGERIA UNIVERSITIES: FACTOR ANALYSIS DEFINITION

Transcription

1 Bulgaran Journal of Scence and Educaton Polcy (BJSEP), Volume 10, Number 1, 016 ON EXAMINATION MALPRACTICE IN NIGERIA UNIVERSITIES: FACTOR ANALYSIS DEFINITION 1 A. A. AKINREFON, 1 O. C. IKPAH, 1 A. O. BAMIGBALA *Modbbo Adama Unversty of Technology, NIGERIA O. I. ADENIYI Unversty of Ilorn, Ngera Abstract. Examnaton malpractce has become an epdemc n the naton s educatonal system. Ths study seeks to assess the pattern of examnaton malpractce n hgher nsttutons n Ngera, ther causes, effects and also proffer solutons. The sample sze of the study was calculated usng Yaro Yamane formula. The nstrument used for the study was a questonnare ttled Causes and Effects of Examnaton Malpractce (CEEMQ). The data collected were analyzed usng Factor analyss and Prncpal component analyss. The fndngs from the factor analyss n factor loadng 1 revealed that tems 13 (0.5998), 9 (0.6785) and tem 8 (0.506) are the major causes of examnaton malpractce. Factor loadng revealed that tem 6 (0.6594) and tem 5 (0.634) are the major solutons and effects of exam malpractce. Analyss from factor loadng 8 revealed that factor 15 (0.5154) s also a major cause of exam malpractce. Keywords: factor analyss, prncpal component, malpractce, examnaton 174

2 Introducton In Ngera, the educatonal system and other systems are n crssrdden. Some recent researches have shown that the majorty of students who ganed admssons n tertary nsttutons n Ngera are products of examnaton malpractce (Emakwu & Eba, 007). Maduemeza (1998) reported that the frst examnaton malpractce n Ngera occurred n 1914 durng the Senor Cambrdge Local Examnaton papers whch were leaked before the scheduled date of examnaton. The Natonal Unverstes Commsson (NUC) rose up to tackle ths menace, whch has eaten up the educaton system of the country by declarng War Aganst Sortng (WAS) n Ngera Unverstes. As the body dentfed sortng, whch could be n the form of money, gft tems or sex as the cankerworm eatng up the qualty of the educaton system. Thus, the commsson has drected all unverstes to mount aggressve awareness campagn aganst exam malpractce and ts consequence on campuses and also to set up commttee wth the sole objectve of eradcatng academc vces n ther unversty. 1) The purpose of ths research work s to assess the pattern of examnaton malpractce n MAUTECH, ther causes, effects and suggest possble solutons. Thus, the objectves of ths study are to dentfy the more promnent forms of examnaton malpractce n MAUTECH, and determne the number of factors that would be suffcent to explan the pattern of varablty n examnaton malpractce n the school Lterature revew Examnaton malpractce s defned as a delberate wrong dong contrary to offcal examnaton rules desgned to place a canddate at an unfar advantage or dsadvantage (Wlayat, 009). Fasas (006) posted that examnaton malpractce may be understood as a msconduct or mproper practce, before, durng or after any examnaton by examnees or others wth a vew to 175

3 obtanng good results by fraudulent means. From these defntons, t can be concluded that examnaton malpractce s an unethcal act because t encourages medocrty n that students who succeed through such unorthodox methods may be rated equal to those who struggle on ther own to excel. In schools, students who engage n examnaton malpractce manfest the possesson of certan knowledge by llct means (Czek, 1999). Pavela (1997) argues that examnaton malpractce ncludes the unauthorzed use of materals and/or nformaton by a student. It s mportant, therefore, to dscuss examnaton malpractce n order to create awareness among both students and authortes concerned, and, to suggest proper measures for controllng such devant actvtes of examnees durng examnaton perod. Research shows that there are personal, nsttutonal, and socal reasons why students engage n examnaton malpractce (Brmble & Stevenson Clarke, 005; Covngton, 1998; Barnett & Dalton, 1981; Schab, 1969). Students engage n examnaton malpractce because they want to pass (Czek, 1999). Causes of examnaton malpractce Students reasons for examnaton malpractce are: nadequate concern to students welfare promote examnaton malpractce (Brmble Stevenson Clarke., 005), parental factor, peer atttude (Woolfolk, 004; Wentzel, 1997; Bandura, 1997; Mchaels & Methe, 1989). McCabe (1993) argued that peers behavour had, by far, the strongest nfluence on academc dshonesty. Some students who belong to clubs, fraterntes and other groups learn the strateges, motvatons, values, belefs, ratonalzatons and behavour of ther peers (Anderman & Murdock, 007). Students model peer behavour under some socal condtons: gender factor some studes mantan that male students engage n examnaton malpractce more than female students (Hughes & McCabe, 006; McCabe & Trevno, 1997). The study of Calabrese & 176

4 Cochran (1990) have shown that grls are as lkely to engage n examnaton malpractce as boys when the ntenton s to help a frend. Other factors that prompt examnaton malpractce nclude, among others: socetal value system (too much emphass on paper qualfcaton), psychologcal factor, economc factors, poor and nadequate teachng/learnng envronment or facltes etc. Former Presdent Obasanjo sad of the perpetrator of examnaton malpractce: [t]hey see educaton as a means of meal tcket, gettng a job and so must acqure the paper qualfcaton by hook or crook. We must change that percepton or orentaton so that they wll apprecate the ntrnsc value of educaton whch s the total development of the ndvdual to be able to make meanngful contrbuton to the famly, communty and naton. ) Methodology In ths study, the sample s made up of undergraduate students n the School of Pure and Appled Scences of Moddbo Adama Unversty of Technology, Yola. The nstrument adopted for ths study s a structured questonnare, wth a fourpont s lkert ratng scale of strongly agree, agree, dsagree and strongly dsagree A sample of 154 respondents was drawn usng the Yaro Yamane smplfed formula. The Yaro Yamane formula s gven by: N n 1 N( e) (1) 177

5 where n s the sample sze, N s the populaton sze and e s the level pf precson. Factor analyss Factor analyss attempts to dentfy varables, or factors, that explan the pattern of correlatons wthn a set of observed varables. Factor analyss s often used n data reducton to dentfy a small number of factors that explan most of the varance observed n a much larger number of manfest varables. Factor analyss can be also be used to generate hypotheses regardng causal mechansms or to screen varables for subsequent analyss (for example, to dentfy collnearty pror to performng a lnear regresson analyss).factor analyss procedure offers a hgh degree of flexblty. Multple factor s based on the premse that a large number of questonnare tems could be reduced to only a few dmensons. The multple factor approach emphaszed the goal of extractng a maxmum amount of varance from a correlaton. Consder the general factor model. X L f () p1 p1 pm p1 p1 The regresson coeffcent l (the partal slopes) for all of those multple regressons are called th varable and the th j factor whch could be collected n the matrx as shown below. l11 L l p1 l 1m l pm (3) 178

6 Orthogonal factor model The am of factor analyss s to explan the outcome of p varables n the data matrx usng fewer varables, the socalled factors. Ideally all the nformaton n can be reproduced by a smaller number of factors. These factors are nterpreted as latent (unobserved) common characterstcs of the observed p. The case just descrbed occurs whenever y observed,, T can be wrtten as k 1 1 p j q j f j j 1,..., p (4) Here, f, for 1,..., k always be much smaller than p. denote the factors. The number of factors k, should We can create a representaton of the observatons that s smlar to the one n Eq (5) by means of prncpal components, but only f the last p k egenvalues correspondng to the covarance matrx are equal to zero. Consder a pdmensonal random vector wth mean and covarance matrx Var X. A model smlar to Eq (4) can be wrtten for n matrx notaton, X QF (5) where F s the kdmensonal vector of the k factors. The spectral decomposton of s gven by T. Suppose that only the frst k egenvalues are postve,.e. k 1 p 0. then the (sngular) covarance matrx can be wrtten as 0 (6) k T T T

7 Note that the covarance matrx of equaton (5) can be wrtten as E T T T T X X QEFF Q QQ T j j j (7) It s common praxs n factor analyss to splt the nfluences of the factors nto common and specfc ones. There are, for example, hghly nformatve factors that are common to all of the components X of and factors that are specfc to certan components. The factor analyss model used n praxs s a generalzaton of Eq. (6): X QF U (8) Estmatng factor scores Factor Scores (also called component scores n Prncpal Component Analyss), are the scores are the scores of each case (row) on each factor (column). To compute the factor score for a gven case of a gven factor, one takes the case s standardzed score on each varable, multples by the correspondng factor loadng of the varable for the gven factor, and sums these products. Therefore, gven the factor model Y Lf, (9) There are many methods for computng factor scores f f, f,, 1 ths study, we used the method of Ordnary Least Squares. We have f m. For p 1 p j 1 y lf y lf y lf T (10) 180

8 Ths takes the form of a least square regressons, only that we have known our L, but wsh to estmate the 1 LL L fˆ (11) y Usng the Prncpal Component method wth the unrotated factor loadngs, ths yelds 1 eˆ 1Y 1 y ˆ 1 1 eˆ Y y ˆ 1 eˆ Y y m m ˆ m fˆ (1) Bartlett s test Bartlett s test s used to test the homogenety of varance n the factors. Bartlett s test (Snedecor & Cochran, 1989) s used to test f k group have equal varances. Equal varances across groups or samples are called homogenety of varance. Bartlett s test s senstve to departures from normalty. That s, f your groups/samples come from nonnormal dstrbutons. Then Bartlett s test may be testng for nonnormalty. The Bartlett s test of hypothess s gven as: Ho : δ1 = δ = =δk H1 :δ δj for at least one par(, j) 181

9 Test statstcs T 1 3 N kins N 1 1 k p k 1 1 InS k 1 1 N 1 InS N k 1 (13) In the above, S s the varance of the th group, N s the total sample sze, N s the sample sze of the th group, k s the number of groups, and S p s the pooled varance. Data analyss Analyss was carred out usng STATA Verson 1 software. Bartlett's Test of Sphercty Table 1. Bartlett s Test Approx. ChSquare Df 496 Sg..000 Table 1 shows the result of Bartlett s test. The Bartlett s test requres measurng the Homogenety of varance across varables. From the table, we reject Ho and conclude that the varances across the varables are not equal. In ths regard, ths calls for the use of Factor Analyss, to see the varable that poses hgh varablty contrbuton to the set of data. Table. Total varance explaned by each component Prncpal components/correlaton Number of obs = 154 Rotaton: (unrotated = prncpal) Number of comp = 3 Trace = 3 Retaned Factors = 11 18

10 Rho = 1.00 Component Egen value Dfference Proporton Cumulatve Table shows the egenvalues n column two, n lne wth Kaser (1974) suggeston, only the factors wth egenvalues greater than unty were retaned. Ths mples that only the frst eleven factors n the table were retaned. These factors accounted for over 64% of the total varance of the eleven varables. Wth thrty two (3), the total standardzed varance s 3. Of ths, we see that components 1 explan , whch amount to 183

11 5.3535/3= or about 17% of the total. Component explans.8473/3= or an addtonal 9% etc. Table 3. Communaltes extracted by each varable Varables Intal Extracton

12 Table 3 shows the communaltes whch measures the percentage of varance explaned by all the components. That s, the communalty s the squared multple comparson for the varable usng the components as predctors. Communaltes for a varable s the sum of squared components loadngs for that varable (row) and s the percent of varance due to the varable explaned by all the components. For full orthogonal factor analyss, the communalty wll be 1.0 and all the varance n the varable wll be explaned by all the factors, wth ther number equals that of the varables and s wrtten under ntal. The extracted communaltes, s the percent of varance n a gven varable explaned by the factors that are extracted, whch are normally fewer n number that the orgnal varables whch lead the coeffcent to be less than 1.0. Table 4. Factor analyss/correlaton (rotaton oblque promax) ` Factor Varance Proporton Factor Factor Factor Factor Factor

13 Factor Factor Factor Factor Factor Factor LR test: ndependent vs saturated: chsquare (496) = Prob>ch= Ho: Number of factors s not suffcent vs H 1: Number of factors retaned s suffcent From the lkelhood rato test, the pvalue (0.000) s less than 0.05, thus, we reject Ho and conclude that the number of factor retaned s suffcent. Table 5. Factor loadng showng correlaton between factors and each varables factors Factors S/N ITEM Unqueness 1 Provded the examnaton s dffcult; are you nterested n cheatng Do you prefer cheatng snce most people who cheat often pass ther examnatons wthout repeatng or even beng punshed 3 No matter how much you read, you don t pass examnaton as expected 4 Does lack of necessary confdence n yourself makes you to cheat 5 Do you cheat because your colleagues cheat n examnatons 6 Do your parents support the dea of engagng n exams malpractce 7 Do you cheat n examnatons because passng wll please both parents and frends 8 Most parents encourage ther chldren to cheat n examnatons 9 Does the Ngera system of educaton seems to encourage cheatng n examnatons 10 Cheatng s very common n Ngera nsttutons of hgher learnng 11 Do you consder only those who cheat have hgh grades n examnatons 1 Do you recommend cheatng for dffcult examnatons 13 Do you consder those who cheat n the same examnaton as havng an advantage over me 14 Do you see cheatng as the only way out of a lot of work done over a long perod of tme 15 Is cheatng helpful for people who are very nervous about examnatons 16 It s good to arrange to st next to someone n order to copy from hs /her paper 17 I can take examnatons for another person 18 If the queston paper s avaled to me before the examnaton, I wll defntely pass

14 19 If I am offered to buy the examnaton queston paper ahead of the examnaton, I wll defntely be nterested 0 Some lecturers/ teachers encourage cheatng n examnatons 1 A few lecturers/ teachers help ther students to pass examnatons It s n fact dffcult to eradcate cheatng n examnatons n the Ngera nsttutons of learnng 3 Students should never wrte examnatons wthout the presence of supervsors or nvglators 4 Smugglng unauthorzed materals n an examnaton hall s a common way of cheatng n examnatons 5 Cheatng n examnatons s a proof of moral decadence of a socety that leads to corrupton 6 Any cheatng n examnatons s a fraudulent act that should be severely punshed 7 I am nterested n cheatng n Unversty examnatons because I do not have suffcent tme to prepare for the examnaton 8 Cheatng n examnaton makes me feel pretty gulty 9 I may not feel gulty to cheat f the lecturer/teacher does not teach properly 30 Cheatng s not necessary f a canddate has adequately prepared before the examnatons 31 Buyng certfcates s alrght, provded one s not caught 3 Buyng certfcate s another form of cheatng n examnaton Table 5. s used to nterpret factor loadng n factor analyss. We want to have some crteron, whch helps us to determne whch of these are large and whch of these are consdered to be neglgble. (1) In factor 1, dentfes tems 1, 5, 7, 1, 13, 14, 7 and 9 as the factor that prompt examnaton malpractce whle tems 16, 19, and 1 as the forms of malpractce prevalence n the nsttuton. The amount of explaned varablty or contrbuton each tem are as shown n Table 5. () In factor, dentfes tems 1 and 4 as forms of malpractce, tems 5 and 6 as effect of malpractce. The amount of explaned varablty or contrbuton each tem are as shown n Table 5; (3) In Factor 8, tem 15 s dentfes as a factor that prompt examnaton malpractce. 187

15 Concluson From the analyss, the followng forms of examnaton malpractce were dentfed: collaboraton, purchase of queston paper before exam, lecturer/teacher ad and smugglng unauthorzed materals nto the examnaton hall whle the factors that prompt students to engage n exam malpractce nclude dffcult questons, peer nfluence, parental effect, harsh exam condton, unequal student treatment, excess course load, fear of falng, nadequate preparaton and lecturer/teacher neffcency. the result shows that examnaton malpractce result n moral decadence n a socety resultng n hgh scale corrupton and fraudulent acts whch are punshable by law. Authortes are thus encouraged to step up the fght aganst examnaton malpractce n our hgher nsttuton of learnng. NOTES 1. %0Grade%0sortng%0n%0Ng.pdf. REFERENCES Anderman, E.M. & Murdock, T. (006). The psychology of academc cheatng. New York: Academc Press. Bandura, A. (1997). Selfeffcacy: the exercse of control. Duffeld: Worth Publshers. Barnett, D.C. & Dalton, J.C. (1981). Why college students cheat. J. College Student Personnel,,

16 Brmble, M. & StevensonClarke, P. (005). Perceptons of the prevalence and serousness of academc dshonesty n Australan unverstes. Australan Educ. Researcher, 3(3), Calabrese, R.L. & Cochran, J.T. (1990). The relatonshp of alenaton to cheatng among a sample of Amercan adolescents. J. Res. & Develop. Educ., 3(), Czek, G.J. (1999). Cheatng on tests: how to do t, detect t, and prevent t. London: Lawrence Erlbaum. Covngton, M.V. (1998). The wll to learn: a gude for motvatng young people. Cambrdge: Cambrdge Unversty Press. Emakwu, S.O. & Eba, E. (007). Examnaton malpractces n tertary nsttutons: mplcatons and the way forward (pp ). In: Akubue, A.U. & Eny, D. (Eds.). Crses and challenges n hgher educaton n developng Countres. Nsukka: Unversty of Ngera. Fasas, Y.A. (006). Qualty assurance: a practcal soluton to examnaton malpractces n Ngeran secondary schools. Int. J. Afrca & Afrcan Amercan Studes, 5(), 151. Hughes, J.M.C. & McCabe, D.L. (006). Academc msconduct wthn hgher educaton n Canada. Canadan J. Hgher Educaton, 36(), 11. Maduemeza, M.U. (1998). Examnaton malpractce n the senor school certfcate examnaton: current trends, problems and prospects. WAEC Monthly Semnar, Lagos. McCabe, D.L. (1993). Academc ntegrty: what the latest research shows. Synthess, 5, McCabe, D.L. & Trevno, L.K. (1997). Indvdual and contextual nfluences on academc dshonesty: a multcampus nvestgaton. Res. Hgher Educ., 38, Mchaels, J.W. & Methe, T.D. (1989). Applyng theores of devance to academc cheatng. Soc. Sc. Quarterly, 70,

17 Pavela, G. (1997). Applyng the power of assocaton on campus: a model code of academc ntegrty. J. College & Unversty Law, 4, Schab, F. (1969). Cheatng n hgh school: dfferences between the sexes. J. Nat. Assoc. Women Deans & Counselors, 33(1), 394. Snedecor, G.W. & Cochran, W.G. (1989). Statstcal methods. Ames: Iowa State Unversty Press. Wentzel, K. (1997). Student motvaton n mddle school: the role of perceved pedagogcal carng. J. Educ. Psychology, 89, Wlayat, B. (009). Examnaton malpractce: causes of examnaton malpractce/unfar means. Peshawar: I.E.R. Unversty of Peshawar. Woolfolk, A. (004). Educatonal psychology. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Aknrefon Adesupo A. Department of Statstcs and Operatons Research Modbbo Adama Unversty of Technology, Ngera EMal: aknrefonadesupo@yahoo.com 016 BJSEP: Authors.. 190