Results and Discussion
4. Results and Discussion
This section reports on the results of the data analysis as well as the discussion on these results. Results are presented according to the sequence of the objectives and
H 0.
4.1. Correlation between locus of control, self-efficacy, and attitude towards academic achievement
A Pearson correlation was computed to examine relationship among variables namely locus of control, self-efficacy, and attitude towards academic achievement as illustrated in figure 1. Results of the analysis are shown in the table 2.
Table 2: Pearson correlation coefficient between selected variables and academic achievement.
1 ** Academic Achievement 1 -.359 .399 .336 (CGPA)
2 * Locus of control (LOC) -.359 1 -.351 -.289
3 Self-efficacy (SE) .399 ** -.351 ** 1 .692 **
4 ** Attitude .336 -.289 .692 1 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
There is a statistically significant negative correlation between locus of control and CGPA,
r . 399 , n 70 , p 0 . 1 (Table 2). The statistically significant relationship indicates a real association between locus of control and academic achievement. This means that as the CGPA scores increase, the locus of control scores decrease. The lower score on the Rotter’s locus of control scale indicates internal locus of control. Students’ having internal locus of control tends to perceive r . 399 , n 70 , p 0 . 1 (Table 2). The statistically significant relationship indicates a real association between locus of control and academic achievement. This means that as the CGPA scores increase, the locus of control scores decrease. The lower score on the Rotter’s locus of control scale indicates internal locus of control. Students’ having internal locus of control tends to perceive
A statistically significant relationship was also found (Table 2) between self- efficacy and academic achievement ( r . 399 , n 70 , p 0 . 1 ) indicating a real
association between self-efficacy and academic achievement. The correlation indicates that the higher the self-efficacy, the higher is the academic achievement. According to Bong & Skaalvik [34], students having high self-efficacy tend to have a sense of mastery in academic task and they demonstrate persistence and self-reliance and thus attained performance [35]. They also make increased use of cognitive strategies thereby increasing academic achievement [36] as well as demonstrates their willingness to be successful in different areas of life functioning’s [19].
Table 2 also reveals a statistically significant positive correlation between attitude and academic achievement ( r . 336 , n 70 , p 0 . 1 ) . This finding is
consistent with the finding by Besterfield-Sacre et al [17] and Malik et al [31] where they found that students who have positive attitude towards engineering education tend to perform better than the students who have negative attitude towards engineering education.
Hence, based on the statistical analysis results, all of three null hypotheses on the correlation are rejected which means that there are statistically significant relationship between the socio-psychological variables and academic achievement. The correlation coefficients between locus of control, self-efficacy, and attitude towards academic achievement are illustrated in figure 2.
Self Efficacy
Academic At t it ude
Locus of Cont rol
Figure 2: The correlation coefficient between locus of control, self-efficacy,
and attitude towards academic achievement
4.2. Gender difference on locus of control, self-efficacy, and attitude towards engineering
The descriptive statistics [mean (M) and standard deviation (SD)] for locus of control, self-efficacy and attitude are given in Table 3.
Table 3: Mean and Standard Deviation of the Study Variables
No. Variables
1 Locus of control
The mean score for males is slightly higher compared to females on the locus of control measure. Similar to the LOC, males also performed slightly better on the attitude scale while females demonstrate higher SE compared to males.
In the next step of data analysis, the independent sample t test was employed to compare the means on the locus of control and self-efficacy scale between males and females. The t test was used based on visual inspection of the Q-Q plots which revealed that the data were normally distributed. Furthermore, homogeneity of In the next step of data analysis, the independent sample t test was employed to compare the means on the locus of control and self-efficacy scale between males and females. The t test was used based on visual inspection of the Q-Q plots which revealed that the data were normally distributed. Furthermore, homogeneity of
There is no statistically significant difference on the scores of gender on locus of control as reveled by the table 4 ( t 2 . 842 , d . f 68 , p 0 . 05 ). In addition, it
also specified that both males and females performed equally with respect to their locus of control towards engineering education. Furthermore, these results also are consistent with the findings of [33, 37-38].
Moreover, no statistical significant difference on the scores of gender on self- efficacy was found as illustrated in table 4 ( t 1 . 026 , d . f 68 , p 0 . 05 ). In
addition, it also identified that both males and females performed equally with respect to their self-efficacy towards engineering education. Furthermore, these
results also consistent with the findings of [13, 38-39]. In addition, there is no statistically significant difference on the scores of
gender on attitude ( U . 836 , p 0 . 05 ) which also revealed that both males and females performed equally with respect to their attitude towards engineering
education. Furthermore, these results also consistent with the finding of Besterfield- Sacre et al [17].
4.3. Contribution of locus of control, self-efficacy, and attitude towards academic achievement
In order to determine the contribution of socio-psychological variables (locus of control, self-efficacy, and attitude) towards academic achievement a step-wise linear multiple regression was employed. The obtained results are illustrated in table 5 that indicated that socio-psychological variables are predictors of academic achievement.
Table 5: Step-wise regression results
f p-value Locus of control
R Square
.003 Locus of control
.010 Locus of control
Self-efficacy
Attitude .570
There is significance prediction on the scores of locus of control as shown in table 5 (R 2 = 129, f (1, 70) = 9.778, p 0 . 05 ). The obtained results indicates that
locus of control is a predictor of academic achievement. These results also supported with the finding of [11 and 26].
There is significance prediction on the scores of self-efficacy as demonstrated in
the table 5 (R 2 = .215, f (1, 70) =8.892, p 0 . 05 ) which means that self-efficacy is a predictor of academic achievement. These results also supported with the finding of
[11 and 26].
Furthermore, no significance prediction on the scores of attitude is fond as
shown in the table 5 (R 2 = 219, f (1, 70) = 5.975, p 0 . 05 ), which indicates that attitude is not a predictor of academic achievement. These results also supported with
the finding of [40]. Regression model reveals interesting results. As the number of predictors is
increased in the model, the result predicts slightly significant impact of these socio- psychological variables on the academic achievement. In a nut-shell, there is statistical significant impact of socio-psychological variables (locus of control, self- efficacy, and attitude) on academic achievement. The selected variables of the study were moderately to highly correlate. Therefore, it is difficult to untangle the impact of the predictive values of these variables independently [41]. Hence, the statistical
analysis revealed that H 0 on the prediction is rejected which means that there is statistically significant prediction and contribution of socio-psychological variables (locus of control and self-efficacy) in academic achievement in the engineering education.