ABSTRACT
The study investigated the
influence of item arrangements in multiple choice objective tests on students
academic achievement in physics. The arrangement formats were ascending,
descending and no-consistent orders of difficulty. Five research questions
guided the conduct of the study while three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05
alpha level of significance in order to make decisions on the issues
investigated. Relevant literatures to the study were reviewed. Descriptive
survey research design was adopted in the research work which was conducted in
Abia state. All the senior secondary three (SS III) students who offered
physics in the public secondary schools in Abia state constituted the
population of the study. The sample of the study consisted of 504 SS III
physics students drawn from 20 schools across the three educational zones of
the state. A combination of proportionate stratified sampling technique and
simple random sampling technique were adopted for the study. Proportionate
stratified sampling technique was used to select 20 schools from the three
educational zones while simple random sampling technique ( by balloting) was
used in the selection of the sample schools from each zone. For the fact that
it was only physics students, it was purposive. An instrument called Physics
Achievement Test (PAT) was used for collection of data. This PAT was a 51 item,
4-option multiple choice objective tests based on the topics covered by the
students from SS I - SS II. An initial pool of 70 items was developed using
WASSCE (West African Senior School Certificate Examination and NECO (National
Examination Council) past question papers which were already standardized
instruments. Table ofspecification for the PAT was constructed to ensure
content validity. However, the instrument was re-validated by experts in
physics who scrutinized the 70 questions and pruned them down to 51 questions,
deleting the ambiguous ones and modifying others. Data was analyzed using the
mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while two-way
analyses ofvariance was used to test the hypothesis. A post-hoc test was
carried out using turkey test to find the degree of significance. Among the
results obtained after data analyses were: students’ achievement in physics was
highest when items were arranged in ascending order of difficulty, higher in
the no-consistent order and lowest when the test items were arranged in the
descending order. Male students achievement in physics when items were arranged
in ascending, descending and no-consistent orders of difficulty was
significantly higher than that of the females; there was a significant
difference in the achievement mean scores ofstudents from schools located in
urban and rural areas in physics when arranged in ascending, descending and
no-consistent orders of difficulty. It is recommended that teachers,
examination bodies and test developers should keep to the best arrangement
pattern ofplacing test items in ascending order arrangement.
NWANKWO, N (2023). Influence Of Item Arrangements In Multiple Choice Objective Tests On Students Academic Achievement In Physics:- Nwankwo, Ugonna M.. Mouau.afribary.org: Retrieved Dec 24, 2024, from https://repository.mouau.edu.ng/work/view/influence-of-item-arrangements-in-multiple-choice-objective-tests-on-students-academic-achievement-in-physics-nwankwo-ugonna-m-7-2
NWANKWO, NWANKWO. "Influence Of Item Arrangements In Multiple Choice Objective Tests On Students Academic Achievement In Physics:- Nwankwo, Ugonna M." Mouau.afribary.org. Mouau.afribary.org, 04 Dec. 2023, https://repository.mouau.edu.ng/work/view/influence-of-item-arrangements-in-multiple-choice-objective-tests-on-students-academic-achievement-in-physics-nwankwo-ugonna-m-7-2. Accessed 24 Dec. 2024.
NWANKWO, NWANKWO. "Influence Of Item Arrangements In Multiple Choice Objective Tests On Students Academic Achievement In Physics:- Nwankwo, Ugonna M.". Mouau.afribary.org, Mouau.afribary.org, 04 Dec. 2023. Web. 24 Dec. 2024. < https://repository.mouau.edu.ng/work/view/influence-of-item-arrangements-in-multiple-choice-objective-tests-on-students-academic-achievement-in-physics-nwankwo-ugonna-m-7-2 >.
NWANKWO, NWANKWO. "Influence Of Item Arrangements In Multiple Choice Objective Tests On Students Academic Achievement In Physics:- Nwankwo, Ugonna M." Mouau.afribary.org (2023). Accessed 24 Dec. 2024. https://repository.mouau.edu.ng/work/view/influence-of-item-arrangements-in-multiple-choice-objective-tests-on-students-academic-achievement-in-physics-nwankwo-ugonna-m-7-2