Statistical Analysis on Distance of Students Residence and Academic Performance
CHAPTER ONE
1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main aim of this study is on assessing the effect of students’ place of residence on academic performance in the Delta State Polytechnic, Otefe-Oghara. The specific objectives include;
- Evaluating the impact of students’ accommodation location on their academic performances
- Determining whether the gender of students influence the choice of residential location
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Various researchers have attempted to investigate the roles played by school residential housing system and those of outside campus on students’ academic performance. Few of such are discussed in the literature review.
Macintyre (2013) examined students’ housing as a contributory factor to the students all round development in the nation’s tertiary institutions and to provide panacea to solving the contemporary students’ housing problem. Students of tertiary institutions constitute a sizeable proportion of the total active population of the society and conscious efforts to meet their housing needs must be effected in various policy decisions in order to produce qualified graduates.
The off-campus housing students are subjected to disturbances ranging from undue interference to gossip from cotenants, unbearable loud noises and deafening music from parties, incessant and epileptic power supply which may have negative effects on their academic performance, while their counterparts in on-campus housing are also facing similar problems in terms of poor management of facilities and motivation which have effects on their academic performance resulting in low grades (Opayomi, 2013).
Students’ housing has also been viewed as a means of encouraging fiscal extravagance in residential universities. However, the advantages of on-campus students residence as an integral part of university education outweighs the arguments in favour of student seeking their accommodation, including arguments based on the financial extravagance of residential colleges. This has led to the problems of on-campus housing and off-campus accommodation in tertiary institutions in Nigeria (Dober, 2013).
Anjorin (2018) was of the view that campus planning not only as a translational programmes and survey into technical design, supported by scientific or dogmatic ideas or system planning, but also involved in the provision of students’ housing.
Many researchers have discussed the different factors that influenced students’ choice of residential accommodation in their works.
Roche and Copeland, (2010) examined the housing preferences of undergraduate students and reported that students desired housing options that fulfilled their high expectations for privacy and amenities.
Moore, (2000) also found out that some students preferred off-campus accommodation to on-campus due to lack of privacy, noise and sharing of beds pace that is associated with on-campus accommodation. Therefore, they wanted to reside off-campus if they could secure a cheaper, decent and good housing that was in close proximity to campus with adequate facilities and could offer privacy.
Wang and Li, (2016) identified convenience, security, price and proper layout as the major factors that influenced students’ choice of residential accommodation.
Khozaei and Khozaei (2010) found the rental rates, distance from university facilities, room safety, room size, hostel security, and the hostel’s other facilities as the most important factors that predict students’ satisfaction with their hostels.
Samiratedu, and Rafter, (2013) examined the effects of on-campus residence on first-time college students and found that freshman students who lived on campus had higher retention, a greater degree of academic progress, and higher academic performance.
Agron, (2017) reported that studies in North America indicate that students in hall of residence hah higher Grade Point Averages, higher retention of their grades, are able to take on more credit hours and had the ability to form connections with the faculty members on campus. They also had a higher propensity to be more involved in students’ leadership and politics on campus.
Nabaseruka, (2017) also indicated that accommodation has a significant effect on the academic performance of students and in schools where accommodation facilities were good, the performance of students was also high compared to schools where accommodation facilities were poor. Other studies also found evidence of an increase in cumulative GPAs of students who lived in on-campus housing than their counterparts in off-campus housing.
Delucchi, (2013) examined a ‘college town’ where most students who lived off-campus and were in close walking distance of their lecture hall and university resources and found no statistically significant difference in academic achievement between students that live on campus and off-campus.
Zhao and Kuh, (2014) argued that the impact of residential accommodation on a university student’s academic performance may also depend on how satisfied the student is with the type of living arrangement.
Khozaei et al, (2010) stated that student accommodation is regarded as a hostel which is a built with some institutional or formal characteristics and where students have access to the university recreational facilities. Life in a sustainable on-campus hostel makes students more independent as they share accommodation with at most four students at one time. Sustainable on-campus hostel life also makes them smart, active, disciplined, tolerant and socialized with other students and roommates, sharing space and facilities (Khozaei et al., 2010).
Araujo and Murray (2012) concluded that the advantages of staying on campus tend to improve student performance. The result reveals that being on campus could have a positive impact on academic performance of students during their time of academic period.
Thompson et al (2016) revealed that residing on campus for a new student tend to make them more progressive in academics with educational higher performance.
Pascarella et al (2009) observed also that new students who lived on campus, experienced greater improvement more than student that stays off-campus. They conducted a study on the effects of campus residency on educational outcomes of students. In the study, they opined that campus residency has a positive correlational relationship with academic performance and other students outcomes the research seek to evaluate.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN
This study was designed to be conducted as a descriptive survey to carefully examine how students place of residence affects their academic performance. The study was therefore design to gather data through questionnaire on students place of residence, their choice place of residence, the reasons for such preference, their level of class attendance and attendance to other academic activities, the potential effect/constraints that their place of stay on their learning outcome and academic achievement.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.1 DATA PRESENTATION
Of all the 300 questionnaires distributed to respondents, only 278 were retrieved successfully. The data sourced from questionnaires are summarized in tables for ease of understanding. The data for the academic performance was summarized as shown below -1.99 and 2.00-2.49 [low performance] 2.50-2.99 [Average performance ] 3.00-3.49 and 3.50-4.00 [high performance]
The result of the analysis of data using the SPSS 22.0 will be presented in tables as reported below in this section.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 SUMMARY
Over the years, many scholars and researcher have evaluated the factors that potentially influence students’ academic performance, however, in this study an attempt was made on assessing the effect of students’ place of residence on academic performance in the Delta State Polytechnic, Otefe-Oghara. A sample of 300 students was included in the study to which questionnaires were distributed to and their responses were adequately examined. The result indicated that most students believe that their current place of residence affects their academic performance and most students who live within the school environment performed better than those who live outside town.
5.2 CONCLUSION
The study therefore conclude that upon holding other factors constant, residence of students greatly influences their academic performance, as long as the student maintains their residence within the school environment, they can easily access the library and other extra classes or tutorials and the other polytechnic facilities, with better friends with whom they share course study with and this results to higher academic outcomes being expected than those students residing at home or away from the polytechnic environment.
5.3 RECOMMENDATION
Building upon the findings of this study the following recommendations are made;
- Interested researchers need to reconstruct the same research in a new context, but stretch out to other institutions in a bid to allow for inference and generalization.
- The polytechnic should work closely with the hostels around the polytechnic to ensure that security prevails amongst the students to encourage them to stay around town.
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