Students’ Attributions on Performance in Examinations: A Study of different Secondary School Categories in Nyeri County, Kenya
Keywords:
Attribution,, Dunning-Kruger Effect,, Locus of Control,, Performance,, Psychosocial SupportAbstract
Students’ attributions regarding the causes of their success or failure in examinations has
continued to exercise the minds of educationists and policy makers in the world and Kenya
in particular. There is a compelling need to address the fundamental basis of students’
attributions on their performance in order to provide appropriate and effective intervention
measures with a view to boost their achievement. This study examined the students’
attributions on their academic attainment among different secondary school categories in
Nyeri County, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to; assess the degree to which
students ascribed their attributions on their performance in examinations to internal or
external locus of control and compare students’ attributions by different school categories
in secondary schools in Nyeri County in Kenya. The study tested the following null
hypothesis H0I: There is no statistically significant difference in students’ attributions on
own performance in examinations to external or internal locus of control and; H02: There is
no statistically significant difference in students’ attributions by different school categories in secondary schools in Nyeri county in Kenya. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. The target population consisted of 82,367 students in 245 secondary
schools in Nyeri County, Kenya (Nyeri County office Education, 2018). The students were
enrolled in different school categories as follows; national (6,531), county (29,184), subcounty (38,081) and private (8,571) secondary schools. The study adopted the stratified
random sampling technique. Krecjie and Morgan (1971) sampling formula was used to
determine the sample size of 384 respondents which was proportionately distributed to the
four school categories as shown in Table 1. Data collection employed the use of a
questionnaire on the sampled students. Two schools that were not earmarked for the
research were used for pilot study with a sample of 36 students to test the reliability of the instrument. The Cronbach’s coefficient alpha was computed on pilot study data whose
results was r= 0.801 which was higher than the Kerlinger 0.7 recommended threshold of
acceptance. Both the descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data with the aid of the SPSS version 20.0. Results of data analysis established that learners in national, sub-county and private secondary schools attributed their performance in examinations to
internal locus of control while students in county schools attributed to external locus of
control. Results of hypothesis testing (Ho1) established that the differences were not
statistically significant (P= 0.200, α< 0.05) in the attributions of students to internal or
external locus of control from the four school categories in Nyeri County. The study further
revealed that students in national, sub-county and private secondary schools attributed
performance in examination to internal locus of control while students in county schools
attributed their performance to external locus of control. The results of hypothesis testing
(Ho2) established that the observed differences by school categories were statistically
different (P= 0.200, α< 0.05). This implied that the differences in students’ attributions on
their performance in examinations by school categories was not statistically significant. The
study concludes that the internal or external locus of control have a bearing on students’
attributions on their performance in examinations. The study recommends the need to
strengthen the students’ psychosocial support systems such as coaching, mentorship,
guidance, counseling and psychoeducation in providing assistance to students in order to
shape their attributions especially towards acquisition of internal locus of control t hat
involves taking responsibility of their actions.
References
Augoustinos, M. (2005). Social cognition: an integrated introduction. New Delhi: Sage Publication.
Batool, S., Arif., M.H., & Ud Din, M.N. (2010). Gender differences in performance attributions of mainstream and
religious school students. International Journal of Academic Research, 2(6), 454-458.
Biggs, J. B. (1992). A qualitative approach to grading students, Herdsa News, 14(3), 3–6.
Boekaerts, Monique & Otten, Roelie & Voeten, Rinus. (2003). Examination performance: Are student's causal
attributions school-subject specific? Anxiety. Stress & Coping, 331-342.
Del Siegle, Rubenstein, L. D. V., Pollard, E., & Romey, E. (2009). Exploring the relationship of college freshmen
honors students’ effort and ability attribution, interest, and implicit theory of intelligence with perceived
ability. Gifted Child Quarterly (GCQ), 54(2), 92-101
Heider, F. (1958). Psychology of Interpersonal Relations. New York: Wiley.
Hess, R. D. (1987). Family and school as educational institutions. In R. Parke (Ed.), Review of child development
research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Krejcie, R.V., & Morgan, D.W. (1970). Determining Sample Size for Research Activities. Educational and
Psychological Measurement, 30, 607-610.
Laherand, M. L., & Putnina, M. (2007). Students’ causal attributions for their academic success and failure -similar or different in neighbour countries? Paper Presented at 5th International JTET Conference on
Theories and Practices for Education of Sustainable Development: Debrecen: University of Debrecen.
Le Foll, D., Rascle, O., & Higgins, N.C. (2006). Persistence in a Putting Task During Perceived Failure: Influence
of State-attributions and Attributional Style. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 55(4), 586–
605.
Leferancois, G. R. (2000). Psychology for teaching (10th ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth Thomson Learning.
Lei, C. (2009). On the causal attribution of academic achievement in college students. Asian Social Science.
Mkumbo, K. & Amani, J. (2012). Perceived university students’ attributions of their academic success and failure.
Asian Social Science. 8. 10.5539/ass. v8n7p247.
Murray, J. & Thompson, M. E. (2009). An application of attribution theory to clinical judgement. Europe’s Journal
of Psychology.
Nenty, H, J. (2010). Analysis of some factors that influence causal attribution of mathematics performance among
secondary school students in Lesotho. Journal of Social Science, 22(2), 93-99.
Nyeri County Education Office. (2018). KCSE results analysis. Unpublished Bulletin. Nyeri.
Pearls, S. J. (2009). Testing teaching and learning: A guide for post primary institutions and schools. Washington,
DC: National Academy Press.
Rotter, J. B. (1975). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological
Monographs
Ryan, R. & Deci, E. (2000). Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social
Development, and Well-Being. The American psychologist. 55. 68-78. 10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68.
Sahinkarakas, S. (2011). Young students' success and failure attributions in language learning. Social Behavior and
Personality: An International Journal. 3(9), 10-22.
Siegle, D., & McCoach, D. B. (2007). Increasing student mathematics self-efficacy through. teacher training.
Journal of Advanced Academics, 18, 278-312.
Weiner, B. (1986). Attribution, emotion, and action. In R. M. Sorrentino & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of
motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior, 281-312. Guilford Press.
Weiner, B. (1992). An attributional theory of emotion and motivation. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Weiner, B. (2005). Intrapersonal and interpersonal theories of motivation from an attributional perspective. Educat.
Psychol. Rev.
Weiner, B. (2006). Social motivation, justice, and the moral emotions: An attributional approach. Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Weiner, B (1985). An Attributional Theory of Achievement Motivation and Emotion. Psychological review, 92,
548-73.
Welch, S. J. M. (2011). Interpretation of Likert
Scales.94KE894&welch_srf=sensisk03GtR5gI15likertN6rGfVufCIvk4w%3A158567
Wilson, T. D. & Linville, P. W. (1982). Improving the academic performance of college freshmen: Attribution
theory revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 367-376.
