RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STUDY HABITS AND MATHEMATICS PERFORMANCE AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ IN KOGI-EAST, NIGERIA

Abstract

Relationship between study habits and mathematics performance among senior secondary school students’ in Kogi-East. Two specific purposes, two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The design for the study was correlational survey design. The study was carried out in Kogi-East. The population of the study is 4364 (2,885 male and 1, 479 female) senior secondary school two (SS I) Mathematics students from 43 public secondary schools in Kogi East. The sample size for the study was 366 SS I Mathematics students. Two research instruments was used for data collection. Mathematics Study Habits Questionnaire, (MSHQ),. To ascertain the validity of the instruments, the instruments were face and content validated by three experts.  In order to ensure the reliability of the instruments, 30 copies of the instruments was administered to SS1 mathematics students in Ankpa Education Zone which is not part of the study but shares similar characteristics with the area of the study. The scores obtained from MPT, MSHQ and was recorded and subjected to reliability methods respectively using Kuder Richardson (K-20) and to Cronbach-alpha method. The reliability indexes obtained were 0.75, 0.83 and 0.87 respectively. The instruments were administered to the students through Direct Delivery Technique (DDT). This was to ensure maximum return of instruments and close monitoring. The data collected was analyzed with respect to research questions and hypotheses. Descriptive statistics in the form of mean and standard deviation and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation was used to analyze the research questions 1 to 5.  The hypotheses 1 to 5 were tested using Regression Analysis. If the probability level is greater than 0.05 the null hypothesis will not be rejected but if the probability value is less than or equal to 0.05 the null hypothesis will be rejected. The result of the study among others showed that the variation in students’ performance in Mathematics is significantly accounted for by study habits. The result also shows that all the dimensions of study habits significantly predict students’ performance in mathematics. Based on the findings of the study, it is therefore concluded that study habits is a significant factor in determining students’ performance in Mathematics and, finally it was recommend that students should be taught to have clear understanding of their uniqueness, this will enable the students to develop learning lifestyles or study habits that will be suitable and which might lead to performance.