Influence of Psychological Variables on Senior Secondary School Students' Performance in Volumetric Analysis in Ondo State

Overview & Synopsis

This study investigated the influence of psychological and variables on senior secondary school students’ performance in volumetric analysis in Ondo State. The research especially investigated the impact of psychological factors (attitude towards volumetric analysis, self-esteem, anxiety, and motivation) on the performance of senior secondary school pupils in volumetric analysis. The research used a descriptive survey design. The research population consisted of 4,675 senior secondary two students from public senior secondary schools in Ekiti State during the 2021/2022 academic year. The research sample included 300 Senior Secondary School Two (SSS II) students recruited from the three senatorial districts in Ondo State. A multi-stage sampling approach using a basic random technique was used to choose the sample for the investigation. Two sets of instruments labelled "Performance in Volumetric Analysis Test (PVAT)" and "Influence of Psychological Variables on Students’ Performance in Volumetric Analysis Questionnaire (IPVSPVAQ)" were used for the investigation. Two instruments received validation from specialists, with PVAT and IPVSPVAQ demonstrating reliability coefficients of 0.91 and 0.87, respectively. The data were examined using descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistics of percentage, standard deviation and histogram were utilised to answer the study questions while the inferential statistics including correlation matrix, Multiple Regression and t-test were employed to assess the hypotheses. All the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The research demonstrated that self-esteem, anxiety, attitude and motivation are psychological factors impacting senior secondary school students’ performance in volumetric analysis. It was also found out that there was considerable effect of psychological factors on senior secondary school students’ performance in volumetric analysis. It was indicated that there is need to expose students to the impact of psychological variable on their academic performance in Chemistry in order to be able to be improved in their academic performance.