SOURCE:

Faculty: Education
Department: Educational Foundation

CONTRIBUTORS:

Abanobi, C.C;
Agu, N.N;

ABSTRACT:

Educational assessments have recently taken a new direction with the introduction of computerized test as another form of students’ assessment at different levels of education in Nigeria. This introduction of computerized tests for educational assessments geared this study on comparative analysis of academic achievement and test anxiety scores of secondary school students exposed to Computer-Based Test (CBT) and Paper-and-Pencil Test (PPT) in Economics. Six research questions and ten null hypotheses guided the study. The study utilized pretest-posttest non-randomized control group design involving two groups – experimental group and control group. The study was carried out in Oshimili South Local Government Area, Delta North Education Zone of Delta State. 973 SS II students who offered Economics in ten co-educational secondary schools in the study area comprised the population of the study. The sample was 107 students made up of 49 male and 58 female SSII students who offered Economics in the schools selected. Economics Achievement Test (EAT) and Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) were the instruments for data collection. The instruments were validated by experts in Educational Measurement and Evaluation. The reliability coefficients of EAT and TAI were 0.95 and 0.68 respectively. Mean statistics was used to analyze the research questions while the null hypotheses were tested using ANCOVA. The findings revealed the following: (i) the mean achievement scores of students exposed to PPT was slightly higher than those exposed to CBT and the difference in their mean achievement scores was significant, (ii) students exposed to PPT were more test anxious than those exposed to CBT but the difference in their mean test anxiety scores was not significant, (iii) the interaction effect between gender and test mode with respect to either achievement or test anxiety was not significant. Based on the findings, the study recommended, among others that examination bodies, secondary school authorities and other stake holders in education should adopt both CBT and PPT as forms of secondary school students’ assessments in various internal examinations conducted in the country.