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Chapter III
RESEARCH MEHODOLOGY
3.0 OVERVIEW
Research in common parlance refers to a search for new knowledge.
Research could be defined as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent
information on a specific topic. The Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current
English lays down the meaning of research as "A careful investigation or inquiry
especially through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge".
Research is devoted to exploring the conditions under which a certain
phenomenon occurs. It is a process by which a person observes a particular
phenomenon carefully, collects data and draws certain conclusions on the basis of
the data gathered and analysed.
Best summarized the main characteristics of research. He writes that
research is directed towards the identification and solution of a problem. It starts
with postulating a hypothesis which is followed by the collection of primary and
secondary data (observable experience and empirical evidence) in a scientific
manner taking into account validity and reliability. The data collected is analysed
systematically and objectively using advanced statistical tools like SPSS which lead
to the accentuation and verification or falsification of the hypothesis posited. In the
final analysis, the objective of any research is to come up with answers to questions
and problems in a scientific manner.
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This chapter titled, “Research Methodology,” presents the research design,
the location of the study, the population and sample of the study, the institutional
details, distribution of the sample by school, tools used for the study and the various
hypotheses on which the study hinges.
3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN
Table 3.1 Nature of
Study Variable Type of Variable Tool Sample
Size Analysis Statistics
Normative Survey Method
Teaching Compe-
tence
Indepen-dent
Teaching Competence
Inventory (Perumalil Thomas-
Dec 2004)
248 PG Teachers
Men (93)
Women (155)
Qualitative and
Quantitative Analysis
Descriptive Inferential
Differential
1. t-test 2.Anova
Associational Chi-Square
test
Self- efficacy
Indepen-dent
Self-Efficacy
Inventory (Dr.V.
Rajeswari & A.Nirmala
Devi–2005)
Relational -Multiple regression
Academic Achieve-
ment
Depen- dent
XII Public Exam Marks (2004)
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3.2 LOCATION OF THE STUDY
Figure 3. 1
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The present investigation was conducted in the Dindigul Educational district
which consists of 15 blocks. Out of these 15 blocks, 5 blocks, namely, Dindigul,
Palani, Kodaikanal, Ottanchatram and Vedasandur were chosen for this research
study. There are three significant reasons as to why the researcher chose this
educational district and these five blocks. Firstly, the researcher was a Headmistress
at St. John’s Higher Secondary School, Kodaikanal when the study was launched
and she is quite familiar with the Dindigul Educational district. Secondly, she knows
almost all the post-graduate teachers in these five blocks for they often meet and
interact, both at the District level and at the Block level. Thirdly and most
importantly, no study has been conducted in the Dindigul Educational district so far
with a view to measuring the teaching competence and self-efficacy of Higher
Secondary teachers in relation to the academic achievement of their students.
3.3 POPULATION AND SAMPLE
The population of the present study consisted of 635 trained Higher
Secondary teachers working in these 15 blocks in the Dindigul Educational district
which has a total of 101 Higher Secondary schools.
John E. Conklin (1987) defines a sample as “a representative group of
people chosen from a large population”. In other words, a sample is a small
proportion of the population selected for observation and analysis. The investigator
followed the random sampling method. Out of 635 Higher Secondary teachers
available in these 15 blocks, 5 blocks and 297 teachers serving in 21 Higher
Secondary schools in these 5 blocks were randomly chosen for administering the
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research tools. Out of these 297 teachers, 248 responded to the questionnaire
positively. These teachers belonged to various categories, namely, Government,
Government Aided and Matriculation Higher Secondary schools. And they were
categorized on the basis of variables such as gender, marital status, educational
qualification, subjects handled, years of experience, nature of job, income and
participation in in-service training programmes.
3.4 INSTITUTIONAL DETAILS
Table 3.2
Area Name of the School Type
of School
Type of Manage-
ment
Gender Subjects Handled Locatio
n of School Std
XII M F L S A V R U
Dindigul
St.Joseph's Girls’
HSSchool,Dindigul Girls Aided .. 23 4 14 4 1 R .. 531
M.V.M.HS School,
Dindigul Co-ed Unaided 3 17 4 13 3 .. .. U 37
Annamalaiar Mills
Girls' HS School,
Dindigul
Girls Aided .. 17 4 10 3 .. .. U 375
N.M.M HS School,
Dindigul Boys Govt 7 6 4 6 2 1 .. U 174
Dudley HS School,
Dindigul Boys Aided 1 9 3 3 4 .. .. U 226
St.Mary's HS
School,Dindigul Boys Aided 11 2 2 5 4 2 .. U 306
Our Lady Girls’ HS
School, Dindigul Girls Aided 1 15 4 8 4 .. .. U 468
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Source: Live Register Statistic in respect of District Employment Office, Dindigul
as on 30.9.2005. Legend: M-Male; F-Female; L-Language; S-Science; A-Arts; V-Vocational;
R: Rural; and U: Urban.
Palani
Guruvappa HS
School, Naikarapatti,
Palani.
Co-ed Aided 7 2 2 3 4 .. R .. 230
S.M.B.M.P.Matric
HS School, Palani Co-ed Unaided 2 9 6 4 1 .. .. U 177
Swamy Matric
HSSchool,Palani Co-ed Unaided 4 2 2 4 .. .. .. U 24
Municipal HS
School,Palani Boys Govt 2 9 4 5 2 .. .. U 241
Govt.Girls' HS
School, Palani Girls Govt 8 5 5 4 4 .. .. U 486
Kodai-
kanal
Govt.HS School,
Kodaikanal Co-ed Govt 4 5 2 4 3 .. R .. 49
Zion Matric HS
School,Kodaikanal Co-ed Unaided 3 6 1 5 3 .. R .. 56
St.John's HS
School,Kodaikanal Girls Aided .. 10 2 5 3 .. R ..
129
St.Peter'sMatric HS
School, Kodaikanal Co-ed Unaided 6 2 .. 6 2 .. R .. 65
Veda-
sandur
Govt Boys’ HS
School,Vedasandur Boys Aided 13 6 5 8 5 1 R .. 133
Ambi-
likkai
S.N.HS School,
Ambilikkai Co-ed Aided 4 2 2 3 1 .. R .. 198
Ottan-
chatram
KRGovt HSSchool,
Ottanchatram Boys Govt 7 3 2 4 4 .. R .. 196
Chatra-
patti
Srinivasa Girls' HS.
School, Chatrapatti Girls Aided .. 7 3 3 1 .. R .. 90
Aya
kudi
I.T.O.HS School,
Ayakudi Co-ed Aided 4 4 1 5 2 .. .. U 165
Total 87 161 62 122 59 5 10 11 4356
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Table: 3.3 – School-wise Distribution of the Sample
S. No. Name of the School
No. of Teachers who
received Questionnaires
No. of Respon- dents & % of the
Total Sample 1 Govt. Hr.Sec.School, Kodaikanal 9 9 (4%)
2 Guruvappa Hr.Sec.School, NK Patti, Palani 9 9 (4%)
3 S.M.B.M.P. Matric Hr Sec, Dindigul 10 10 (4.1 %)
4 Swamy Matric Hr.Sec.School, Palani 7 7 (3%)
5 Govt.Boys’Hr.Sec.School,Vedasandur 19 19 (8%)
6 St. Joseph's Girls’ Hr.Sec.School, Dindigul 24 23 (9.4%)
7 S.N. Hr.Sec School, Ambilikkai 16 6 (2.4%)
8 Zion Matric Hr Sec. School, Kodaikanal 9 9 (4%)
9 M.V.M. Girls’ Matric.Hr.Sec.School, Dindigul 20 20 (8.2%)
10 St. John's Hr. Sec.School, Kodaikanal 10 10 (4.1%)
11 I.T.O.Hr. Sec.School, Ayakudi 9 8 (3.2%)
12 Municipal Hr. Sec. School, Palani 17 11 (4.5%)
13 K.R Govt. Hr. Sec. School, Ottanchatram 16 9 (3.7%)
14 Srinivasa Girls’ Hr. Sec. School, Chattrapatti 8 7 (2.8%)
15 Annamalaiar Mills Girls’ Hr.Sec.School,Dindigul 18 18 (7.4%)
16 N.M.M Hr. Sec. School, Dindigul 17 13 (4.9 %)
17 Govt. Girls' Hr.Sec.School, Palani 19 13 (5.3%)
18 Dudley Boys’ Hr. Sec. School, Dindigul 18 10 (2.4%)
19 St. Mary's Hr. Sec. School, Dindigul 16 14 (4.9%)
20 Our Lady Girls’ Hr.Sec.School, Dindigul 18 17 (6.9%)
21 St. Peter's Matric Hr. Sec. School, Kodaikanal 8 8 (2.8%)
Total 297 248 (100 %)
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3.5 TOOLS USED FOR THE STUDY
The investigator used two tools namely, i) Teaching competence
inventory developed by Perumalil Thomas Varghese (2004) and ii) Self-eefficacy
inventory developed by A. Nirmala Devi (investigator) and V. Rajeswari (Guide).
The description of the tools is presented below.
3.5.1 Teaching Competence Inventory
In order to gauge and assess the teaching competence of the teachers chosen
for the study, the investigator used an inventory constructed by Perumalil Thomas
Varghese (December 2004). The inventory focused on four areas: (a) Professional
information; (b) Interest in profession; (c) Attitude towards children; and
(d) Adaptability. The preliminary version of the inventory had 20 items for each
area and was given to five experts for establishing its content validity. Based on
their opinions, a few modifications were made in the inventory. This was then
administered to 50 teachers of St. Michael's High School, Patna and another 50
teachers of Don Bosco Academy, Patna, and the inter–item correlation co-efficient
was calculated.
In order to meet the requirements of the Hindi–speaking teachers, the
investigator got the inventory translated into Hindi and the translated version was
given to 5 experts in both Hindi and English for the correctness of the translation.
Based on their suggestions, some modifications were made in the translation.
Thus the content validity of the Hindi translation too was established.
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The reliability of the inventory was established by test and re-test methods.
It was administered twice on a sample of 50 teachers of St. Michael's High School,
Patna with an interval of 15 days and the reliability co–efficient was found. Only
those items which yielded a co-efficient correlation of more than 0.35 were retained
and this established the external validity of the inventory. The present inventory has
67 items in all (Vide Appendix).
The following Table shows that the present inventory is both reliable and
valid and presents the reliability co-efficient.
Table 3.4 - Description of Teaching Competence Inventory
Sl. No. Teaching Competence Items Reliability
1 Professional Information 1 -18 0.61
2 Interest in Profession 19 -34 0.49
3 Attitude towards Children 35 – 50 0.71
4 Adaptability 51 – 67 0.58
Total 0.65
Each item in this inventory was rated on a five-point scale. The options
were: Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree and Strongly Disagree.
The respondents were asked to respond to the extent of agreement or disagreement
with the content as per the scoring procedure given in Table 3.5.
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Table 3.5-Scoring Procedure for Teaching Competence Inventory
Sl. No. Alternatives Response Score
1 Strongly Agree 1 5
2 Agree 2 4
3 Neutral 3 3
4 Disagree 4 2
5 Strongly disagree 5 1
3.5.2 Self-efficacy Inventory (SEI)
As noted earlier, self-efficacy beliefs determine the strength of a person’s
character. Those with high self-efficacy beliefs boldly take up challenges and do not
easily give up even in the face of setbacks. On the contrary, those with a low self-
efficacy lack self-confidence and easily give up. To gauge the higher secondary
teachers’ self-efficacy, an inventory namely Self-efficacy Inventory (SEI)
constructed by A. Nirmala Devi and V. Rajeswari (2005) was used.
Content Validity of SEI
Validity is the quality of a data gathering instrument or procedure that
enables it to measure what it is supposed to measure (Best, 2007). Content validity is
based upon judgment of several subject experts. In order to establish content validity,
the tool consisting of 125 items, covering areas such as Skill Development, Skill of
Effective Transaction of the Curriculum to maximize the target group’s learning, Job
Development, Counselling Skills (coping with job stress) and Skill of Classroom
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Management, was given to four teacher educators, including an expert in the field of
psychology. Based on the experts’ feedback, some deletions and modifications were
made. Thus the items were reduced to 101 and later to 95 and finally to 60.
Thus the content validity of the tool was established.
Item analysis
Item analysis, according to Ferguson (1952), is "one of the many processes
by which one can find which items differentiate and which items do not differentiate
between contrasting criterion groups".
In the present study, item analysis was done to select suitable items for the
final draft of the inventory. For item analysis, the preliminary version of the
inventory was administered to 30 school teachers in Kodaikanal. The response
sheets of these teachers were arranged in the manner of magnitude of the total
scores. The highest 27% and the lowest 27% were taken out for analysis, since 27%
provides the best compromise between two desirable and inconsistent items: (i) to
make extreme groups as large as possible and (ii) to make extreme groups as
different as possible. Only 35 items which got r value more than 0.68 were retained
for the final study.
The scoring procedure of SEI is tabulated below.
Table 3.6-Scoring Procedure for SEI
S. No. Alternative Response Score 1 Strongly Agree 1 4 2 Agree 2 3 3 Disagree 3 2 4 Strongly Disagree 4 1
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Reliability
Reliability is the degree of consistency that the instrument or procedure
demonstrate. The reliability of SEI was computed with the help of Cronbach’s
Alpha method. The calculation of Cronbach’s α was used to measure the internal
consistency of the items in the inventory. The items in SEI cover the following five
areas of self–efficacy.
Table 3.7 Five areas of SEI
Sl. No. Self-efficacy Items Reliability
1 Skill Development 1-11 0.895
2 Professional Counselling 12-16 0.862
3 Professional Classroom Management 17-21 0.824
4 Professional Interaction 22-27 0.797
5 Professional Commitment and Accomplishment
28-35 0.860
Total 35 0.956 A commonly accepted rule of thumb is that on α of 0.6 - 0.7 indicates
acceptable reliability, and 0.8 or higher indicates good reliability.
3.6 ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF HIGHER SECONDARY STUDENTS
The academic achievement of the Higher Secondary students in the selected
21 schools has been taken into consideration for the study. For this purpose, their
public examination marks in Standard XII were taken into account and their average
marks were computed for analysis. This was done with a view to finding out the
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association between the teaching competence and self-efficacy of the Higher
Secondary teachers on the one hand and the academic achievement of their students
on the other.
3.7 ADMINISTRATION OF THE TOOLS
The investigator went to each of the schools chosen for the survey
personally. After giving instructions, the tools were distributed to the teachers who
were selected by random sampling. They were given enough time to respond to the
items in the inventories.
3.8 INTERPRETATION OF THE SCORES
The mean and standard deviation of the scores of each cluster of competencies
was worked out. Based on these findings, the norm was established. Scores below –
1 standard deviation were considered low; scores between ±1 standard deviation
were considered average; and scores above +1 standard deviation were considered
high for each dimension.
The total score was worked out taking all the dimensions together. Once again
scores below ±1 standard deviation were considered low teaching competence while
scores between +1 standard deviation were considered high teaching competence.
A similar norm was established for self efficacy. Scores below –1 standard deviation
were considered low self efficacy while scores between ±1 standard deviation were
considered moderate self efficacy. Scores above +1 standard deviation were
considered to represent high self efficacy.
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3.9 HYPOTHESES
1. There is no significant difference between men and women Higher
Secondary teachers in their teaching competence.
2. There is no significant difference between married and unmarried Higher
Secondary teachers in their teaching competence.
3. There is no significant difference between B.Ed. and M.Ed. trained
Higher Secondary teachers in their teaching competence.
4. There is no significant difference between rural and urban Higher
Secondary teachers in their teaching competence.
5. There is no significant difference between permanent and temporary
Higher Secondary teachers in their teaching competence.
6. There is no significant difference between Higher Secondary teachers
who have participated and those who have not participated in in-service
training programme in their teaching competence.
7. There is no significant difference among the Higher Secondary teachers
of different age groups in their teaching competence.
8. There is no significant difference among the Higher Secondary teachers
drawing different monthly incomes in their teaching competence.
9. There is no significant difference among the Higher Secondary teachers
with different educational qualifications in terms of their teaching
competence.
10. There is significant difference among the Higher Secondary teachers
handling different subjects in terms of their teaching competence.
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11. There is no significant difference among the Higher Secondary teachers
working in different types of schools in terms of their teaching
competence.
12. There is no significant difference among the Higher Secondary teachers
working in different types of management (Government, Aided and
Unaided) in terms of their teaching competence.
13. There is no significant difference among the Higher Secondary teachers
with different years of experience in terms of their teaching competence.
14. There is no significant difference among the Higher Secondary teachers
with different types of appointment (Government, Management and
PTA) in terms of their teaching competence.
15. There is no significant difference among the Higher Secondary teachers
handling Class XII of different strengths in terms of their teaching
competence.
16. There is no significant difference between men and women Higher
Secondary teachers in terms of their self-efficacy.
17. There is no significant difference between married and unmarried Higher
Secondary teachers in terms of their self-efficacy.
18. There is no significant difference between B.Ed. and M.Ed. qualified
Higher Secondary teachers in terms of their self-efficacy.
19. There is no significant difference between rural and urban Higher
Secondary teachers in their self-efficacy.
20. There is no significant difference between permanent and temporary
Higher Secondary teachers in their self-efficacy.
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21. There is no significant difference between Higher Secondary teachers
who have attended and those who have not attended in-service training
programmes with regard to their self-efficacy.
22. There is no significant difference among the Higher Secondary teachers
of different age groups in their self-efficacy.
23. There is no significant difference among the Higher Secondary teachers
belonging to different monthly income groups in their self-efficacy.
24. There is no significant difference among the Higher Secondary teachers
with different educational qualifications in terms of their self-efficacy.
25. There is no significant difference among the Higher Secondary teachers
handling different subjects in terms of their self-efficacy.
26. There is no significant difference among the Higher Secondary teachers
working in different types of schools in terms of their self-efficacy.
27. There is no significant difference among the Higher Secondary teachers
working in different types of management (Government, Aided and
Unaided) with regard to their self-efficacy.
28. There is no significant difference among the Higher Secondary teachers
with different years of experience with regard to their self-efficacy.
29. There is no significant difference among the Higher Secondary teachers
working with different types of appointment (Government, Management
and PTA) with regard to their self-efficacy.
30. There is no significant difference among the Higher Secondary teachers
handling Class XII of various strengths with regard to their self-efficacy.
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31. There is no significant association between the teaching competence and
the gender of the Higher Secondary teachers.
32. There is no significant association between the teaching competence and
the marital status of the Higher Secondary teachers.
33. There is no significant association between the teaching competence and
the teacher training degree of the Higher Secondary teachers.
34. There is no significant association between the teaching competence and
the location of the Higher Secondary teachers.
35. There is no significant association between the teaching competence and
the nature of appointment of the Higher Secondary teachers.
36. There is no significant association between the teaching competence of
the Higher Secondary teachers and their participation in in-service
training programme.
37. There is no significant association between the teaching competence and
the age of the Higher Secondary teachers.
38. There is no significant association between the teaching competence and
the monthly income of the Higher Secondary teachers.
39. There is no significant association between the teachings competence
and the educational qualifications of the Higher Secondary teachers.
40. There is no significant association between the teaching competence of
the Higher Secondary teachers and the subjects they handle.
41. There is no significant association between the teaching competence of
the Higher Secondary teachers and the type of school where they teach.
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42. There is no significant association between the teaching competence of
the Higher Secondary teachers and the type of management where they
work.
43. There is no significant association between the teaching competence the
Higher Secondary teachers and their years of experience.
44. There is no significant association between teaching competence and the
type of appointment of the Higher Secondary teachers.
45. There is no significant association between the teaching competence of
Higher Secondary teachers and the strength of Class XII.
46. There is no significant association between self-efficacy and the gender
of the Higher Secondary teachers.
47. There is no significant association between self-efficacy and the marital
status of the Higher Secondary teachers.
48. There is no significant association between self-efficacy and the teacher
training degree of the Higher Secondary teachers.
49. There is no significant association between self-efficacy and the location
of the Higher Secondary teachers.
50. There is no significant association between self-efficacy and the nature
of appointment of the Higher Secondary teachers.
51. There is no significant association between the self-efficacy the Higher
Secondary teachers and their participation in in-service training
programme.
52. There is no significant association between self-efficacy and the age of
the Higher Secondary teachers.
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53. There is no significant association between self-efficacy of the Higher
Secondary teachers and their monthly income.
54. There is no significant association between the self-efficacy of the
Higher Secondary teachers and their educational qualifications.
55. There is no significant association between the self-efficacy of the
Higher Secondary teachers and the subjects they handle.
56. There is no significant association between the self-efficacy of the
Higher Secondary teachers and the type of school where they teach.
57. There is no significant association between the self-efficacy of the
Higher Secondary teachers and the type of management where they
work.
58. There is no significant association between the self-efficacy of the
Higher Secondary teachers and their years of experience.
59. There is no significant association between self-efficacy and the type of
appointment of the Higher Secondary teachers
60. There is no significant association between the self-efficacy of the
Higher Secondary teachers and the strength of Class XII.
61. There is no significant correlation between teaching competence and its
various dimensions as a whole.
62. There is no significant correlation between self-efficacy and its various
dimensions as a whole.
The following chapter titled “Analyses and Interpretation” presents the data
that has been collected and analyses them with a view to finding out the teaching
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competence and self-efficacy of Higher Secondary teachers in Dindigul Educational
District in relation to the academic achievement of their students.
3.10 STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES USED
The Statistical techniques employed in this study were:
1. Mean
2. Standard Deviation
3. Percentage Analysis
4. t-test
5. Analysis of Variance
6. Chi-square test
7. Karl Pearson Correlation Coefficient
8. Multiple Regression
The following chapter is on data analysis and interpretation.
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