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CHAPTER - III

METHOD AND PROCEDURE

In the preceding chapter, the problem, its statement, related literature

and hypotheses of the study were discussed. This ongoing chapter treats the

method and procedure employed in this study. It includes hypotheses and design

of the study, sampling techniques, description of tools, data collection procedure,

scoring and statistical techniques used for the analysis of the data.

3.1 DESIGN

For carrying out any kind of research, it is important to chalk out a design.

According to Best (2008), ‘All researches involve elements of observation,

description and the analysis of what happens under certain circumstances’. A

systematic procedure is a must to collect the necessary data, which helps to attain

the objectives and to test the hypotheses formulated for the study.

The present study is essentially a descriptive survey coupled with causal-

comparative method and the techniques of bi-variate and multi-variate

correlations.

It is descriptive because it aims to describe the nature and present status of

the phenomenon with the intent of employing data to justify current conditions

and practices or to make more intelligent plans for improving them. According to

Best (2008), ‘A descriptive study describes and interprets what is, describing,

recording, analyzing and interpreting conditions that exist. It involves some kind

of comparison or contrast and attempts to discover relationship between existing

non-manipulated variables. It is concerned with opinions that are held, processes

that are going on, effects that are evident or trends that are developing. It is

primarily concerned with present, although it often considers past events and

influences as they relate to current conditions. It also deals with testing of

hypotheses and elements of generalization’.

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3.1.1 Dimensions of the Design

In the present study, the independent variables are general mental ability,

anxiety, emotional maturity and social maturity. Academic Achievement is

dependent variable. So, the present study has been carried out in accordance with

the requirements of the descriptive design.

3.2 HYPOTHESES OF THE STUDY

Following hypotheses were framed for the purpose of present study:

1. There exists no significant relationship between academic achievement

and general mental ability of high school students.

2. There exists no significant relationship between academic achievement

and anxiety of high school students.

3. There exists no significant relationship between academic achievement

and emotional maturity of high school students.

4. There exists no significant relationship between academic achievement

and social maturity of high school students.

5. There exists no significant relationship among general mental ability,

anxiety, emotional maturity and social maturity of high school students.

6. There is no difference between rural and urban, boys and girls in relation

to following variables:

(a) General mental ability

(b) Anxiety

(c) Emotional and Social maturity

(d) Academic achievement

7. No Significant differences exist among actualizers, par-actualizers and

non-actualizers on the basis of their anxiety, emotional maturity and

social maturity.

3.3 SAMPLE AND SAMPLING PROCEDURE

It is not possible to collect data from all the members of a population and

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the investigator resorted to sampling technique. Sampling implies any portion of

a population or universe taken as representative of that population or universe.

In the present study too, the population was very large and scattered over

all the high schools of 17 districts of Punjab. The investigator, therefore, has

employed the multistage random sampling technique in order to select a

representative sample of the entire state of Punjab. Out of the total 17 districts of

Punjab, four districts i.e. Amritsar, Kapurthala, Bathinda and Patiala has been

randomly selected for investigation. Again from each of the four selected

districts, one public senior secondary school affiliated to C.B.S.E., New Delhi

was selected randomly and another Jawahar Navodiya Vidhalaya affiliated to the

same board from the same district was selected. As there was only one Jawahar

Navodiya Vidhalaya in every district of Punjab, so the investigator was not

having any other option. Thus from each district two schools were taken up i.e.

one urban and one rural.

Only class X students studying during the academic year 2005-06 in the

selected schools have been made subjects for the present research project. For

selection of these students from each Jawahar Navodiya Vidhalaya, the

investigator noticed the total strength of boys and girls. They were in the ratio of

3:1 i.e. 75 boys and 25 girls. Thus investigator selected all the girls from each

Jawahar Navodiya Vidhalaya and out of 75 boys, 25 were selected randomly.

This procedure was adopted for selection of students from Jawahar Navodiya

Vidhalayas situated in rural areas of four randomly selected districts of Punjab.

A different procedure was adopted in the selection of students from urban

schools. In four randomly selected co-educational urban schools of each district,

there were minimum 3 and maximum 5 sections of class X. From each section

equal number of boys and girls were selected randomly in respect of the students

included in the sample.

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Through the procedure described above, 65 students - 35 boys and 30

girls, from each of the 4 selected public school and 55 students -30 boys and 25

girls from each of the Jawahar Navodiya Vidhalaya were selected. Thus, a total

sample of 480 students was raised at the primary stage. However, 57 of the

students from different schools did not extend the needed co-operation as they

did not appear in one or the other test or in final examination or their result was

awaited and therefore, they had to be dropped from the final count. 14 of the

subjects had to be dropped further as it was found while scoring the tests that

they had left the response sheets incomplete. Nine of them were randomly

dropped by the investigator to make the number of boys and girls, and rural and

urban students even.

Total Sample

(N=400)

Boys Girls

(N=200) (N=200)

Rural Urban Rural Urban

(N=100) (N=100) (N=100) (N=100)

The final sample consisted of 400 students, 200 boys (100 rural and 100

urban) and 200 girls (100 rural and 100 urban). The detailed split up of the

sample is shown in table 3.1.

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Table: 3.1

Distribution of Sample

Sr.

No.

District Schools Urban Rural Total

M F M F

1. Kapurthala Ananad Public Sr. Sec. School 25 25 - - 50

-do- J.N.V. Maseetan - - 25 25 50

2. Amritsar Khalsa College Public Sr. Sec.

School

25 25 - - 50

-do- J.N.V. Goindwal Sahib - - 25 25 50

3. Patiala D.A.V. Public Sr. Sec. School 25 25 - - 50

-do- J.N.V. Fatehpur Rajputan - - 25 25 50

4. Bathinda Police Public Sr. Sec. School 25 25 - - 50

-do- J.N.V. Teona Pujarian - - 25 25 50

5. Total 100 100 100 100 400

It is clear from the procedure outlined above that the sample of this

investigation is truly representative of its population. It represents different

geographical regions of the state, different types of high schools affiliated to

C.B.S.E., New Delhi and different strata of high school students.

3.4 TOOLS USED

The earnest efforts were made to choose appropriate standardized tools to

measure general mental ability, anxiety, emotional maturity and social maturity.

The tools were selected due to two main reasons: because of their suitability to

the sample; and their meeting to the vigorous standards of reliability and validity

as psychometric instruments. The following tools were employed for data

collection:

1. Ahuja’s Group Test of Intelligence (GGTI) (1998).

2. Anil Kumar’s General Anxiety Scale for Children (GASC) (2003).

3. Rao’s Social Maturity Scale (RSMS) (2002).

4. Yashvir Singh & Bharagava’s Emotional Maturity Scale (EMS) (1999).

70

3.4.1 Ahuja’s Group Test of Intelligence (GGTI) (1998)

The test is meant for measuring the intelligence of pupils studying in

class-group VIII to XI in English Medium Schools. The group test of intelligence

is prepared by Dr. G.C. Ahuja. The test booklet contains eight sub-tests. Test 1 is

an additional sub-test which is meant for practice only. The remaining seven sub-

tests from II to VIII are the tests proper. For each sub-test, one page is devoted to

instructions and practice examples. It serves the purpose of building morale with

the subjects. It enables them to develop confidence and hence, they get adjusted

with the nature of work. The performance of this additional test is not to be taken

into account. This fact (that performance on the first test is immaterial) is not to

be revealed to the pupils. While administering the tests, the value of this

additional test is not to be under–estimated.

Table 3.2

Number of Items and Time-Limits for each Sub-Test

Sub-Test Number of

Items

Time-limit Remarks (If

any)

1. Following Directions 9 4 Minutes Additional Test

2. Classification 20 4 Minutes

3. Analogies 20 4 Minutes

4. Arithmetic Reasoning 6 4 Minutes

5. Vocabulary 40 4 Minutes

6. Comprehension 8 4 Minutes

7. Series 12 4 Minutes

8. Best Answers 20 4 Minutes

Total 126 28 Minutes (Excluding Test 1)

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The test booklets and answer sheets should be counted in advance. After

the test is over, the test booklets and answer sheets, both used and unused should

again be counted to see that all have been collected.

Directions for taking the test are printed on the test-booklet. They are to

be read silently by the pupils while the examiner reads them aloud.

The test may be administered in regular classroom. Students being tested

should be seated apart. The space provided to them should be so large that

booklets and answer sheets can be used without any inconvenience.

It is advisable for pupils to take the test with pencils. Some extra pencils

should be kept in hand and supplied to the demanding examinee. The time limit

for each sub-test should be strictly adhered to. For this, a stop watch should be

used.

Before the start of the test, the students should be allowed to meet their

physical needs.

Classification of the Deviation Intelligence Quotients (DIQs)

The suggested classification on Revised Standford-Binet Intelligent

Quotients (IQs) has been followed for the present test. Table 3.3 presents the

process of classifying the Deviation Intelligence Quotients (DIQs) into different

categories. Along with it, the standing of the entire sample of 10,132 as per

different categories has also been indicated.

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Table 3.3

Classification of DIQs

DIQs N Percent Classification

140 and above 36 0.36 Very Superior

120-139 1150 11.35 Superior

110-119 1676 16.54 High Average

90-109 4587 45.27 Normal or Average

80-89 1532 15.12 Low Average

70-79 865 8.54 Borderline Defective

Below 70 286 2.82 Mentally Defective

Total 10132 100.00

Reliability of the Test

Reliability means the extent to which a test is consistent and stable in

what it measures and gives dependable and steady results. Reliability has been

studied by two methods; one which concerns the stability of the measure in terms

of time, and the other involves the internal consistency of the test.

(a) The Test-Retest Method: The retesting was undertaken after an interval

of six months on a sample of 599 pupils (309 boys and 290 girls). The sample

was drawn from four randomly selected English Medium Secondary Schools and

the reliability coefficient by this method was found to be .84+.021 which

represents a high correlation.

(b) The Split-Half Method: To apply this method, a sample of 518 pupils

(303 boys and 215 girls) was taken from four randomly selected English Medium

Secondary Schools. The scores of all these subjects were split into two parts, one

containing odd and the other even items and the coefficient of correlation was

found to be .95+.004. To obtain the reliability coefficient of the whole test,

Spearman-Brown Prophecy Formula was applied and the coefficient of

correlation was found to be .974+.003 which is a very high correlation and

hence, a very dependable relationship.

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Validity of the Test

Validity concerns the degree to which a test measures what it claims to

measure. The item validity has already been reported. The practical or empirical

validity of the test was studied by the following methods:

(1) Scholastic Marks: To apply this method, first terminal examination marks for

244 pupils (133 boys and 111 girls) were obtained from two English Medium

Secondary Schools. The percentage of total marks obtained in all the subjects

was correlated with the total score obtained on the present test. The coefficient of

correlation was found to be .57+.043. The coefficients of correlation for

individual school subjects were computed. These are as follows:

English .31 (N = 244)

Mathematics .52 (N = 244)

General Science .49 (N = 244)

Social Studies .59 (N = 244)

Hindi .48 (N = 244)

Second Language .20 (N = 244)

(French, Latin, Sanskrit and Persian)

Marathi .35 (N = 189)

Drawing .24 (N = 80)

Needle Work .15 (N = 49)

The annual examination results of the Secondary School Examination

Board, Maharashtra State, Poona, for 90 students (59 boys and 31 girls) studying

in class XI were obtained from two randomly selected English Medium Schools.

The coefficient of correlation was found to be .53+.075.

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(3) Teacher's Judgments. Teacher's judgments were obtained on a seven point

scale as shown below:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Very

Inferior

Inferior Slightly

Below

Average

Average Slightly

Above

Average

Superior Very

Superior

For every individual student, teacher's judgments were obtained from four

different teachers. A sample of 247 pupils (147 boys and 100 girls) was drawn

from four randomly selected English Medium Secondary Schools. The sum of

the four ratings for each student was computed. The coefficient of correlation

between the test scores and the sum of the four ratings was found to be .61+.040.

(b) Parsi Panchayet's Vocational Guidance Bureau constructed and

standardized a group test of general intelligence in English which is meant for

Class XI students. To obtain the validity coefficient, the test was administered on

a sample of 124 students (66 boys and 58 girls) of Class XI drawn from three

randomly selected English Medium Secondary Schools. The coefficient of

correlation between the two sets of scores was found to be .69+.047.

Internal Validity and Factorial Validity of the Test

To study the internal validity and the factorial validity, a random sample

of 487 students (304 boys and 183 girls) was drawn from 53 English Medium

Schools. The Internal consistency correlations between the sub-tests and the total

test score were computed. The factorial verified by Spearman's formula of 'g'

saturation. It came out to be a unifactor test having the following loadings as

reported in table 3.4.

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Table 3.4

Internal Validity and Factorial Validity

Sub-Test Internal

Consistency

'r' with the

Total Test

Score

First common

factor

Thurstone's

Centroid

Method

'g'

saturations

Spearman's

Formula

Rank

order

of the

Sub-

tests

II Classification .807 .774 .777 3

III Analogies .791 .761 .751 4

IV Arithmetic

Reasoning .601 .656 .646 6

V Vocabulary .904 .830 .828 1

VI Comprehension .712 .732 .727 5

VII Series .550 .545 508 7

VIII Best Answers .839 .816 804 2

The reliability and validity of the test was studied from different

standpoints. The results were obtained by using different methods and they were

confirmed by each other. The degrees of reliability (>.84) and validity

coefficients (>.57) were found to be fairly high. Hence, it is concluded that the

present test is reliable and valid.

3.4.2 Anil Kumar’s General Anxiety Scale for Children (GASC) (2003)

General Anxiety Scale for Children (GASC) (2003) is a widely used and

standardized scale developed by Dr. Anil Kumar and his associates for their

project on 'Anxiety in School Children'. As there is no standardized general

anxiety scale for children in Indian context, the General Anxiety Scale for

children has been adapted for use in Indian culture and conditions. The scale is

helpful to locate the anxiety level of children up to an age of 17 or 18 years. The

scale also categorizes the anxiety level of children into five categories viz., very

low, low, average, high and very high, for the purpose of diagnosing and

removing their problems.

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The Scale

The scale has been adapted in Hindi language. It has total 45 items related

to varied life situations. These items contain an element of anticipation of

dangerous and painful consequences. The various situations, with which the

items are generally related, are as follows:

(a) Health, physical appearance and injury.

(b) Success or failure in his work.

(c) Afraid from animals and strange things.

(d) Social relations and social approvals.

(e) Worries regarding family members and other relatives.

(f) Worries regarding the future happenings.

(g) Afraid in loneliness.

While adapting the scale items, care was taken to employ simple Hindi words of

general use with children.

Reliability

Coefficient of reliability for this scale was determined by two methods

viz., Split-Half Method and Kudur-Richardson formula 20. The table 3.5 gives

the coefficients of reliability determined by the two methods:

Table 3.5

Reliability Coefficients of the General Anxiety Scale

Sr. No. Method of Reliability Reliability Coefficient

1. Split-Half Method 0.79

2. K-R Formula-20 Method 0.81

The high index of reliability i.e. .90 provides evidence of a high degree of

internal consistency of GASC. The low value of standard error of measurement,

(SEm =2.7538) further confirms that the scale is quite reliable for use on Indian

children.

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Validity

The scale was validated against the outside criterion of teachers' rating

using five point rating scale (very often, fairly often, sometimes, occasionally

and almost never). The correlations between the teacher's ratings and anxiety

scores on GASC for boys and girls were found to be significant at 0.01 level.

The scale was further validated against the Sinha's Anxiety Scale on a

small sample. The size of validity coefficient (0.736) was found satisfactory. The

classification of anxiety in terms of different categories of males and females is

shown in the table 3.6.

Table 3.6

Classification of Anxiety in Terms of Categories

Categories Range of scores

Males Females

Very high

High

Average

Low

Very Low

42 & above

33-41

18-32

10-17

9 & below

42 & above

35-41

22-34

15-21

14 & below

3.4.3 Rao's Social Maturity Scale (RSMS) (2002)

The social maturity scale was developed by Dr. Nalini Rao with a view to

achieve two practical goals. The first was to attain a theoretical backdrop, which

has the prospect of ensuring an operational concept of social maturity with its

social and individual relevance. The second and the more pragmatic goal has

been to involve a precise and dependable measure of social maturity applicable

to the normal school child. The second course for identifying this phenomenon of

social maturity is a natural and inevitably essential outcome of child’s growth

and development, rather than a mere pathological symptom.

The scale comprises of general characteristics, which represent the worst

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common types of demands made by all societies on the individuals and at the

same time specific categories, which are culture specific attributes of individuals

that enable them to meet these demands. The three dimensions of social maturity

and its components are:

I. PERSONAL ADEQUACY

a) Work Orientation: Work orientation manifests in the perception of work

related skills and development of proper attitudes towards work in terms

of knowledge of standards of competence in performing tasks, capacity

for experiencing pleasure in work leading to self-sufficiency.

b) Self Direction: Self direction manifests in one's own capacity to act

independently and exercise control over one's actions. This also involves

the initiative an individual takes in directing himself and his actions with a

feeling of security and full faith in one's efforts.

c) Ability to take Stress: An ability to exhibit appropriate emotional

stability and react without embarrassing either himself or the group he is

in. It also involves ability to undertake difficult and challenging tasks with

assurance.

II. INTERPERSONAL ADEQUACY

d) Communication involves an ability to understand, write, communicate

and make clear meaningful speech and gestures. The ability also involves

empathy, which sensitizes the individual to the affective domain and

demands effective communication.

e) Enlightened Trust includes a general belief that it is acceptable to rely or

depend on others when need arises. It involves clear functioning of

enlightened decision about whom, when and how much to trust.

f) Cooperation is an altruistic tendency to join others in their efforts in

order to reach a mutually desirable goal. It involves ability to regard rules

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and practices more as a reciprocal social agreement than a rigid,

unchangeable law.

III SOCIAL ADEQUACY

g) Social Commitment involves a feeling of oneness with others,

willingness to modify or relinquish personal goals in the interest of

societal goals and also a readiness to invest in long term social goals.

h) Social Tolerance involves a person's willingness to interact with

individuals and groups who differ from him. Sensitivity to the right of

individuals and groups who differ from him, thus accepting the difference

as a means of building out-group loyalties.

i) Openness to Change involves willingness to accept changes in the social

setting and adapt oneself to the demands of these changes.

Reliability

The final form of the 90 items Social Maturity Scale was administered

twice on a sample of one hundred and eighty students over an interval of four to

five weeks. The sample comprised of 198 secondary school subjects from VIII,

IX and X grades.

The means of the scores obtained on the two administrations did not differ

significantly. The scores of all sub-scales of the first administration were

correlated with the scores of all the sub-scale of second administration. The

coefficients of correlation are given in table 3.7.

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Table 3.7

Coefficients of Correlation Between First and Second Administration of all

Sub-scales of Social Maturity Scale

Sr. No. Sub-Scales r**

1. Work Orientation .91

2. Self Direction .89

3. Ability to take Stress .88

Personal Adequacy .89

4. Communication .78

5. Enlightened Trust .63

6. Cooperation .89

Inter-Personal Adequacy .73

7. Social Commitment .82

8. Social Tolerance .83

9. Openness to change .74

Social Adequacy .75

Total Scores on Social Maturity .79

** All the coefficients of correlation are significant at 0.01 level.

It was found that a tool in the regional language would be more useful

especially when the subjects who answer it are young and more conversant with

the regional language. Simultaneously, the Hindi version of the tool was also

evolved with a view to facilitate the large-scale use over national samples. The

Kannada and the Hindi translations of the tool were administered on samples of

128 students whose medium of instruction was Kannada and 118 students whose

medium of instruction was Hindi. These students responded to the English

version after an interval of 3 to 4 weeks. The correlation coefficient obtained

between the scores on Kannada and English versions was .98 and the correlation

coefficient obtained between the scores on Hindi and English versions was.98.

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Validity

The most suitable external criterion for validating the Social maturity

Scale was found to be the teacher ratings on the attributes of Social Maturity. In

view of the fact that the teacher has close acquaintance with the children in

schools and that they have more opportunity to observe the students' behaviour

repeatedly and under various conditions across a variety of situations, it makes a

potentially good source of information for validating the Social Maturity

characteristics of students.

A sample of two hundred and eighty-eight students from grades VIII, IX

and X randomly chosen from sixteen schools of Bangalore City, were

administered the Social Maturity Scale. The subjects were equally distributed

over the grades and sexes, and were from schools run by different managements

and from co-education and single sex schools.

The scale seems to be more sensitive to the presence of a trait than to its

absence or lack of it. This is evidenced from the significantly higher mean values

of the group rated mature and the absence of the mean difference between the

groups rated moderately mature and immature. On the basis of the above

observations and findings, the validity of the tool is acceptable.

3.4.4 Yashvir Singh & Bhargava's Emotional Maturity Scale (EMS) (1999)

Emotional maturity scale prepared by Dr. Yashvir Singh and Dr. Mahesh

Bhargava (1999) was used to measure emotional maturity. Emotional maturity

scale deals with interplay of forces with intensities and quantities in terms of

different aspects:

(a) Emotional unstability

(b) Emotional regression

(c) Social maladjustment

(d) Personality disintegration

(e) Lack of independence

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(a) Emotional Unstability

This is a broad factor representing syndrome of lack of capacity to dispose

off problems, irritability, needs, constant help for one's day to day work,

venerability and temper tantrums. This group has a high correlation (0.75) with

the total score obtained on the scale. Emotional unstability is an independent

factor of emotional immaturity.

(b) Emotional Regression

Emotional regression is also a broad group of factors representing such

syndromes as feeling of inferiority, restlessness, aggressiveness and self-

centeredness. This has emerged as the broadest factor in the scale as revealed by

the factor analysis. It has a high correlation with the total score on all the five

factors of the scale.

(c) Social Maladjustment

Such a person shows lack of social adaptability should hatred, seclusive

but boasting, liar and shirker.

(d) Personality Disintegration

It includes all those symptoms which represent disintegration of

personality like reaction, phobias formation, rationalization, pessimism,

immorality etc. Such a person suffers from inferiority and hence reacts to

environment through aggressiveness, destruction and has a distorted sense of

reality. In brief, such a person shows varied degrees of neuroticism, which could

put as below:

Ad R T

F P E

Where

Vs = Specific emotional vulnerability

Ss= External stresses specially in relation to emotional vulnerability

Ad = Difficulty of adjustment internal and external

F = Flexibility R = Regressive forces

E = Ego strength N = Degree of neuroticism

P = Progressive forces.

VSxSS x

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(e) Lack of independence

Such a person shows parasitic dependence on others, is egoistic and lacks

'objective interests'. People think of him as an unreliable person.

Reliability of the Scale

The test-retest reliability of the scale was measured by administering it

upon a group of collegiate students (N=150) including male and female students

aged 20-24 years. The time interval between the two testing was of six months.

The product moment 'r' between the two testing was 0.75.

Validity of the Scale

The scale was validated against external criteria i.e. the 'Gha', area of

adjustment inventory for college students by Sinha and Singh. The 'Gha' area in

inventory measures emotional adjustment of college students. The number of

items of this area is twenty one. Product moment co-relation obtained between

total scores on all twenty one 'Gha' items and total scores on EMS was 0.64

(N=46). Table 3.8 shows the interpretation of the scores on the basis of this test:

Table 3.8

Interpretation of Emotional Maturity Scores

Scores Interpretation

50-80

81-88

89-106

107-240

Extremely stable

Moderately stable

Unstable

Extremely unstable

3.5 PROCEDURE ADOPTED IN DATA COLLECTION

All the four tools selected in the study were administered to high school

students of Punjab. The tests were administered in-group setting in a uniform

sequence, in the following order:

1. Ahuja’s Group Test of Intelligence (GGTI)

2. Kumar’s General Anxiety Scale for Children (GASC)

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3. Yashvir Singh & Bhargava’s Emotional Maturity Scale (EMS)

4. Rao’s Social Maturity Scale (RSMS)

Principals of the school were contacted to seek their cooperation for

collecting data of the study. The testing conditions for all the students were kept

as constant and uniform as possible.

Before starting the testing session, it was ensured that subjects were seated

comfortably in a room where there was no outside disturbance. The help of the

school teachers was also sought in administering the tests. Before the actual tools

were administered, the subjects were acquainted with the purpose of the

investigation. This was done to establish rapport and to make them feel at home.

They were told that the results of the tools would be kept strictly confidential.

Instructions for each tool, as mentioned in the test manual, were read out

to the subjects and they were also requested to go through the instructions printed

at the cover page of the each tool. In case of intelligence test, the separate

instructions were given in the beginning of each sub-test. Through instructions,

subjects were cautioned to give sincere response. They were made to feel that

they would enjoy the activities and have fun in these tests. About 5 minutes rest

was allowed in between the tests. The response sheets were collected after the

allotted time. Care was taken to ensure that all the questions had been answered.

Those answer sheets where the answers were missing, were given to the same

subjects for completion. For the administration of the tests, about three and a half

hours time was spent in each school including a short break of twenty five

minutes for refreshment.

After collecting the data from the students of a particular school, a list of

their final board examination roll numbers was taken from the school office for

seeking their final results. Same procedure for data collection was adopted by the

investigator in other schools.

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3.6 SCORING

Scoring of response sheets was done by the investigator himself according

to the scoring keys given in the manuals of four tests. A brief description of the

scoring procedure for each test is given below:

3.6.1 Ahuja's Group Test of Intelligence

The scoring of response sheet for Ahuja’s group test of intelligence was

done with the help of scoring stencil keys. The relevant stencil key was put on

each page of the answer sheet. It was so adjusted that the page number was

visible through the holes of the scoring stencil. Then the correctly marked

answers visible through the holes were counted and written on the left margin of

the answer sheet. The same procedure was followed for all the sub-tests except

for test-VII. In that case, the correct answers were affirmative that correspond

with the numbers given on the stencil key. The question numbers that were

answered wrong or were left un-attempted were marked with a red coloured

pencil. Both wrong as well as the un-attempted questions were deducted from the

total number of items contained in the sub-test VII and the balance score was

obtained.

Then, the scores from the different pages of were written in the table

given at the top of the front page of the answer sheet.

The sum total of the scores of the seven sub-tests (Excluding first one) of

the test, gave the total score obtained by a subject, which was considered as his

general mental ability score.

3.6.2 Kumar’s General Anxiety Scale for Children

The 45 items of General Anxiety scale for children (GASC) were scored

on all or none basis by hand scoring. For any response indicated as 'yes'

weightage of one score, whereas zero for 'no' response was given. The sum of all

the 'yes' responses gave the total anxiety score of the subject. The GASC

includes 11 items, which are labeled as 'lie items' on the basis of which a child

receiving a negative score of 6 or more is rejected because it reveals the lying

tendency of the child.

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3.6.3 Yashvir Singh and Bhargava’s Emotional Maturity Scale

Emotional maturity scale has a total of 48 items and is a self- reporting

five-point scale. Items of the scale are in question form demanding information

for each in any of the five options mentioned below:

"Very much, much, undecided, probably, never"

The items are so stated that if the answer is in positive say very much, a

score of five is given; for much 4, for undecided 3, for probably 2 and for never a

score of 1 is to be awarded. Therefore, higher the score on the scale, greater is

the degree of the emotional immaturity and vice-versa.

3.6.4 Rao’s Social Maturity Scale

Social maturity scale has 90 items under three categories i.e. Personal

adequacy, Interpersonal adequacy and Social adequacy.

Out of these ninety items, 23 items are positively oriented and 67 are

negatively oriented. In first category i.e. personal adequacy there is only one, in

interpersonal adequacy nine and in social adequacy 13 items are positively

oriented and the remaining 67 i.e. 29 in the first category, 21 in the second

category and 17 in the third category are negatively oriented. The scale is self-

reporting four-point scale. Items of the scale are in question form demanding

information for each in any of the four options given below:

"Strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree"

Items are so stated that if answer is say strongly agree, a score of 4 is

given, for agree 3, for disagree 2 and for strongly disagree a score if 1 is to be

awarded for positively oriented items and the score is awarded in reverse order

for the negatively oriented items. Moving the template on the scoring blank

forwards right and viewing the same number through the template holes obtains

scores for each of the sub-scales under the three dimensions of social maturity

scale. When No.1 is visible through all the six punched holes, it gives the score

for the first three sub-scales of the first dimension. Similarly, No.'2' and No.'3'

provide scores for the sub-scales of the second and the third dimensions

respectively.

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The scores in the columns shown through the template are summed up and

entered in the appropriate cell provided on the right side of the scoring blank.

Thus, it is possible to obtain the scores of three dimensions and the total social

maturity score for each observation. Therefore, higher the score on the scale,

greater is the degree of social maturity.

3.6.5 Academic achievement Scores

The investigator had already noted the final examination roll numbers of

the subjects selected in the present study from the school office record. Their

result was noted from the INTERNET by entering the school codes of the

selected schools. The aggregate scores of five papers obtained by the selected

subjects in their annual examination held by C.B.S.E., New Delhi in March, 2006

were taken and treated as academic achievement scores of the students.

3.7 STATISTICAL TECHNIQES USED

The numerical determinants like mean and standard deviation were

worked out to study the general nature of the sample in relation to scores of

different variables taken in the present study i.e., General mental ability , anxiety,

emotional maturity, social maturity and academic achievement. Skewness,

kurtosis and their standard errors were worked out to see the trend of departure of

the sample distribution from the normal probability curve. In order to analyze the

data, obtained on the basis of general mental ability, anxiety, emotional maturity,

social maturity and academic achievement, the raw scores of the whole sample

were converted into T-scores and again their mean, median and standard

deviation were computed. The data were analyzed separately for boys and girls

and the total sample.

Following statistical techniques were used in the present study to

discover and ascertain the bearing of the collected data on the hypotheses and

objectives of this study for the analysis of the data.

The first hypothesis of the study was:

‘There exists no significant relationship between academic achievement and

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general mental ability of high school students’.

The bearing of the relevant data on the said hypothesis was seen by

working out correlation through the use of Pearson’s Product Moment method of

correlation. The coefficients of correlation had to be computed between the

scores of the subjects on academic achievement with their scores on general

mental ability. The level of significance of each correlation was seen in the light

of the parameters given in the tables of significance of correlations. Moreover,

the dependability of coefficients of correlation in terms of their standard error

and their significance was also checked by calculating the Fisher’s z function.

An attempt was also made to see some measures of accuracy of prediction

of academic achievement by the variable of general mental ability.

The next step here consisted in working out the first, second and third

order partial coefficients of correlation so as to partial out the effect of other

related variables i.e. anxiety, emotional maturity and social maturity.

An effort here was made to find out the contribution of each variable

independently in the academic achievement through the method of multiple

coefficients of correlations. Thus different variables taken in the present study

are added step by step and their values of multiple coefficients of correlation

were computed.

All the above mentioned statistical techniques were employed to find out

and ascertain the bearing of the relevant data on the second, third and fourth

hypotheses. For determining the bearing of relevant data on the fifth hypothesis

of the study, Pearson’s Product Moment coefficients of correlation, dependability

of coefficients of correlation in terms of their standard error, their significance by

calculating the Fisher’s z function and Partial coefficients of correlation were

computed.

The sixth hypothesis of the study was:

‘There is no difference between rural and urban, boys and girls in relation

to the variables of general mental ability, anxiety, emotional maturity, social

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maturity and academic achievement’.

For ascertaining the bearing of the relevant data (pertaining to the general

mental ability, anxiety, emotional maturity, social maturity and academic

achievement of the subjects) on the said hypothesis of the study, means of the

scores of the two categories of the subjects on their general mental ability,

anxiety, emotional maturity, social maturity and academic achievement were

computed along with the standard deviations of the said means. The t- test was

applied to see whether there was any significant difference between the means.

The level of significance of the computed critical ratio was statistically seen in

the light of statistical parameters for the purpose.

The two categories of the subjects (boys and girls on the basis of gender

and rural and urban on the basis of the locale/region) were compared on all the

five variables i.e. general mental ability, anxiety, emotional maturity, social

maturity and academic achievement. Means of the scores of both categories of

the subjects (boys and girls), (rural and urban) on each variable were computed

along with their respective standard deviations. Then t-test was applied to

ascertain whether or not there was any significant difference between the two

means. The significance of each critical ratio was seen in the light of the set

statistical parameters for the purpose.

The seventh hypothesis of the study was:

‘No significant differences exist among actualizers, par-actualizers and

non-actualizers on the basis of their anxiety, emotional maturity and social

maturity’.

For ascertaining the bearing of the relevant data (pertaining to, anxiety,

emotional maturity and social maturity of the subjects) on the said hypothesis of

the study, actualization of the students was predicted.

For the prediction of actualization, based on the data collected through

intelligence test of 400 students from eight schools (25 students from each of the

school, 4 urban and 4 rural), simple regression equation was used. This was

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necessitated for presenting the cross validating evidence and to make the present

study of a good prognostic value. The regression equation used for the prediction

of the success in achievement reads:

x

X = r (y-My) + Mx

y

Where X = the predicted value of dependent variable i.e. academic

achievement score.

Y = Measure of criterion variable i.e. measure of general

mental ability as independent variable.

Mx = Mean of predictor scores i.e. academic achievement

scores.

My = Mean of the criterion scores i.e. general mental ability

scores.

x = S.D. of the predictor variable

y = S.D. of the criterion variable

The discrepancy between one’s performance on tests of achievement and

general mental ability were defined by working out differences in the levels of

one’s actual achievement and that for predicted achievement. If the measure of

the two variables, that is academic achievement and general mental ability are

imperfectly correlated and difference between one’s actual achievement and one’

predicted achievement , predicted with the help of the above mentioned

Regression Equation is worked out, then mathematically speaking, one of the

three types of indices is likely to be reached:

1. It may be positive, meaning thereby that one’s actual achievement is

superior in comparison to what could be predicted on the basis of his

potential for achievement; or using different words, such an index will be

embodying actualization of general mental ability on the part of a particular

individual and was termed as ‘actualizer’.

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2. The index may be zero, showing that the particular individual is neither

‘actualizer’ nor ‘non-actualizer.’ Obviously, such an index is representing

the situation which may be designated as ‘par-actualization’. More

technically speaking, the index of par-actualization is indicative of perfect

commensuration of one’s achievement and the potential for achievement

and was labeled as ‘par-actualizer’.

3. The index may be negative demonstrating thereby that the particular

individual has failed to achieve, what could be predicted on the basis of his

performance on the test of intelligence and the individual may be dubbed as

‘non- actualizer’.

Table 3.9

The number of students falling in the three categories Actualizers,

Par-actualizers and Non-actualizers on the basis of the discrepancy

scores (N=400)

Sr.

No.

Category

Boys Girls Total

Rural Urban Rural Urban

1 Actualizers 43 15 43 24 125

2 Par-actualizers 42 31 40 37 150

3 Non-actualizres 15 54 17 39 125

Through this method, out of 400 students, 125 were labeled as

actualizers, 150 par-actualizers and 125 non-actualizers on the basis of their

general mental ability as shown in table 3.9. After arranging the scores obtained

by students in three categories mentioned above, the corresponding anxiety,

emotional maturity and social maturity scores were written against their

respective serial numbers. Means of the scores of the three categories of the

subjects on their anxiety, emotional maturity and social maturity were computed

along with the standard deviations of the said means. t-test was applied to see the

significance of the differences between actualizers and par-actualizers,

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actualizers and non-actualizers, par-actualizers and non-actualizers on the basis

of their anxiety, emotional maturity and social maturity scores and also on the

different categories of the sample i.e. boys, girls, rural and urban groups. The

level of significance of the computed critical ratio was statistically seen in the

light of statistical parameters for the purpose.

One of the purposes of the study was to know the differences among

actualizers, par-actualizers and non actualizers on the basis of their anxiety,

emotional maturity and social maturity scores. For this purpose the significance

of the difference between the mean scores of actualizers and par- actualizers,

between actualizers and non-actualizers, between non-actualizers and par-

actualizers collectively and separately for boys, girls, rural and urban groups on

the basis of anxiety, emotional maturity and social maturity were calculated and

shown in different tables.

The results arrived in relation to different hypotheses of the study through

the statistical processing of the relevant data were analyzed and interpreted

bearing in mind the considerations that led to formulations of the seven

hypotheses of the study and the findings of the earlier related studies as described

and reviewed in the second chapter of this work. Subjective predictions were not

allowed to contaminate the process of analyzing and interpreting the results.

Every precaution was taken to arrive at the findings of the study as precisely and

as objectively as possible. If the results were in favour of any given hypothesis,

the possible reasons for the same were given. If the results were not in favour, an

attempt was made to explain the implications and causes of the results as

objectively as is normally expected on the part of an individual who reasonably

claims to be a researcher in the field of Education. Wherever necessary, graphic

representation of the data on different variables was made. The results arrived at

were shown in tabular forms. The data thus analyzed was interpreted to reach at

the findings of the study as described in the next chapter.