ABSTRACT
Available
data indicate that the National Teachers’ Institute (NTI) programme has not
incorporated multiple-choice items in the instructional modules provided to
student-teachers, particularly in the area of Measurement and Evaluation.
Consequently, students are not assessed using multiple-choice formats due to
the absence of a valid testing instrument. This study, therefore, focused on
the development and validation of a Measurement and Evaluation Multiple Choice
Achievement Test (MESATNS-NTI) for NTI NCE students in the South-South states
of Nigeria. The study adopted an instrumentation research design with the
primary objective of determining item difficulty and discrimination indices,
assessing internal consistency of the MESATNS-NTI and its sub-tests, evaluating
content validity indices, and analyzing students’ performance based on gender
and school location. Five research questions were addressed, and two hypotheses
were tested. The population comprised 4,099 final-year NCE students of the NTI
during the 2018/2019 academic session, consisting of 1,139 males and 2,960
females. Among them, 2,189 were enrolled in urban centres and 1,910 in rural
centres, across 49 NTI centres in the South-South region. A sample of 1,848
student-teachers was selected from 24 centres in the six states using
proportionate stratified simple random sampling. The instrument used for data
collection, MESATNS-NTI, consisted of 60 multiple-choice items covering six
content areas and six objective domains. Data analysis was conducted using
Classical Test Theory (CTT) to address the research questions, while t-tests for
independent samples were applied to test the hypotheses at a 0.05 level of
significance. Findings revealed that the MESATNS-NTI possessed strong
psychometric properties: item difficulty indices ranged between 0.25 and 0.70,
item discrimination indices between 0.20 and 0.60, and a reliability
coefficient of 0.83. The item content validity index and average content
validity index were 0.92 and 0.93, respectively. The results also showed that
both gender and school location significantly influenced student achievement in
Measurement and Evaluation. The study recommended, among others, that the
developed multiple-choice achievement test be adopted by lecturers for
assessing final-year NTI student-teachers in Measurement and Evaluation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title
Page i
Declaration
ii
Certification iii
Dedication
iv
Acknowledgements
v
Table
of Contents vii
List
of Tables vii
Abstract
xi
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background to the Study 1
1.2
Statement of the Problem 7
1.3
Purpose of the Study 7
1.4
Research Questions 8
1.5 Hypotheses 9
1.6 Significance
OF the Study 9
1.7 Scope
of the Study 11
CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1
Conceptual Framework 12
2.1.1 Measurement and Evaluation: Meaning and Relevance in
the
School System 12
2.1.2
Relevance of Testing, Measurement and
Evaluation 19
2.1.3
Achievement Test/its
Classifications 21
2.1.4 Multiple Choice Test 26
2.1.5 Qualities of a Good Measuring Instrument 28
2.1.6 Development and Validation Procedure of
Achievement Test 44
2.1.7 Emergence and
Transformation of Open-Distance
Education
in Nigeria 48
2.1.8 International Agencies and the Development of Open
and
Distance
Education in Nigeria 50
2.1.9 Reflection on Distance Education
Development 52
2.1.10 Links between Open and Distance Education and
Development 56
2.2 Theoretical Framework 59
2.2.1
Bloom Taxonomy of Cognitive Model 59
2.2.2 Classical Test Theory by Gulliken (1950). 61
2.3
Review of Empirical Studies 63
2.4 Summary of Literature Review 68
CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY
3.1
Design of the Study 70
3.2
Area of Study 70
3.3
Population of the Study 71
3.4
Sample and Sampling Technique 71
3.5 Instrument
for data Collection 73
3.5.1
Description of the Instrument 73
3.5.2
Instrument Development Procedure 75
3.6 Validation
of the Instrument 80
3.7
Reliability of the Instrument 80
3.8
Method of Data Collection 81
3.9 Method
of Data Analyses 82
CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1
Major Finding 93
4.2
Discussion of Findings 95
4.3.1 Content Validity of Measurement and evaluation Multiple
choice
Achievement
Test (MESATNS-NT) 95
4.3.2 Internal Consistencies of
measurement and Evaluation Multiple Choice
Achievement test (MESATNS_NTI)
Multiple
Choice Achievement Test (MESATNS-NTI) 95
4.3.3 Difficulty level of Measurement and Evaluation Multiple
Choice
Achievement Test (MESATNS-NTI) 96
4.3.4 Discrimination Indices of Measurement and Evaluation Multiple
Choice
Achievement Test (MESATNS-NTI) 97
4.3.5 Distractor Effectiveness of Various Option of MESATNS-NTI Test
Items
Test
(MESATNS-NTI) 98
4.3.6 Influence of Gender on the Achievement of Student-Teachers in
Measurement and Evaluation as
Measured by Measurement and
Evaluation
Multiple Choice Achievement Test (MESATNS-NTI) 99
4.3.7 Influence of School Location on the Achievement of
Student-teachers in
Measurement and Evaluation as Measured by the Measurement
and
Evaluation
Multiple Choice Achievement Test (MESATNS-NTI)
99
CHAPTER FIVE SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1
Summary 101
5.2
Conclusion 103
5.3
Educational Implications of the
Study 104
5.4
Recommendations 104
5.5
Limitations of the Study 105
5.6
Suggestions for Further Study 106
References
107
Appendices 110
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1 Content
validity indices (CVI) of the Measurement and Evaluation
Multiple
Choice Achievement Test for NCE Students 84
Table 4.2 Internal consistencies
of Measurement and Evaluation
Multiple Choice
Achievement Test (MESATNS-NTI) 85
Table 4.3a Item Difficulty
Indices of MESATNS-NTI 86
Table 4.3b Discrimination Indices of MESATNS-NTI 87
Table 4.3c Distractor Effectiveness of the Options of items
of MESATNS-NTI 89
Table 4.4 Mean
Achievement scores of Male and Female Students in
Measurement and
Evaluation as Measured by MESATNS-NTI
90
Table 4.5 Mean
Achievement scores of Urban and
Rural Students-Teacher in
Measurement
and Evaluation as by MESATNS-NTI
91
Table 4.6 t-test
Analysis of the difference between the mean
achievement scores
male and female students in
measurement and evaluation
as
measurement
by MESATNS-NTI
92
Table 4.7 t-test
Analysis of the difference between the mean
achievement scores
of the
urban and rural as measured by
MESATNS-NTI
93
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The history of Distance Education in Nigeria dates back to
the practice of correspondence
Education as a means of preparing candidates for the General
Certificate in Education, a prerequisite for the London Matriculation
Examination. The National Teacher Institute (NTI) was established in 1976 with
its headquarters at Kaduna to cater for the increasing teacher needs for the
Universal Primary Education (UPE). Act No. 7 of April, 1978 which established
the institute empowered it to organized and provide programmes for training,
development, upgrading and certification of teachers, through distance learning
(DLS). It commenced examining in 1982, and presently conducts the TC II
examination in the federally set papers. The institute has also commenced
in-service training for the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) by Distance
Learning System (DLS), which was launched in March, 1990.
The National Teacher’s Institute (NTI)
also runs the pivotal Teacher Training Programme (PTTP) to produce teachers for
the UBE and also the Post-Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) and the Advanced
Diploma in Education (ADE) which commenced in 2005.
Generally, the National Teacher’s Institute (NTI) mandates
include;
i. Identify and clarify
professional requirements of teachers and teaching; ii. Design and mount programmes which achieve the objectives of
Teacher Education
iii.
Operate and maintain a nationwide programme
which must work harmoniously with
existing and similar prorammes,
iv.
Incorporate strategy for change ad innovations
within its conceptual and operational
framework.
From the above, it is instructive to state
that the national teachers institute (NTI) has gone beyond being a public
examining body to a Teacher Training Institute, cited in (Asuru, 2015).
In order to achieve the above stated objectives, many
courses which include Measurement and
Evaluation are taught. Measurement and Evaluation as a course
encompasses testing Measurement, Assessment and Evaluation. The term test
refers to a set of questions, tasks or problems intended to measure an
individual’s knowledge, aptitude, intelligence, and performance. Test can also
be defined as a tool for Measurement and Evaluation of an individual’s growth
and development (Betrand &Cebula as cited in Ugodulunwa, 2008). This
implies that a test is narrower than Measurement because it is just one of the
instrumentsof
Measurement. This present study focused on developing and
validating an achievement test in Measurement and Evaluation.
On the other hand, measurement refers to a
process of assigning numbers to individuals, or objects according to a rule.
For example a teacher who has measured John’s performance in measurement and
evaluation test can say that John scored 80 percent in the course if he answered 8 out of ten questions
in the test correctly. This is why chase (as cited in Afemikhe, 2014) defines
measurement as the process of using numbers to describe quantity, quality or
frequency according to a set of rules. It is important to note that when
teachers mark the students’ answer scripts after testing or examination, they
are measuring the student’s performance in the test or examination.
On the other hand, evaluation is the
process of making value judgment about the worth of a thing. This includes; obtaining information for use
in judging the work of a programme, product, procedure, or objective in
education. This is why Ebel (as cited in Madu, 2012) defines evaluation as a
judgment of merit, sometimes based solely on measurements such as those
provided by test scores but more frequently involving the synthesis of various
measurement, critical incidents,
subjective impression and other kinds of evidence. It implies that
evaluation involves both quantitative and qualitative description of behaviours
as much as value judgment about the worth of that behavior. For example
teachers are involved in evaluation when they give meaning to test scores in
term of pass or fail, excellent or poor, or compare performance of students
using some phrases.
The definition of measurement and
evaluation are factored into educational measurement and evaluation process as
identified by Nworgu (2003) as: (i) identifying and defining objectives to be
evaluated (ii) developing appropriate instruments for measuring objectives,
(iii) administering the instrument (iv) scoring the instrument, (v) decision
making about students performance and (vi) reporting of students’ performance.
All these steps are expected to be covered by the NCE (NTI) students’ as well
as captured by their course contents.
On the relevance of this course in the
school system at the national level, measurement and evaluation is relevant for
selecting, certifying, and monitoring of educational progress, diagnosing and
treating of learning problems of students as well as for curriculum
development. At the school, measurement and evaluation are useful at the school
level to teachers, students, administrators, guidance counselors, parents and
researchers. For example, evaluation enables the teachers to identify knowledge
and skills students possess that will enable them profit from the planned
instruction they will be exposed. The result of the evaluation will also help
the teachers to plan the instruction to suit the students’ entry level and to
set realistic goals for them among others. To students evaluations provide
feedback that identifies students’ strengths and weaknesses. Knowledge of their
teachers’ assistance to help them improve their subsequent performance in a
particular subject.
Principals and head teachers use
evaluation results to perform administrative functions in the school. For
example measurement and evaluation guide administrative decisions concerning
promotion, selection, placement, and grouping of students among others. Inspite
of the importance of this course, it is reported that students are not well
taught and the content areas are not covered within the specified time (NTI
2012). This is attributed to the wide area of the course contents in addition
to the National Teachers Institute (NTI) use of course books or printed package
lectures called modules. These modules are given to the NCE student-teachers in
the various centres for their independent studies and at the best the part-time
lecturer’s present lecture based on these modules to the student teachers
during weekends and holidays.
Based on the above mode of teaching, the
student-teachers’ assessment is limited to the use of essay test items which do
not cover large content areas in the assessment of student and are not amenable
to the use of e-assessment. No wonder, the modules given to the student contain
exercises based on essay and not on multiple choice items. In other words, to
the best of the researchers’ knowledge, no multiple choice items based on
measurement and evaluation have been developed and validated for NCE (NTI)
student teachers. The use of multiple choice items to assess the students will
enable the lecturers achieve content validity and score objectively.
Moreover, the principle of continuous
assessment advocates for the use of varying assessment tools. This is why the hand
book on continuous assessment in Federal Ministry of Education (1985:5)
emphasized the characteristic of continuous assessment practice to include the
following:
i. Giving
the students greater involvement in the overall ability and performances.
ii. Provide a
valid assessment on the child’s overall ability and performance iii. Provide a basis for the teacher to
improve his or her instruction method.
The above recommendations give credence to
the use of more than one assessment mode, and the need for multiple choice
items to be included in their programme of assessment.
Multiple choice items according to
Afemikhe (2014) is the most widely accepted objective test because of its
flexibility in measuring both simple and complex learning outcomes. Stressing
the importance of multiple choice items, he noted that multiple choice items
are useful for diagnosing factual errors and misunderstanding that need
correction. The incorrect options selected by the testees provide clues that
are useful for diagnosis.
According to Joshua (2014), multiple
choice Achievement tests allow the lecturers to have adequate coverage of
contents and objectives of a subject or course because of the large number of
questions prepared. It therefore enables the teacher to achieve content validity
of his or her test. He however pointed out such characteristic of multiple
choice items are more prominent when multiple choice achievement test is
standardized or well developed and validated unlike the teacher made
achievement test.
Based on the foregoing the present study
is focused on developing and validating multiple choice items in Measurement
and Evaluation for National Teachers’ Institute, NCE students. Such an
instrument will help to provide a general overall appraisal of status in Measurement
and Evaluation. This will serve as a reference for comparability of Achievement
for the entire students taking Measurement and Evaluation as one of the core
courses at National Teacher Institute (NTI), Nigerian Certificate in Education
(NCE) programme. Such an instrument with satisfactory psychometric properties
will promote assessment of students in Measurement and Evaluation.
Development in this study then refers to
procedures adopted in the construction of the multiple choice achievement tests
such as the use of table of specifications, item writing and preliminary item
screening and assembly for final testing in Measurement and Evaluation. It will
also involve identifying the purpose of the test, stating the content areas /
topics, outlining the instructional objectives among others.
On the other hand, validation in this
study involved the carrying out of item analysis, that is, determination of
difficulty, discrimination and detracter indices, other psychometric properties
such as the content validity and reliability indices using Cronbach Alpha and
Kuder – Richardson among others. The essence of these activities are to develop
and validate multiple choice achievement tests that have satisfactory
psychometric properties for use.
Regarding the academic
achievement of student-teachers in Measurement and Evaluation, a lot of factors
are involved. Some of these variables include gender, school location among
others
(Agu, 2014). Each of these factors seems
to influence student academic achievement in Measurement and Evaluation. The
problem of poor academic achievement of student teachers in the course cuts
across gender has been an issue of serious concern to Measurement and
Evaluation Educators. Gender refers to the roles of men and women that are socially
or cultural based. Therefore most people agree that learning differences are
gender-based and related to the individuals’ socialization and culturalization
rather than based on biological differences (Ogan, 2012).
Research findings regarding the direction
of student achievement in mathematics and other subjects have been examined.
For examples, Ugu (2010) reported significant gender differences in Mathematics
Achievement. between male and female students while badger (2011) found that
adolescent boys and girls show no differences in their achievement in
mathematics but none to the best knowledge of the researchers has been carried
out in Measurement Evaluation especially when student-teachers are considered
and the same applies to school location as an influencing factor when
Measurement and Evaluation as a course is considered. It is against this
background that this study focuses on development and validation of a Survey
Achievement Test in Measurement and Evaluation taking into consideration the influence
of gender and school location on student-teacher’s achievement.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Measurement and Evaluation is one of the basic courses
necessary for Teacher Education.
When well taught it equips teachers on how to assess and
evaluate students properly.
Unfortunately it is reported that student
teachers find this course difficult and are not widely assessed especially in
the use of multiple choice achievement test which promotes the spirit of
continuous assessment that advocates for the use of various assessment tools.
Where individual facilitators use multiple
choice items constructed by them, such items are not reliable and valid and are
not commonly used by various centres to assess the student-teachers. This is
because the modules which are used in teaching the student-teachers are limited
to the use of essay test items and no available modules that is based on
multiple choice items provided for the student teachers.
Based on the foregoing, it is necessary to
develop and validate Multiple Choice Achievement test with appropriate
psychometric properties anchored on instrumentation design.
Based on this, one may ask the extent to
which the instrument possesses discrimination difficulty and distractor
indices/effectiveness? To what extent
does gender influence studentteacher Achievement when the instrument is
administered?
1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study was to develop
and validate the use of Measurement and Evaluation multiple choice Achievement
Test for NTI NCE students in South-South States, Nigeria. Specifically, the
objectives of this study are to:
i.
determine the content validity indices of
MESATNS-NTI and sub test-tests
(MESATNS-QT,
MESATN-ES, MESATN-CA, MESATN-AA, MESATN-TCM,
ESATN-AP)
ii.
determine the following indices of item
parameters, difficulty, discrimination and distracter effectiveness.
iii.
establish the internal consistencies of
MESATNS-NTI and the sub tests (QT, ES, CA,
AA, TC, and AP).
iv.
examine the influence of gender on
student-teacher’s achievementin MESATNS-NTI
v.
examine the influence of school location on
student-teachers’achievement in
MESATNS-NTI.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following research questions were raised for the study:
1.
What are the content validity indices of
MESATNS-NTI and the subtests?
2.
What are the values of the various psychometric
properties namely: item difficulty, item discrimination, and distractor indices
computed for MESATNS-NTI.
3.
What are the indices of the internal
consistencies of Measurement and Evaluation
Survey Achievement Test (MESATNS-NTI) and the subtests?
4.
To what extent does gender influence
student-teachers’ Achievement when measured with MESATNS-NTI?
5.
To what extent does school location influence
student-teachers’ Achievement when measured with MESATNS-NTI?
1.5 HYPOTHESES
The following hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of
significance:
1.
There is no significant difference between the
male and female student-teachers as
measured
by MESATNS-NTI?
2.
There is no significant difference between the
urban and rural student teachers as
measured
by MESATNS –NTI?
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE STUDY
The primary importance of this study was
the development of a valid and reliable Achievement Test in Measurement and
Evaluation for use by teachers. In addition, it will be useful to teachers,
student-teachers, NTI authorities and researchers.
The development of valid and reliable
MESATNS-NTI will give the teachers/facilitators of Measurement and Evaluation
in NTI enormous opportunity to use it for testing the student teacher as well
as carry out formative assessment which will enable them tackle the students
learning difficulties. The availability of a well-developed and validated
multiple choice
Achievement test in
measurement and evaluation will save the facilitators’ time in constructing or
writing such items for the student teachers. It will serve as item bank to them
especially during examinations and testing periods. When developed and made
available to them, it will serve as a guide to them in knowing the nature of
multiple choice items required to test the students at this level. The
facilitators can adopt it as part of the modules that can be made available to
the student teachers. The composite scores obtained by student-teacher when
MESATNS –NTI is administered could form the data with which the teacher may
judge the effectiveness of his teaching. Moreover performance of student
teachers in the instrument can provide the basis for classification of student
during teaching along the line of gender and school location.
Through the
differential pattern of response to the various items that constitute the
instrument, the following could be identified under achievement academic
progress and performance in different content areas. With this information
available teachers can adopt strategies that will enable them improve teaching
and remediation as well as adopting counseling services.The result obtained by
the students when this instrument is administered will enable them understand
the areas of their weaknesses and strengths. With this information available
the students concerned will make efforts to improve especially in their weak
areas or the content areas they fail to perform well.
The instrument being
a Survey Multiple Choice Achievement Test will enable them to cover wide areas
when they are preparing for the test or examination. Different cognitive
abilities of students are tested when this instrument is administered and that
will bring about challenges in their academic pursuit.
The NTI authorities
are expected to adopt this instrument as a working tool and adopt it as part of
modules used in teaching the student teachers. This will help to facilitate the
job of the NTI authorities especially in proper and comprehensive assessment of
students.Based on performance of groups in different content areas, it will
help the Curriculum planners to cater for individual/group differences in the
planning of Curriculum. Based on successful development of a valid and reliable
survey achievement test in measurement and evaluation for NCE (NTI) student
teachers, researchers are further challenged to carry out further studies on
the development and validation of measurement and evaluation multiple choice
for the university students.
1.7 SCOPE
OF THE STUDY
The study involved student teachers in
their cycle four or final class for the 4 year NCE programme organized by
National Teachers Institute. The study was carried out in some selected NCE
(NTI) study centres in the south-south states of Nigeria. It determine the
psychometric properties, the reliability and validity of the instrument. It
will also examine the influence of gender and school location when MESATNS-NTI
is administered to the student teachers.
The items were drawn to cover all the
levels of cognitive domains and content areas such as concept of test,
measurement, assessment and evaluation, reliability and validity of measuring
instruments among others.
The topics were drawn from the National
Curriculum for NCE students by distance learning system (DLS). The study was
carried out in the six states that make up the south-south Nigeria.
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