Population and Sampling

3.3.1 Population

The population of this study was first year undergraduate students from three districts in southern Thailand. There are three universities and Songkhla Rajabhat University was chosen as it comprised students from the three districts compared to the other two universities. Songkhla Rajabhat University has 3,652 students from 7 faculties’ Arts, Agricultural Technology, Education, Humanities and Social Science, Industrial Technology, Management Science, and Science and Technology. There were 1,269 male and 2,383 female.

94 3.3.2 Sampling

The sampling has to represent all the undergraduates in Thailand. Therefore, it has to comprise Thai students that come from various socio-economic backgrounds. As such, first year Songkhla Rajabhat University students in their second semester of 2013 academic year would be suitable as respondents as they come from three districts in southern Thailand, Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat.

The size of the subject group was very crucial in research because appropriate subject group would yield sufficient data to make the study valuable. The determination of the sample size according to Davis (2000) depends on the number of factors among which are homogeneity of the sampling unit, statistical power, cost, analytical procedure, personnel and time.

The sample size for this study was derived using Yamane (1973) formula at the reliability level of 95%. The calculation yielded the number of sample to be used as the representative of the population in the case of finite population.

Formula:

Sample size

Yamane (1973) invented the formula for calculating the sample size as follows: n =

n is the number or size of the sample

95

e is the irregularity allowed (In this case it is 0.05)

Hence the sample size of this study was

n =

n =

n =

n = 360

From the calculation result showed, if the population was 3,652 and the irregularity allowed was 0.05, the sample size should be 360. However, to cater for the missing data, 569 respondents were finally selected as sample for analysis in this study.

A sample can be chosen via probability and non-probability sampling procedures. According to Hair, Money, Samouel, and Page (2007), the calculation of sample size does not necessarily bring about a true representation of the population and as such, depends on the process used in the selection of the elements. A multilevel sampling technique was adopted for this study.

In the first stage, the students’ population in the university was stratified into seven according to their faculties. In the second stage, Proportionate sampling strategy was used to draw 569 respondents from 3, 652 students in the seven faculties. The sample was assigned in proportionate to the number of students in each faculty. Thirdly, a list comprising all the students were collected from various faculties and

96

using the random sampling table, simple random sampling techniques was further used to select the elements by drawing lots from the numbers assigned to each student in class since simple random sampling technique provides equal opportunities for all the subjects in the population to be selected as respondents and it had outstanding characteristics of being convenient and easy. According to Jun, Cai, and Shin (2006), the application of sampling method for this study is most suitable as random sampling method figures heterogeneity among respondents to reduce the common survey bias as well as improve the representativeness of the sample by minimizing the sampling error.

The researcher also ensured that students’ selection cut-across the three province of Thailand but faculties were used as the major criteria because of the dependent variable, Strategic learning behaviour needs to be study across various discipline (see Table 3.1).

Table 3.1

Respondents in the Study

No. Faculties Number of

students

Result

1 Arts 212 33

2 Humanities and Social Science 549 86

3 Management Science 1,260 196

4 Education 311 48

5 Agricultural Technology 299 47

6 Industrial Technology 328 51

7 Science and Technology 693 108

97 3.4 Research Instrument

A survey questionnaire (Appendix 1) was used to gather information from the selected respondents. The instrument used in collecting the data was questionnaire designed by the researcher; based on related ideology, theories and literature as well as existing instrument. It was composed of 4 parts:

Part 1 is the demographic factors of the first year students at Songkhla Rajbhat University. The items were on gender, age, GPA, financial support, student’s status in family, parents’ marital status, father’s occupation, mother’s occupation, family monthly income, father’s education and mother’s education.

Part 2 is on the Emotional Intelligence Scale (Table 3.2) which covered 5 dimensions: 1) self-awareness, 2) self-regulation, 3) motivation, 4) empathy and 5) social skills. Emotional Intelligence Scale was developed from Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence Theory in 1998 and Phatthanaphong’s research in 2007. This scale was found suitable for this study because the department of mental health in Thailand has used it in their study and Phatthanaphong (2007) has also used the scale to measure emotional intelligence of university students in Thailand.

There were 40 items which covered the 5 sub-dimensions with 2 types of items in the questionnaire: positive and negative items and a 5 point Likert scale was used (Table 3.5).

98 Table 3.2

The Dimensions and Indicating Behaviour of the Emotional Intelligence Scale

Dimension Indicating behaviour

Self-awareness ability to recognize one’s own feelings and emotions, know the cause of these emotions, express one’s own feelings, assess his/her situation, know about his/her strengths and weaknesses, have self- confidence in one’s own abilities and evaluate himself/herself Self-regulation ability to manage one’s own emotions, control inner feelings, deal

with one’s own state of mind, adapt to changes and have an open mind towards new situations, knowledge and happiness.

Motivation ability to drive forward and strive to achieve a goal. Emotional support from parents and peers assists one’s ability to do better and achieve one’s goals and overcome barriers one may encounter. Empathy ability in recognizing the needs and feelings of others, being

interested in the feelings of others and responding to the needs of others.

Social skills ability to build relationships with others so as to achieve change in a good way, to persuade people to agree to what is beneficial to the public, to agree to work with others and make people around you happy.

Part 3 is on Social Intelligence Scale (Table 3.3) consisting of two dimensions: social awareness and social facility were adapted from Goleman (2006) and Tongsuebsai (2009). Goleman’s Social Intelligence Theory, especially his ideology has been widely accepted by scholars was used in identifying the components of the Social Intelligence Scale in this study. The instrument has also been used by Tongsuebsai (2009) in Thailand. However, the researcher based the items constructions on Goleman’s theory which has 2 dimensions:

1) Social awareness: primal empathy, attunement, emphatic accuracy and social cognition

99 Table 3.3

The Dimensions and Indicating Behaviour of the Social Intelligence

Social intelligence Social Awareness

Components Indicating behaviour

Primal empathy The recognition of the emotions and feelings of others in the society as perceived by one’s instinct

Attunement Involves an individual listening carefully to what others have to say as well as bonding with others in such a way as to understand others’ emotions, feelings and needs

Empathic Accuracy

Refers to accurately understanding the thinking, emotions, needs and feelings of other people

Social cognition Refers to the ability of the student to know about the society around. Social cognition will have an effect on students’ behaviour towards the society and this will lead students to adapt themselves well to the norm of the society.

Social Facility

Components Indicating behaviour

Synchrony The ability to capture and understand by observing the moods of another person as expressed by that person. An individual is able to understand the other person’s behaviour and know how the other person feels from the behaviour he display

Self-presentation The ability of an individual through emotional expression, expresses his/her feelings and let others know how he/she feels. In particular, the emotional control to fit each situation Influence The ability to direct the behaviour of others toward a certain

perception of a situation at that particular time. An individual can attract the people around to follow the behaviour he/she wants

Concern The ability to respect others or think of others and to know how to help others when they are faced with problems

Part 4 is the strategic Learning behaviour Scale (Table 3.4) which consists of two