4.3 Results of the Study
5.4.2 Recommendations for Further Research
i. Future studies could adopt experimental methods to study academic disidentification. Additionally, research could also adopt longitudinal designs where changes in academic disidentification would be tracked over time among a cohort of students. Both approaches would help to address the issue of causality among variables.
ii. Although this study did answer some questions concerning discounting and devaluing among secondary school students, it did not establish why female students from private schools are so prone to underachievement and low academic self-esteem and ultimately discounting and devaluing whereas other female students in sub-county and national schools are not. Future studies could address that issue.
iii. It is likely that some students do not base their self-esteem solely on perceived competence in the academic domain. Future studies may be interested to know what motivates such students in school when faced with repeated failure and ultimately what keeps them in school.
iv. Though findings have shown that self-evaluation is socially induced, this study concerned itself with individual reactions to failure and inappropriate attributions. Findings seem to indicate that disidentification can become a group response. Future research may examine levels of disidentification among students in communities that describe themselves as 'marginalised'.
v. Qualitative findings showed that students do not fully value the importance of current academic pursuit for future outcomes. Future studies should closely examine the value of education in the lives of students from the students' perspective.
vi. Though a mediational model was adopted in this study, it remained correlational in nature and therefore causality cannot be implied. Further research is needed to replicate these findings in other geographical and cultural contexts.
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APPENDICES
Appendix A
Consent to Participate in the Study
The purpose of this study is to find out the extent to which gender, type of school, grades and causal attributions contribute to academic disidentification and the extent to which academic self-esteem mediates the relationships. The findings will assist towards explaining students' lack of motivation and interest in school. The researcher will use this information for the purposes of this study only.
I request you to assist in achieving this goal. All information given will be treated with utmost confidentiality.
Thanking you in advance.
Habil Otanga
PhD Student, Kenyatta University
Participant:
Having understood that there is no risk involved in my participation, I give consent to participate.
School:
Admission Number: Signature:
Appendix B
Students' Questionnaire
Instructions: Kindly do not indicate your name anywhere on the paper.
a. Demographic data 1. Gender: (Tick one) Female [ ] Male [ ]
2. Write the name of your school: ... 3. Write your admission number: ...
b. State Self-esteem Scale (Performance sub-scale)
This is a questionnaire designed to measure what you are thinking at this moment. There is no right answer for any statement. The best answer is what you feel is true of yourself at this moment. Be sure to answer all of the items, even if you are not certain of the best answer.
Using the following scale, place a number in the box to the right of the statement that indicates what is true for you at this moment:
1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Not sure 4 = Agree 5 = Strongly agree
1. I feel confident about my abilities [ ] 2. I feel frustrated or disturbed about my performance [ ] 3. I feel that I am having trouble understanding things I read [ ]
4. I feel smart as others [ ] 5. I feel confident that I understand things in class [ ] 6. I feel that I have less academic ability right now than others [ ] 7. I feel like I am not doing well in class [ ]
c. Achievement subscale of The Multidimensional-Multiattributional Causality Scale
Using the following scale, indicate the number corresponding to your response in the box provided. Kindly answer all the items.
1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Not sure 4 = Agree 5 = Strongly agree
Ability
The most important ingredient in getting good grades is my academic ability. [ ] I feel that my good grades reflect directly on my academic ability. [ ] When I get good grades, it is because of my academic competence. [ ] If I were to receive low marks it would cause me to question my academic
ability. [ ]
If I were to fail an exam it would probably be because I lacked skill in that
area. [ ]
If I were to get poor grades I would assume that I lacked ability to succeed in
Effort
In my case, the good grades I receive are always the direct result of my efforts.
[ ]
Whenever I receive good grades, it is always because I have studied hard for
that course. [ ]
I can overcome all obstacles in the path of academic success if I work hard
enough. [ ]
When I receive a poor grade, I usually feel that the main reason is that I haven't
studied enough for that course. [ ]
When I fail to do as well as expected in school, it is often due to a lack of effort
on my part. [ ]
Poor grades inform me that I haven't worked hard enough. [ ] Context
Some of the times that I have gotten a good grade in a course, it was due to the
teacher's marking. [ ]
Some of my good grades may simply reflect that the exam was easy. [ ] Sometimes I get good grades only because the course material was easy to
learn. [ ]
In my experience, once a teacher believes that you are a poor student, you get
poor grades. [ ]
Often my poorer grades are obtained in courses that the teacher has failed to
make interesting. [ ]
Some low grades I've received seem to me to reflect the fact that some teachers are just stingy with marks. [ ]
Luck
Sometimes my success on exams depends on some luck. [ ] I feel that some of my good grades depend to a considerable extent on chance factors, such as having what I read coming in the exam. [ ] Sometimes I feel that I have to consider myself lucky for the good grades I get.
[ ] Some of my lower grades have seemed to be partially due to bad luck. [ ] My academic low points sometimes make me think I was just unlucky. [ ] Some of my bad grades may have been a function of bad luck, being in the wrong class at the wrong time. [ ]
d. Intellectual Engagement Inventory
Using the following scale, indicate the number corresponding to your response in the box provided. Kindly answer all the items.