Factors Associated with Academic Performance of Students of Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya - A case study

Abstract

The scarcity of studies related to the factors associated with academic performance in Sri Lanka, especially in relation to the university context, it was motivated to conduct this study with the primary focus of finding out the significant factors associated with academic performance of students of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya. Identifying the variation of the impact of such factors on students' performance in the primary, secondary education and the university education and to determine whether there is an impact of students' past performances on Grade Point Average (GPA) also focused in this study. A sample of 274 units from the Faculty of Social Sciences was selected using the random sampling method and a well-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The GPA was considered the determinant of student's performance in the study. A descriptive analysis was conducted to identify the patterns of the data and the association of variables with the GPA. Kendalls' rank correlation, Mann Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test and Spearman rank correlation test were used in the univariate analysis. The ordered logistic model was applied at the stage of advanced analysis in order to find the factors associated with GPA. The descriptive analysis revealed that students' past education performance, residence place during the university life, association with friends, university facilities, students' health, family background, extracurricular activities and social activities affect the performance in the university. Ordered logistic model suggested that the ―leisure time spent in the university‖ and ―father's education‖ have positively affected on students' GPA which means when the time increases and father has a higher level of education GPA tends to be higher while ―getting sick regularly‖ and ―time spent in coming to university‖ have negatively affected in relation to the students' academic performance.

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Factors Associated with Academic Performance of Students of Faculty of Social
Sciences, University of Kelaniya - A case study
C.D.Chathuranga
1
, D.Tissera
2
The scarcity of studies related to the factors associated with academic performance in Sri
Lanka, especially in relation to the university context, it was motivated to conduct this study
with the primary focus of finding out the significant factors associated with academic
performance of students of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya.
Identifying the variation of the impact of such factors on students‘ performance in the
primary, secondary education and the university education and to determine whether there is
an impact of students‘ past performances on Grade Point Average (GPA) also focused in this
study.
A sample of 274 units from the Faculty of Social Sciences was selected using the random
sampling method and a well-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The GPA was
considered the determinant of student‘s performance in the study. A descriptive analysis was
conducted to identify the patterns of the data and the association of variables with the GPA.
Kendalls‘ rank correlation, Mann Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test and Spearman rank
correlation test were used in the univariate analysis. The ordered logistic model was applied
at the stage of advanced analysis in order to find the factors associated with GPA.
The descriptive analysis revealed that students‘ past education performance, residence place
during the university life, association with friends, university facilities, students‘ health,
family background, extracurricular activities and social activities affect the performance in
the university. Ordered logistic model suggested that the ―leisure time spent in the university‖
and ―father‘s education‖ have positively affected on students‘ GPA which means when the
time increases and father has a higher level of education GPA tends to be higher while
―getting sick regularly‖ and ―time spent in coming to university‖ have negatively affected in
relation to the students‘ academic performance.
Key words: students‘ academic performance, university education, grade point average
.
1
1 Department of Statistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.chathuranga@kln.ac.lk
2
2 Department of Statistics, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka