Certain
stipulated methods were used sequentially in the collection, processing and
analysis of data in this work. These steps include:
Research design
Area of the study
Population of the study
Sample and sampling techniques
Instrument for data collection
Validation of instrument
Reliability of the instrument
Method of data collection
Method of data analysis
RESEARCH
DESIGN
This study adopted a descriptive survey research
design. This was chosen because it enabled the researcher to study the sample
selected from the population selected for the research.
AREA
OF THE STUDY
The area of the study is Ohaukwu Local Government Area
of Ebonyi State. It is made up of nine (9) communities, which share common
ancestry. Ohaukwu is predominately a rural area with some blossoming urban
areas, spreading here and there among the agrarian communities. Ezzamgbo, the
Local Government Area Headquarters “Effium and Ngbo are the heart of these sprouting
urban areas, and their occupation is mainly civil service, trading and farming.
POPULATION
OF THE STUDY
The population of the study was three thousand (3000)
secondary school students. Within Ohaukwu secondary education system, there are
forty (40) secondary schools, a total of three thousand students (3,000). On
the average, a teacher handles around forty (40) students. Therefore, there are
eight hundred teachers in Ohaukwu Local Government Area.
SAMPLE
AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUES
The sample size for the study was
two hundred (200) secondary school teachers. A simple random sampling technique
was used in this research to select sixteen (16) schools out of the 40
secondary schools in Ohaukwu Local Government Area. Afterwards, 200 teachers were
selected to represent 800 teachers in the area. These 200 teachers were
selected through simple random sampling as a size using ballot papers.
INSTRUMENT
FOR DATA COLLECTION
In order to get the required information
from respondents, a well-structured questionnaire was used as instrument to
collect data. It was designed by the researcher and titled, “problem of truancy
and its effect on the performance of secondary school students in Ohaukwu Local
Government Area of Ebonyi State.” This enabled the researcher to elicit
information from teachers on truancy among secondary school students. The
entire questionnaire was administered by hand. The same method was used in its
collection. The respondents were expected to answer “Yes” or “No” to questions.
VALIDATION
OF THE INSTRUMENT
To ensure the validity of the items
on the questionnaire, the instrument was given to two experts in educational
foundations department and one expert in measurement and evaluation in the
faculty of education, in Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki for validation.
They critized the work based on language, content, suitability to the purpose
and relatedness. Their inputs gave rise to the final draft of instrument.
RELIABILITY
OF THE INSTRUMENT
A test retest method of obtaining
reliability of instrument was used for the study. The same test was
administered after two days, and the stability (reliability) co-efficient stood
at 0.82. And this was obtained through the use of persons product moment
co-efficient of correlation.
METHOD
OF DATA COLLECTION
The method of data collection was
structured questionnaire. The questionnaire has two (2) section’s section A and
section B. section A is where the respondents are required to supply their
personal data. Section B is the main questionnaire. The researcher provided
choice of answers from which the respondents are required to choose from, to
enable them answer the questionnaire items with ease, twenty questionnaire
items are involved.
METHOD
OF DATA ANALYSIS
Data collected were analyzed using
mean scores, frequencies and percentages. The data collected were organized and
analyzed according to the demands of the research question.
Percentage
(%) = Respondent x 100
Total
respondent 1
% = R
x 100
TR 1
Key:
A - Agree
SA - Strongly
Agree
D - Disagree
SD - Strongly
Disagree
R - Respondents
TR - Total Respondents