Abstract:
This study investigated the attitudes that secondary school girls
held towards examinations and the effects of the attitudes on their
academic performance in Kisii Municipality, Kenya.
In the study,
attitudes towards examinations were the independent variable while
the academic performance was the dependent variable. This was a
correlational study whereby data collected using questionnaires and
document analysis was used to determine the relationship between
the research variables.
The study was based on the rational
emotive behaviour theory of Albert Ellis (1989).
Selection of 240
participants was done by stratified random sampling technique. A
fifty-one-statement questionnaire, which was piloted to evaluate its
validity and reliability, was the instrument used to collect data. The
obtained data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential
statistics at 0.05 level of significance. The Statistical Package for
Social Sciences (SPSS) computer programme was also used in the
analysis.
significant
The results of the study indicated that there is a
relationship
between
attitudes
performance of girls in secondary schools.
recommended
to
the
educational
and
academic
The researcher
administrators,
curriculum
developers and implementers, school counsellors, Kenya National
Examinations Council (KNEC), the schools, parents and the students
that in order to improve the performance of girls in secondary
schools, efforts should be made to inculcate and develop positive
attitudes towards examinations among the girls.
iii
They should beexposed to challenging examinations in various examinable subjects
that can help them have positive attitudes towards examinations.
