Undergraduate Students’ Study Habits and Academic Performance in Chemistry in Universities

Abstract

This study investigated the correlation between undergraduate students’ study habits and academic performance in chemistry in universities. Four research questions and four corresponding null hypotheses were answered and tested respectively. The research design employed for the conduct of this study was correlational design. The population of the study was made up of all the levels 100-400 chemistry students in the three universities in Rivers State. A sample of two hundred and seventy three (273) levels 100-400 chemistry students was drawn from the population of the study using the stratified random sampling technique. The researcher made use of two instruments to conduct this research. The two instruments the researcher used to collect data were “student study habit questionnaire and students’ chemistry performance grade inventory.  The two instruments were validated by experts in the field of chemistry. The test retest method was used to obtain a reliability coefficient of 0.78. The data collected was analyzed at 0.05 significant level using linear regression analysis. The finding of the study showed that there was a positive strong relationship between students’ attendance to lecture and performance in chemistry, efficiency in delivery of assignment and performance in chemistry, commitment to personal preparatory studies and performance in chemistry, use of library facilities and performance in chemistry. The result also showed that there was a significant relationship between all the study habit variables considered in this study and undergraduate students’ performance in chemistry. It was concluded that all the variables of the study habits considered in this study had a positive relationship with students’ academic performance in chemistry though in a varied strength and also that a significant relationship exist between students’ study habits and academic performance in chemistry. Based on the findings, it was recommended that undergraduate students should be committed to regular and punctual attendance to lectures, efficient in delivery of assignment, personal preparatory studies and use of library facilities.