Methodology 89

CHAPTER-III
METHODOLOGY
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3.1.0. Introduction:

The present chapter has been devoted to methodology and design, which was

followed by the investigation for the completion of this research work. There is

tremendous expansion of human knowledge. This knowledge need to be organized,

understood and analyzed for getting clarified the situation. For this purpose, appropriate

methods are adopted for acquiring the existing knowledge.

J.W. Best (1970) stated that research is considered to be the more formal,

systematic, intensive process of carrying on scientific method of analysis. It involves a

more systematic structure of investigation usually resulting in some sort of formal

record of procedures and a report of results or conclusions. It is concerned with

conditions or relationships that exist, opinions that are held, processes that are going on,

effects that are evident, or trends that are developing. It is primarily concerned with the

present, although it often considers past events and influences as they relate to current

conditions. It always dealt with relationships between variables, the testing of

hypotheses and the development of generalizations, principles, or theories that have

universal validity. It is concerned with functional relationships. Moreover the selection

of method of research depends upon the nature of the problem in hand.

Research methodology is the procedure, which is designed and adopted in

solving a research problem. According to Lokesh Koul, “Methodology of educational

research describes the various steps of the plan of attack to be adopted in solving a

research problem.”
Methodology 90

Educational research is the application of scientific method of study of

educational problems. According to Mouly (1963), “Scientific problem can be solved

only on the basis of data and the major responsibility of the scientist is to set up a

research design capable of providing the data necessary to the solution of a problem.”

A careful selection of a method is an essential prerequisite for an

investigation.“The machinery of methodology”, according to Barr (1960), “occupied a

very important position in any kind of research. The research cannot perform its

functions without it, since it is methodology which lays out the way that formal research

is to be carried out and outlines the detailed description of the research procedure.”

C.R.Meclure and P.Herson (1991), refer that research is an inquiry process that

has clearly defined parameters and has as its aim the discovery or creation of

knowledge, or theory building, testing, confirmation, revision, refutation of knowledge

and theory or investigation of a problem for local decision making.

Karlinger (1978), put the views that scientific research is a systematic, controlled,

empirical, critical investigation of hypothetical propositions about the presumed

relations among natural phenomena.

From the views of the above scholars, it is derived that educational research is an

inquiry or investigation, which has clearly defined parameters. It is a system of critical,

controlled and empirical inquiry. There are three approaches of research, which the

researchers are to follow in the field of education i.e. Qualitative, Quantitative and

Action Research.

This study aims at discovering the facts based on the empirically gathered primary

data. The overall methods of the present study were essentially descriptive cum
Methodology 91

normative survey type as the researcher investigated the Self-Esteem, Emotional

Intelligence and Academic Achievement of secondary school students of Assam.

3.2.0. Population and Sample:

In order to select a sample from a given population, it is also necessary to have a

complete, accurate and up to date list of all the units in the population. The entire group

from which the sample has been taken is known as the population. In other words, a

population is usually defined as “all the members of any well-defined class of people,

events or objects. Defining a population means finding the limits in terms of one or

more of its various aspects.” It is impossible and impracticable to obtain information

from a large population in a district or a state. It would be too laborious for a researcher

to contact, observe, measure and interview every unit of population. To overcome these

difficulties, investigators collect information from a few carefully selected units drawn

from a population. If these sample units represent accurately the characteristics of the

population, generalizations based on the data obtained from them may be applied to the

entire group. The process of selecting the true representative proportion of the

population is termed as sample. The population of the present study consisted of all the

XIth standard students enrolled in the session (2014-15) from the Higher Secondary

schools and Junior colleges of the selected two districts, namely; Lakhimpur and

Dhemaji Districts of Assam.

Methodology 92

Table 3.1

District-wise Distribution of Higher Secondary schools and Junior Colleges in Study

Area.

Sl. Name of Districts No. of Higher No. of Junior

Total
No secondary schools colleges
1. Lakhimpur 34 21 55

2. Dhemaji 24 29 53

Total= 58 50 108

Source: Office of the Inspector of Schools, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji district (RMSA

branch) Assam (2014-15).

Table 3.1 reveals the total number of Higher Secondary Schools and Junior

Colleges available in the two districts. On the basis of the total higher secondary

schools and Junior colleges, the researcher selected a sample of twenty-five (25) higher

secondary schools and junior colleges from the two districts by adopting random

sampling technique. Care was taken to give representation of two districts covered in

the present study. The sample consisted of 500 secondary school students drawn from

the sample of Junior Colleges and senior secondary schools. Further the classification of

500 secondary school students was made in view of sex, location of schools and

colleges or residence and districts. Out of the total sample of 500 students, there are 246

are males and 254 are females; out of them 235 students are from urban secondary

schools and junior colleges and 265 from rural secondary schools and junior colleges

from the two districts.

 Methodology 93

Distribution of the Total Sample of 500 Secondary School students of Assam:

Urban= 235 Rural=265

Male=110 Female=125 Male=136 Female=129

Tribal=80 Non-tribal=155 Tribal=117 Non-tribal=148

Out of the total sample of 500 students, there are 235 (Male=110 and Female=125;

Tribal=80 and Non-tribal=155) students from Urban schools and 265 (Male=136 and

Female=129; Tribal=117 and Non-tribal=148) students from Rural schools from the two

selected districts.

Distribution of the sample of 300 secondary school students from Lakhimpur district:

Urban= 141 Rural=159

Male=70 Female=71 Male=89 Female=70

Tribal=35 Non-tribal=106 Tribal=61 Non-tribal=98

Out of the total sample of 300 secondary school students, there are 141 (Male=70 and

Female=71; Tribal=35 and Non-tribal=106) students from Urban schools and 159

(Male=89 and Female=70; Tribal=61 and Non-tribal=98) students from Rural schools

from Lakhimpur district.

 Methodology 94

Distribution of the sample of 200 secondary school students from Dhemaji district

Urban= 94 Rural=106

Male=40 Female=54 Male=47 Female=59

Tribal=45 Non-tribal=49 Tribal=56 Non-tribal=50

Out of the total sample of 200 secondary school students, there are 94 (Male=40

and Female=54; Tribal=45 and Non-tribal=49) students from Urban schools and 106

(Male=47 and Female=59; Tribal=56 and Non-tribal=50) students from Rural schools

from Dhemaji district.

The district-wise information about the name of the secondary schools and junior

colleges and the male and females, tribal and non-tribal and urban and rural sample is

presented in table -3.1(A) and 3.1(B)

 Methodology 95

Table-3.1(A)
No. of Higher Secondary Schools and Junior Colleges selected in Lakhimpur
district:

Dist Category SL. Name of the Schools No. of M F T NT

Of No. and Junior colleges Students
Schools
L 1 N.L. Girls’ Higher 10 - 10 3 7
Secondary School
U 2 B.V.A. Junior College 26 16 10 7 19

A R 3 J.A. Junior College 22 12 10 5 17

B 4 Lakhimpur Academy 20 20 - 4 16
H.S School
K A 5 I.B.M. Academy Junior 15 7 8 3 12
College
N 6 Rev William Ward Junior 15 5 10 2 13
ollege.
H 7 N.L. Govt. Higher 20 10 10 6 14
Secondary School
8 Dhakuakhana Higher 13 - 13 5 8
Secondary School
I Total= 141 70 71 35 106

1 Boginadi Higher 20 12 8 13 7
Secondary School
M R 2 Nakari Higher Secondary 22 12 10 7 15
School
U 3 Panigaon Higher 24 14 10 11 13
Secondary School
P R Angarkhowa Higher 30 16 14 8 22
4
Secondary School
A 5 Azad Higher Secondary 31 16 15 12 19
school
U L 6 Laluk Higher Secondary 15 9 6 6 9
school
R
7 Nowboisa Junior College. 17 10 7 4 13

Total= 159 89 70 61 98
Grand total= 300 159 141 96 204

Table: 3.1 shows the sample from Lakhimpur district of Assam. The researcher

collected total of 141 students from the total of eight (8) urban based senior secondary
 Methodology 96

schools and junior colleges in which 70 is male and 71 is female and 35 tribal and 106 are

non-tribal. Similarly, the researcher collected total of 159 numbers of students, out of

which 89 is male and 70 is female and 61 are tribal and 98 are non-tribal students from the

total of seven (7) rural Secondary Schools. The total sample from Lakhimpur district

comprised of 300 students, out of which 159 male and 141 female and 96 are tribal and

204 are non-tribal.

Table-3.1(B):

No. of selected Higher Secondary schools and Junior Colleges of Dhemaji District

Dist Category Sl.No. Name of secondary No. of M F T NT

of schools schools and Junior students
Colleges
1 Gogamukh Higher 20 12 8 13 7
D U Secondary School
R 2 Dhemaji Girls’ Higher 16 - 16 5 11
H B Secondary y School
A 3 Machkhowa Higher 20 5 15 12 8
E N Secondary School
4 Dhemaji Higher 18 18 - 11 7
M Secondary School
5 Dhemaji Town Junior 20 5 15 4 16
A College
Total= 94 40 54 45 49
J
1. Betbari Junior College. 28 12 16 13 15
I R
U 2. Misamari Junior College. 12 08 04 5 7
R
3. Madhya Mingmang 26 12 14 17 9
A
Junior College.
L
4. Bengenagarh HS School 19 11 8 9 10
5. Tulsibari Adarsha 21 4 17 12 9
Higher Secondary School.
Total= 106 47 59 56 50
Grand Total= 200 87 113 101 99

The table 3.2 shows the sample from Dhemaji district of Assam. In Dhemaji

district the researcher included 10 schools, from which five (5) are from rural area and
Methodology 97

another five (5) are in urban. The total of 40 male and 54 female and 45 tribal and 49

non-tribal (total 94) samples was collected from the urban based schools. And the total

of 47 male and 59 female and 56 tribal and 50 non-tribal (total 106) samples was

collected from the rural based schools. The total sample from Dhemaji district

comprised of 200, out of which 87 are male and 113 are female and 101 tribal and 99

are non-tribal.

3.3.0. Tools Used in the study:

Each study possesses a particular design, which is considered as a blue print of an

architect. This design enables the researcher to test the hypotheses by reaching valid

conclusions. It is based upon the purposes of the study, the types of variables to be

manipulated and the conditions or factor under which it is conducted. The success of

the design depends upon the tools, which are used to collect the data and verify the

result. The collection of data is an important segment of any research study. The

researcher draws the conclusions and generalizations on the basis of the collected data.

This conclusions and generalizations will be authentic and valid if the data are collected

by making use of reliable and valid tools. Hence keeping in view the main objectives of

this study, the researcher used the following tools.

(i) Self-Esteem Scale: developed by Dr. R.N. Singh and Dr. Ankita Srivastava in

the year’ 2010.

(ii) Emotional Intelligence Test: developed by Dr. Ekta Sharma in the year’

2011.

(iii) Academic Achievement: Marks obtained by the students in the HSLC

Examination in the year’ 2014.

Methodology 98

3.3.1. Self-Esteem scale:

This Self-Esteem Scale is based on the Self-Esteem Scale originally developed by

Eagly and revised by Robinson and Shaver (1973). It was developed in Hindi language

to provide a good tool to measure self-esteem as there is a general lack of suitable tests

to assess the degree of self-esteem in the individuals in our context. Most of the tests

actually measures self-concept, not the self-esteem, an important aspect of self-concept.

The items of the original scale were translated into Hindi language. The

appropriateness, clarity and communication efficiency were evaluated by psychologists

and language experts also. In all, ten sets were prepared for evaluation by a team of the

experts. They were asked to judge the accuracy of expression and communication flow

without any bias. The test consists of 20 items and each item is accompanied by five

alternative response categories, namely very much, much, average, low and very low

(Singh & Srivastav, 2004). A copy of the scale is given in Appendix-A.

Reliability:

The Hindi version of self-esteem scale was administered on different groups of

respondents in order to determine its reliability. In all, 500 respondent were randomly

administered the Hindi version of the scale. The same population was again

administered the above scale after a gap of 45 days. In the second phase of the testing

20 respondents of the first phase of testing were found to be absent and thus 480

respondents only participated for the second phase of testing. The coefficients of

correlation obtained by the two methods of reliability are recorded in table-3.3

Methodology 99

Table 3.2

Coefficient of correlations as the index of reliability of the Self-Esteem scale.

SI.No Method R

1. Split-half 0.86

2. Test – retest 0.82

It may be observed from table-3.2 that the coefficients of correlation obtained by

the two methods are quite high. This suggests that the Hindi version is a reliable

measure of self-esteem in Indian context. According to Ferguson (1976) , this method

can easily be used to determine the index of reliability of a test prepared in a language

other than the language in which the test was originally developed.

Validity:

The validity of the Hindi version of the Self-Esteem Scale was determined with

criterion validity technique. This technique proves to be a convenient method if there is

a need of translating some existing, valid and standardized test into some other

language. The Hindi and English version of the self-esteem scale were administered on

the sample which participated in the first phase of the testing. The scores obtained in

the two sessions were correlated and thus a coefficient of correlation of .89 was

obtained for the English/Hindi versions of the scale.

Administration and Scoring:

The self-esteem scale can be administered individually or in groups also. The

educated respondents may respond to the items themselves according to the instructions

given on the first page of the test. If the respondent is uneducated, his or her responses

may be noted by the researcher. The positive items are scored on the pattern of 5, 4, 3,
Methodology 100

2, 1 and the negative items are scored in the reverse order for the concerned categories.

The item numbers 1, 2, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 are negative and remaining

items are positive. In order to obtain the total score for an individual the score on the

different items are to be added. The higher score on this scale indicates higher self-

esteem and thus the lower score indicates lower self-esteem. The minimum and

maximum possible score on this scale are 20 and 100 respectively.

Norms:

The norms for the Hindi version of self-esteem scale are provided in the form of

Mean and SD.

3.3.2. Emotional Intelligence Test:

Preparation of preliminary draft:

The tests already developed by researchers in different socio-cultural contexts

such as Goleman (1995), Mayor and Salovey (2003) that measure emotional

intelligence provided the base to construct this test. On the basis of reviewed literature

the researcher developed a test with 120 items comprising of the 5 domains, these items

were given to 10 experts in the field of psychology and education for content validation.

They were request to evaluate each of these items in terms of its relevance and its

language to measure the desired dimension as a part of the concept of emotional

intelligence. Looking into the consensus of the experts a preliminary draft of 80 items

was finalized.

Development of the scale:

The preliminary draft of 80 items was administered to a sample of 300 students,

studying in IXth standard, selected randomly from six schools situated in district of

Patiala, Ludhiana and Sangrur. Giving a score ranging from 5 to 1 correspondingly

Methodology 101

showing the degree of occurrence of emotion on a 5 point scale ranging from always,

most often, occasionally, rarely and never, the negative items were scored in reverse

order. The scores of the respondents were expected to range 80 to 400. For the purpose

of item analysis i.e., to determine the discrimination power of each item, top 27% and

bottom 27% subjects were identified. The score of high scoring group ranged from 300

and above and low scoring group comprised of students having a score of 200 or below.

Item wise Mean and SD of higher group and low group were computed to apply t-test

in order to find out the difference between two groups for each item, in the preliminary

draft EIT. On the basis of the significance of t-value and content of the statement in

different domains of emotional intelligence being measured in the preliminary draft.

Only those items which had significant discrimination power at 0.01 and 0.05 level

were selected. Thus, the final draft of EIT comprised of 60 items as shown in table-3.4

Table – 3.3

Distribution of Items in Final Draft

Sr. Domain S. No. of item in final draft Total No.

No.
1 Self Awareness 1, 6, 11, 16, 21, 26, 31, 36, 40, 44, 47, 50 12
2 Managing 2, 7, 12, 17, 22, 27, 32 7
Emotions
3 Motivating 3, 8, 13, 18, 23, 28, 33, 37, 41, 45, 48, 51, 14
Oneself 53, 57
4 Empathy 4, 9, 14, 19, 24, 29, 34, 38, 42 9
Handing 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 39, 43, 46, 49, 18
5 Relationships 52, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60
Total 60

(=Bold numbers signify negatively worded statements)

Methodology 102

The EIT constitutes of 60 items from five domains of Emotional Intelligence i.e.

Self-Awareness, Managing Emotions, Motivating Oneself, Empathy, and Handing

Relationships. The response pattern in the scale is of Likert type i.e., on a five point

continuum from always, most often, occasional, rarely to never. As all the items are

socially acceptable, thought positively and negatively stated, the scoring for each

statement in the scale is done in descending/ascending order for determining the

emotional intelligence by giving a score of 5 for always, 4 for most often 3 for

occasional, 2 for rarely, 1 for never and reverse for negative items. A copy of the scale

is given in Appendix-B

Reliability:

Reliability is the accuracy or precision of a measuring instrument. Reliability

refers to the consistency of scores obtained by the same persons when re-examined with

the same test on different occasions (stability) or with different sets of equivalent items

(equivalence). In the development of this scale, test-retest reliability coefficient for

internal consistency was worked out.

For this purpose, a sample of 100 students was randomly selected from three

schools of Patiala district of Punjab. The scale was administered on the selected sample

after a gap of one month to establish test-retest reliability of the scale.

Test-retest Reliability:

It is a form of reliability in which the scores on a test are correlated with the score

of the same subject using the same test items. The test-retest reliability coefficient of

correlation between the first and second administration for EIT on IX standard students

was computed along with testing the significance of difference between the two means
Methodology 103

obtained for all the five domains i.e., SA, ME, MO, E and HR as well as the overall

emotional intelligence.

It was observed that the highly significant coefficient of correlation indicating the

internal consistency between the different domains of EIT and also between the two

administrations with a time gap of one month was considered to be satisfactory. Thus

this test was found to be highly reliable.

Validity:

Validity refers to the extent to which an instrument measures what it is intended to

measure. The three types of validity are content validity, criterion related validity, and

construct validity.

Content Validity:

According to Ary et.al. (1985), content validity refers to the extent to which the

instrument represents the content of interest. Content validation is essential and

necessary based on the judgment and such judgment must be made separately for each

situation. In EIT, content validation was achieved by showing the draft to ten experts

from the field of psychology and education. Changes were made in the 1st draft per their

suggestions

Criterion Related Validity:

Criterion related validity refers to the relationship between the scores as a

measuring instrument and an independent external variable (criterion) believed to

directly measure the behavior or characteristic in question. To derive the criterion

validity, correlations drawn the five domains i.e., SA, ME, MO, E, and HR as well as

the total score of emotional intelligence with an earlier developed and standardized test.

Hence, the test has good criterion related validity.

 Methodology 104

Emotional Maturity Test developed by Yashvir Singh and Dr. Mahesh Bhargava in

1990 measures the emotional maturity of the person. Higher score on the emotional

maturity scale signifies the greater emotional immaturity and vice versa.

Construct Validity:

Construct validity refers to something that is not itself directly measurable but which

explain observable effects. To measure the construct validity correlations this explains

observable effects. To measure the construct validity correlations between all the domains

of EIT were drawn out. Table-3.5 depicts the inter-relationships between the different

domains of EIT.

Table – 3.4

Interrelationships between Domains of Emotional Intelligence Test

Domains SA ME MO E HR EI

SA 0.362 0.484 0.294 0.343 0.667

ME 0.423 0.421 0.344 0.604

MO 0.405 0.593 0.839

E 0.465 0.645

HR 0.837

(=Bold figures indicate significance at 0.05 and 0.01 level)

It is revealed from table-2 that all correlations except for correlations with empathy

were positive and highly significant at both 0.01 and 0.05 level of significance. Thus, it

could be inferred that all the items are highly correlated and test developed is highly valid.

Age norms:

EIT can be used to assess the emotional intelligence of all school students and

adolescents belonging to the age range of 10 to 17 years.

 Methodology 105

Scoring & Interpretation:

The EIT constitutes of 60 items from five domains of emotional intelligence i. e.,

Self Awareness, Managing Emotions, Motivating Oneself, Empathy and Handling

Relationships. The response pattern is of Likert type i. e. on a five-point scale from

always, most often, occasionally, rarely to never . Since, all the items are socially

acceptable, though positively and negatively stated, the scoring for each statement in the

scale is done in descending/ascending order for determining the emotional intelligence by

giving a score of 5 for always, 4 for most often, 3 for occasionally, 2 for rarely and 1 for

never and reverse in case of negatively worded statements.

In this way, the expected score may range from 60-300 with high score showing

high degree of emotional intelligence and low score showing low degree of emotional

intelligence. Table- 3.6 depicts the interpretation of scores.

Table-3.5
Interpretation of Scores
Sr. No. Domain Below Average Average High

1 Self Awareness 12-28 28-44 44-60

2 Managing Emotions 7-16 16-25 25-35

3 Motivating Oneself 14-33 33-52 52-70

4 Empathy 9-21 21-35 35-45

5 Handling Relationships 18-46 46-70 70-90

Emotional Intelligence 60-140 140-220 220-300

Methodology 106

3.3.3: Academic Achievement: (Marks obtained by the students in HSLC

Examination)

In Academic Achievement total marks of four major subjects obtained by the

students in the HSLC Examination conducted by SEBA in the year 2014 was taken as

the scores. The researcher calculated the total marks of four major subjects ( MIL,

English, Mathematics and General Science ) obtained by the students and arranged it in

district-wise, sex-wise, habitant-wise (urban-rural) and tribal and non-tribal and in

district-wise. A copy of raw scores obtained by the students is given in Appendix-C.

3.4.0: Data collection Procedure:

As per the design of the study the investigator approached the selected Higher

Secondary Schools, Junior Colleges and colleges and requested the Principals to offer

their cooperation in the data collection procedure. After getting the assurance from the

authorities the researcher is to administer the tools to the students of class XI. At the

very outset, the students were requested to participate heartily and sincerely in

responding to all the tools with their own ideas and knowledge. The students were

assured that the results will be only for research purpose. After that, the researcher

imparted all the instruction to be taken care. All the tools were administered on the

same day in the class. After the completion of responding the researcher then collected

the respond tools from the students and thanked them for their cooperation. Keeping in

mind all directions and nature of the tools the researcher visited all 25(twenty-five)

Secondary Schools and Junior Colleges which took three months time. The researcher

administered two of standardized scale and test, namely Self-Esteem Scale and

Emotional Intelligence Test. (The researcher translated the Self-esteem scale into

English by the help of the language expert due to some respondent faced difficulties in
Methodology 107

answering the statements as the statements were in Hindi). The same procedure was

followed in all the schools and Colleges.

Regarding the data on Academic Achievement, the investigator collected the

marks obtained in the HSLC Examination’ 2014 by the sample students from their

respective schools records for analysis.

3.5.0: Analysis of Data:

The researcher collected the data from a selected sample of 500 secondary school

students of class XIth of Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts of Assam. The pattern of

analysis followed the requirements outlined in the statement of objectives and the

various research hypotheses. The variables like Self-Esteem, Emotional Intelligence

and Academic Achievement was included in the present study. The researcher used

various statistical techniques like Mean, SD, t-test and Analysis of variance in

analyzing the collected data. The students were categorized mainly on the basis of sex,

location of schools or residence, tribal and non-tribal and in district-wise, and the

groups are compared to find out whether there exist any significant differences between

them by employing ‘t’-test. The relationship of Self-Esteem and Emotional Intelligence

with Academic Achievement; Emotional Intelligence and Academic Achievement was

also worked out by employing Pearson’s Coefficient of correlation method. F-test was

also used in some cases.

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