Selected factors related to semester grade point average of third year or later students in the Faculty of Education at Memorial University of Newfoundland

French, Frederick Frank (1977) Selected factors related to semester grade point average of third year or later students in the Faculty of Education at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of living accommodation, distance commuted, age, sex, marital status, religious affiliation, high school graduating average and measured intelligence on the semester grade point average of university students. High school average and measured intelligence served as controls in examining the influence of the other variables. -- Subjects of the study were 102 students enrolled in their third year or later in the Faculty of Education at Memorial University of Newfoundland. The fifty-five males and forty-seven females were administered a questionnaire devised by the researcher, to gather background information, and the Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Test, Form 1, Level H. Further information relevant to academic grades was gathered with the subjects' consent from the Registrar's Office at Memorial University and from records at the Provincial Department of Education. -- An analysis of the data revealed that students who lived with their parents scored significantly higher mean semester grade point averages than did students living in university residences, apartments and boarding houses. Living accommodation accounted for approximately nine per cent of the variance in semester grade point average while distance commuted accounted for less than four per cent of the variance. Age contributed only one per cent to the total amount of variance in semester grade point average. Without controlling for the effects of measured intelligence and high school average, the difference in semester grade point average between males and females was significant, favouring females; however, no significant difference was found when the effects of measured intelligence and high school average were removed. Sex of the subject accounted for little more than six per cent of the variation in grade point average. Marital status and religious affiliation did not significantly affect semester grade point average; their influence was so negligible, in fact, that they were not included in the final regression analysis to determine contributors to the variance in semester grade point average. High school graduating average and measured intelligence accounted for thirty-nine per cent of the variance in semester grade point average (twelve per cent and twenty-seven per cent, respectively). A total of fifty-eight per cent of the variance in grade point average was accounted for by the factors studied. -- The significance of the study was threefold and rested on better counselling for students, better understanding of the relationship of certain variables to each other and further understanding of factors affecting university grade point average. Recommendations were made to make such information available to school and university officials. In addition, a study of boarding houses was recommended since these students scored the lowest mean semester grade point averages. Measured intelligence, high school average and living accommodation, the factors most highly related to semester grade point average, should be of special interest to school and university officials. Distance commuted, age, sex, marital status and religious affiliation contributed little to the variability of semester grade point average; rather than pursuing these factors, further research should examine variables such as motivation, attitudes, values, home study habits, personality and personal concerns of the students.

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