Abstract:
Students attendance is one of the issues that most teachers in Higher education
institution is facing today. Many colleges and universities have compulsory
attendance policies while others have refrain from it as such. Despite the
different policies , higher education teachers believe that attendance has positive
effect in academic performance . Non -attendance in class lecture is seen as one
of the reasons for academic performance of the Noakhali Science and Technology
University in their major and non -major courses. Also the students perceived
that teachers who have teaching skills and using a variety of teaching techniques
can have a more positive effect on their academic performance. 79.3% 0f student
accumulated good attendance and 17.3% gained acceptable attendance .Another
result we found that 45.3% are satisfied with their academic performance and
some are not sure about it and it is 12%,rest are not satisfied.
1. Introduction
1.1 Background of the study:
Every higher education institutions (HEIs) has its own attendance policy and
practices. Some HEIs make it as compulsory with some bearing on their marks
but others are not. However, even when attendance is not compulsory, many
lecturers believe that it has an effect on the students’ academic performance.
There are a number of studies conducted on the relationship between class
attendance and academic performance reaching to the conclusion that there
exists a positive correlation between these two (Kirby and McElroy, 2003). It is
important that students have to attend and engage with the learning
opportunities inside the classrooms to ensure that students feel the essence of
being a student. Allen (2016) said that class attendance is a way to succeed
academically. However, he believes that from time to time students may need
to miss a class. Since university classes have fewer sessions , missing one class
means missing more work. Class attendance enhances class performance
because through physical presence in the class, students can participate in all
classroom activities. Class activities or guided learning activities given by the
teacher usually help students to apply it on their final assessments. Another
advantage of attending classes is that students can interact with their teacher.
If there are some clarifications about the topic, students can ask questions
which might be the same questions to all. So, going to the class enables
students to learn from teacher and classmates. Asking questions to the
teacher can provide students clear understanding of the topic which is missed
out when absent from the class. Attendance to the class also increase learning.
Even some of the course works are done outside the classroom, these make
class sessions even more valuable. In-class time is devoted to the most
challenging discussions. It’s important to know what these are so that students
can have a clear understanding of what is likely to show up on the final
assessments.
1.2 Justification of the study:
Class attendance are very important on academic performance . The students
who are absent for at least two or more days are considered chronic
absentees who normally gets low mark. The poor school attendance of the
students can have an extreme effect on their academic performance. Students
who are chronically absent have various reasons, however, it can positively
influence on their slow academic performance .
1.3 Limitation of the study :
This study has several limitations. First, the study was carried out only 7 days.
No face-to-face interview was taken. We constructed a Google document
questionnaire and collected information through social media platforms.
Besides our study is based on 160 data, which is randomly selected.
Acknowledgement : To begin with , we want to confer this endeavor to our god ,
the almighty,for the wisdom he bestowed upon us ,the strength ,peace of our
mind and good health in order to conduct our research and its successful
completion .
We also owe a deep sense of gratitude to our mentor , research
advisor ,Professor Mimma Tabassum ,Department of statistics,Noakhali Science
and Technology University,for her timely advice ,meticulous scrunity, scholarly
advice approach have helped us to a very extent to accomplish to conduct this
survey.
Our thankfulness and appreciation extends to our respondents who willingly
contributed with their full cooperation has made our study possible and for their
time and knowledge they have given us.
Table of contents
Abstract
1. Introduction
1.1. Background of the study
1.2. Justification of the study
1.3. Limitation of the study
2. Literature Review
2.1. Introduction
2.2. Research Gap
3. Methodology
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Research design and participants
3.3. Data collection
3.4. Statistical Analysis
4. Result
4.1. Demographic Characteristics of the participants
4.2. Result Analysis
5. Conclusion
Appendix
References
List of Tables
Table 1: Socio demographic characteristics of the participants
2. Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
Relationship between attendance and academic performance has been a
debatable issue. Many scholars and researchers believed that attendance is a
good predictor of academic performance while other disagree on the matter .
Darling – Hammond (2000) argues that attending classes regularly is important in
providing students an opportunity to achieve a desired learning outcomes.
Jaykaran ,et al.(2011) conducted a research in an institution where attendance is
a mandatory to students for at least 75% rate for a student to sit for a semester
final examination . In their study ,there are were two groups of respondents :
students who had at least 75% attendance and those with 75% less than
attendance .Result showed that that there was statistically significant difference
between the two groups for their mean mark .The mean mark of those with 75%
attendance was higher than those with less than 75% attendance ( unpaired t-test
p,0.0067). However , a contrary result from Adegoke, et al.(2013) in their research
on the impact of attendance on students’ academic performance revealed a week
correlation between scores and attendance of the students . Results showed that
students can still score high even they fail to attend classes.
Another important factors affecting students academic performance are income
of parents , the area which they belong , hangout time with friends ,teaching
method . The students who have the strong financial background tend to have a
more CGPA in their academic career than the students who have a week financial
background (Aghus and Makhbul 2002). The reason may be the students with
weak financial background have to strive hard for provide their children with all
important and necessary facilities for their educational achievements and they in
return give good result in their examination(Checci, 2000).
It has been observed from the study conducted by Washbrune (1959) that
students who belong to the urban areas give better academic performance as
compared to those who belong to the less populated areas. This reason may be
the facilities and resources are available in abundance in the urban areas
regarding curricular and co – curricular activities as compared to the rural areas
where these facilities are less available . The role of teacher has its own
importance in the class attendance in terms to increase academic performance of
the students because it is the teacher who transforms the policies into practical
actions which is developed during interaction and collaboration with the students
(Afe 2001).
Moreover, in a meta – analytical study on the relationship of student attendance
with academic performance conducted by Crede, et al. (2016), revealed that
those who have high performance are those whose attendance are very good and
those students with lowest mark are those whose attendance were most likely
very poor .It was also reported that the difference in marks between students
with poor attendance and students with average attendance was larger than the
difference between students with average attendance and students with good
attendance .
Research Gap
There has been some research on the effect of class attendance on academic
performance in various universities and countries , but none on Noakhali Science
and Technology University in Bangladesh .As a result , this study will assist us in
determining how class attendance influenced the academic performance of
students at Noakhali Science and Technology University of Bangladesh.
3. Methodology
3.1 Introduction
This chapter dearly defines the research methods used to conduct the study .The
researcher explains how the necessary data and information to address the
research objectives and question was collected ,presented and analyzed.
3.2 Research design and participants
This was a cross – sectional study conducted online , using social media
platforms ,such as Facebook, WhatsApp, messenger and e-mails as well as some
direct interviews .The respondent were the general population of Noakhali
Science and Technology University of Bangladesh .Participants encompassed all
religions and races and represented various socio economic groups .
3.3 Data Collection
Collection of data is ensured by primary data and through questionnaires. 150
people were willingly agree to participate and their data was [Link] order to
secure the consent of the respondents ,the researchers relayed all the important
details of the study ,including its aims and purpose . By explaining these
important details ,respondents were able to understand their importance of their
importance of their role in the completion of the research and respondents were
not forced to participate in this [Link] anonymity of the respondents was also
ensured by not unfolding their names and personal information in the
research .Only relevant details that helped in answering the research questions
were involved.
3.4 Statistical Analysis
SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) 25.00 was used for the analysis of
the data. Based on the objectives of the study ,descriptive statistics ( frequencies
and percentage ) were used to describe the demographic characteristics to
measure the academic performance, and to quantify the class attendance of the
students and other variables Pearson correlation and Simple linear Regression
were used to explore the association between demographic variables and class
attendance . A P -value of less than 0.05 indicates the result are statistically
significant at 5% level of significance.
4. Result
4.1 Demographic Characteristics of the participants
A total 150 respondents participated after our call for participation in the survey ,
of which 99.3% are completed this survey and rest are refused to participate.
Among the respondents , male and female participants represented 81(54%) and
69 (46%) respectively. The presented survey comprised 35(23.3%) with family,
54(36%) hall, 61(40.7%) mess [Link] received massive responses from
science faculty and it is 51.3%.
Table -1 : Socio demographic characteristics of the participants
Characteristics Category Frequency (n) Percentage
18 -20 14 9.3
Age ( in years) 20-21 109 72.7
22-24 27 18.0
Male 69 46.0
Gender Female 81 54.00
Hall 54 36.00
Living status Mess 62 40.7
With family 35 23.3
Low 39 26.00
Socio – economic (BDT<25,000/month
condition
Middle (BDT<25,000 85 56.7
-BDT 50,000)
26 17.3
High ( >50,000)
4.2. Result Analysis
Study Group
In pie chart,
Interpretation: Here 34% students are currently enrolled in 1st year in
undergraduate courses ,42.7% are in 2nd year, 14.7% are in 3rd year,8% are in 4th
year and rest are in currently enrolled in Masters courses.
Students attendance in major courses
In pie chart,
Interpretation: It is shown that 79.3% percent of the students accumulated above
79% percent attendance for the major courses and rest has acceptable
attendance.
Reason behind not attending classes
Interpretation: Here, 34.7% students are not satisfied in teaching method, 24%
agreed that lesson can be learnt from text books or internet, 18.7% of students
have other criteria of not attending classes , and rest are just careless about
attending classes.
[Link]
The research study was conducted to know about the effects of class attendance
on academic performance among the students of Noakhali Science and
Technology University.
(Kaiser aikhane tui final result ta simple way te likhe dibi j asole e ki class
attendance academic performance r upor impact kore kina)regression ,correlation
likhar pore .tai ami likhi nai,
Authors Contribution
Wasi Ahamed Tahfim : Conceptualization , Data collection, Writing
Tasfia Tanjim Preety : Data Collection , Writing
Tashnia Haque Rifa : Data collection , Writing
Samia Jannat : Data collection , Writing
Lutfun Nahar Chowdhury : Data collection , Methodology , Literature Review,
Writing Original- draft
Kaiser Ahmed : Data collection , Data analysis, result analysis
Apendix : Questionnaire
Effect of Class Attendance on Academic Performance:
A Case Study at Noakhali Science and Technology University
1. Are you willing to participate in this survey?
a. Yes
b. No
2. Age
a. 18 – 20 years
b. 20 – 22 years
c. 22 – 24 years
3. Gender
a. Male
b. Female
4. Education level
a. 1st year
b. 2nd year
c. 3rd year
d. 4th year
e. Masters
5. Study Group
a. Engineering and Technology
b. Science
c. Business Administration
d. Social Science and Humanities
e. Law
f. Education
6. Living status
a. With Family
b. Hall
c. Mess
7. Socio – economic condition
a. Low (< BDT 25, 000/month)
b. Middle (BDT 25,000 – BDT 50,000)
c. High (> BDT 50, 000)
8. Students attendance in major courses
a. Good Attendance (80 – 100%)
b. Acceptable Attendance (60 – 79%)
c. Poor Attendance (Below 60%)
9. Students attendance in minor courses
a. Good Attendance (80 – 100%)
b. Acceptable Attendance (60 – 79%)
c. Poor Attendance (Below 60%)
10. Students satisfied with their result
a. Satisfied
b. Not satisfied
c. Don’t know
11. Reason behind not attend in class
a. Teaching method is not interested
b. Lesson can be learnt from text books/internet
c. Timing of the classes is not appropriate for students
d. Careless attitude of students
e. Others
12. CGPA: _______________
13. Class attendance (in percentage): _____________
14. Daily study hour (in hours):____________
15. Gossiping/Hang out with friend (in hours): ____________
16. Spending time on tuition daily (in hours): ______________
References :
Allen, W. (2016). Class Attendance, Available [Online] at
[Link], Date Accessed, 16 March 2021.
Attendance Initiatives, Theory of Action, Buffalo Public Schools
(NY), Available online at [Link], Date Accessed
10 March 2021. Adegoke, B. O., Salako, R. J., & Ayind, L. A. (2013).
Impact of attendance on students.
[Link]
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