Application of Factor Analysis on Academic Performance of Pupils

Okeke Evelyn Nkiruka^1, , Okeke Joseph Uchenna¹, Yawe Ayuba¹, Anule Josaphat¹ and Bello Abdulrasheed¹

¹Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Federal University Wukari, Nigeria

Cite this paper:
Okeke Evelyn Nkiruka, Okeke Joseph Uchenna, Yawe Ayuba, Anule Josaphat and Bello Abdulrasheed. Application of Factor Analysis on Academic Performance of Pupils. American Journal of Applied Mathematics and Statistics. 2017; 5(5):164-168. doi: 10.12691/ajams-5-5-2

Abstract

Over the years, efforts have been made by researchers in studying the effects of certain factors on academic performance of students, though with little concentration on the primary section of education. This research therefore worked on the academic performance of pupils in primary school. Variation in the analyzed performance and the factor(s) causing the variations were studied using factor analysis. The data used is a secondary data, collected from Federal University Wukari Staff School and it’s on the terminal examination scores of the pupils in seven selected subjects over one selected academic session (2015/2016). From both the un-rotated and rotated factor analysis results, we observed a fair relationship between the mathematical and less mathematical subjects, though they present the major variation in the pupils’ performance to be in the less mathematical subjects like English Language, Verbal Aptitude, Social Studies, Creative Art, and Religious Studies. Also, the analysis presented three factors (gender, age, and environment) to be the cause of the variation between the pupils performance in primary school.

Keywords:
factor analysis factor loading academic performance quartimax equamax verimax orthomax rotation

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