A causal model of postgraduate education students' psychological constructs and their achievement in research methods in University of Jos, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the causal model of postgraduate education  students' psychological constructs and  achievement in research methods in the University of Jos, Nigeria. The study adopted an ex-post-facto research design. A sample of 203 respondents was drawn from a population of 536 postgraduate education students using convenience sampling technique. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire tagged Psychological Construct Assessment Scale (PCAS) developed and validated by the researchers and three experts. The data were analyzed using the path analysis method in SPSS/AMOS. The results revealed that teachers' effectiveness had the highest indirect effect, while study habits had the highest direct effect on students' achievement in research methods.  Findings also showed that, a meaningful causal model of psychological constructs was developed which means the default model is not significantly different from the saturated model. It was recommended that students should develop good study habits and positive attitudes towards research methods.

Keyword: Research methods, Attitude, Self-efficacy, Study habit, Teacher effectiveness, Motivation