Examination Ethics Value Orientation and Test Anxiety as Predictors of Students’ Tendency to Engage in Examination Misconduct in Universities in Awka

Abstract

This study explored examination ethics value orientation and test anxiety as predictors of students’ tendency to engage in examination misconduct in universities in Awka. Three purposes research questions, with their corresponding null hypotheses, guided the study. A correlational research design was adopted for the study. The study population comprised all the undergraduate students in universities in Awka. The sample size for this study was 534, comprising 118 male and 416 female undergraduate students determined through the multi-stage sampling procedure. Data were collected using three sets of instruments titled: Value for Examination Ethics Questionnaire (VEEQ), the Test Anxiety Questionnaire (TAQ), and the Examination Misconduct Questionnaire (EMQ).  The instruments were validated by experts in the field of education in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.  The instruments’ reliability was ensured through Cronbach Alpha which yielded alpha coefficients of .87, .84 and .89 for the VEEQ, TAQ, and EMQ respectively. Data analysis was conducted in SPSS version 21, using the simple regression analysis to answer the research questions and multiple regression analysis to test the null hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that students’ value for examination ethics positively and significantly predicts their tendency to engage in examination misconduct. The findings also revealed that test anxiety was a significant positive predictor of examination misconduct tendency. Moreover, both predictors (Examination ethics value and Test anxiety) significantly and jointly predict examination misconduct tendency among the students. Based on the study's findings, it was recommended, among others, that schools should strengthen the teaching and promotion of examination ethics among students.