TEST ANXIETY AND ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AS CORRELATES OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' ATTITUDE TOWARDS EXAMINATION DISHONESTY IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

Examination dishonesty is a cancer which has etched deeply into the fabrics of education 
system especially in the tertiary level of education. The debilitating impact of 
examination dishonesty on the students, school involved, and the image of the nation calls 
for study into students’ factors that sustain the menace. The study, therefore, sought to 
unravel the relationship that the predictor variables (test anxiety and achievement 
motivation) have on the outcome variable (university students’ attitude towards 
examination dishonesty) in Anambra State. Three research questions and three 
hypotheses were posed to guide the study. Correlational research design was adopted for 
the study. The population comprised all the undergraduates of Nnamdi Azikiwe 
University, Awka for the 2024/2025 academic session from which a sample size of 648 
was drawn through the convenient sampling technique. Three sets of instruments namely: 
Test Anxiety Questionnaire (TAQ), Achievement Motivation Questionnaire (AMQ), and 
Attitude towards Examination Dishonesty Questionnaire (AEDQ) were used for data 
collection. The instruments were validated by three experts in the field of Education. The 
internal consistency of the instruments was obtained using the Cronbach Alpha method 
which yielded alpha coefficients of 0.71 for TAQ, 0.69 for AMQ and 0.74 for AEDQ, 
implying that the instruments were reliable for use. Data were analysed with simple 
correlation analysis while the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 significance level using 
multiple regression analysis. The findings showed that test anxiety and achievement motivation separately and jointly have a significant relationship with university students’ 
attitude towards examination dishonesty. Based on the findings of the study, it was 
recommended among others, that students should be exposed to seminars and other 
enlightenment programme that would educate them on how to manage anxieties especially during tests and to embrace academic integrity.