CHAPTER-3

METHODOLOGY

Population
Sample
Tools

3.3.1 Independent Variables

3.3.1.1 Comprehensive Anxiety Test

3.3.1.2 Socio-Economic Status Scale
3.3.1.3 School Environment Inventory
3.3.2 Dependent Variable: Sflent Reading Comprehension Test
3.3.3 Control Variables
3.3.3.1 General Data Sheet

3.3.3.2 Sex

3.3.3.3 Locale
3.3.3.4 School

Design of the Study

Procedure
3.5.1 Selection of the Schools

3.5.2 Data Colection

3.5.3 Administration ofthe Tests

3.5.4 Scoring
3.5.5 Data Analysis
 CHAPTER-3
METHODOLOGY

When a problem is taken up for research, it follows certain logical

steps and a well defined planning or layout for the accomplishment of its
objectives. It also needs to go through a particular procedure and adopt the
right strategy and technique to verify the hypotheses under consideration
Therefore, the investigator needs to prepare a lay out of the method of
following: the steps of the experiments in organizing a proper sample,
controlling the variables, collecting the data and adopting the suitable
technique to arrive at the desired results and the verification of the
hypotheses.

3.1 Population
Students of class XI who had studied English till class X and had
offered English as a core language or a compulsory language in the
schools of Bilaspur Education Division of class XI formed the population for
this study. Class XI was selected for the study for many reasons. Students
of this class have already studied English for at least five years in the
secondary school, and hence they should have picked up English sufficient
enough to read and understand simple English. Knowledge of English
becomes necessary at the higher stages, and without an adequate
knowledge independent learning would be difficult. Many of these students
are about to go to different professional courses where knowledge of
English is desirable. Moreover, Silent Reading Comprehension Test in
English is specially meant for class XI. Hence the study is confined to
students in the XI class of higher secondary schools of two districts
Bilaspur and Janjgir-Champa in Bilaspur Education Division

3.2 Sample
The Joint Director of Education, Bilaspur was requested to provide a
separate list of total number of Hindi-medium schools of Bilaspur and
 Janjgir-Champa District along with the number of students studying in class
XI.
The number of schools and the total number of the students
studying in these schools are shown below in the table No. 3.1

Table No. 3.1

No. of Schools with No. of Students

S.No. Name of Districts No. of Schools No. of students Total
Boys Girls
1. BILASPUR 175 5935 3956 9891
2. JANJGIR-CHAMPA 135 5771 3847 9618
Total 310 11706 7803 19509

The number of students as shown above in the table No.3.1 shows

the universe of the present study.

For the present study, the above schools were categorized into
urban and rural schools. The schools belonging to the place having the
municipal committee or corporation were taken as urban schools and
remaining others were taken as rural schools.

The schools for urban and rural areas separately of Bilaspur and
Janjgir-Champa districts taken together were arranged alphabetically. From
these two separate lists, 16 schools from each category were randomly
selected. The schools and the number of students thus selected are shown
below in table No.3.2.
 Table No.3.2
Area-Wise Selected Schools with Number of Students

S No. Area No. of Schools No. of Students

1. Urban 16 480
2. Rural 16 480
Total 32 960

The total number of students 960 as shown in the above table

represents the population of the study.

For the present study, the students to be taken as the sample were
intended to be equal in their intelligence factor. Hence, for taking the
sample of the students by controlling their intelligence, only those students
were considered who secured second division marks i.e., (45% to 59%) in
their X class board of high school examination. For this purpose a list of
such students were prepared for each school and thirty students from each
school were randomly selected. It will be significant here to mention that in
most of the rural schools the number of girls students came out to be very
less as compared to the boys students, in these types of schools all the
girls were selected keeping the total number of students as thirty, rest
number of boys students were covered by random selection method.

The number of students thus selected is shown below in the table

No.3.3. In all a sample of Nine Hundred Sixty students - Five Hundred
Forty-Seven boys and Four Hundred Thirteen girls in total were taken for
the present study.
 Table No.3.3

Number of Students Selected as the Sample

S.No. Area of School Number of schools Number of students Total

Boys Girls
1. Urban 16 240 240 480
2. Rural 16 307 173 480
Total 32 547 413 960

3.3 Tools

The aim of this investigation was to find out the relationship of

various factors like Anxiety, Socio-economic status, School environment
and Reading Comprehension of English. Since standardized tests are
available for all these factors the investigator did not construct his own test,
instead the available standardized tests were selected. The investigator
made a careful selection of the available standardized tools which could be
validly applied to the sample of students selected for study. All the tools
selected were those that were developed for the use with pupils of higher
secondary classes. Care was taken to assure that the tools had accepted
levels of validity and reliability. The details of the tools selected are
presented in the table No. 3. 4.
 Table No. 3.4
Details of the Tools Used for the Study
Tools Variables Measured Classification of the
variables
1. Sinha’s Comprehensive Anxiety Independent
Anxiety Test ( SCAT) Variable
2. Socio-Economic Status Socio-Economic Independent
Scale (SES) Status Variable
3. School Environment Inventory School Environment Independent
(SEI) Variable
4. Silent Reading Comprehension Reading Dependent Variable
Test (SRCT) Comprehension
5. Scholastic Achievement Intelligence Control Variable
6. General Data Sheet (GDS) Sex, Age, Locale & Control Variable
Schools

3.3.1 Independent Variables

3.3.1.1 Sinha’s Comprehensive Anxiety Test (SCAT) :

A.K.P. Sinha & L.N.K. Sinha.

This test constructed by A.K.P. Sinha & L.N.K. Sinha, was used for
determining comprehensive Anxiety.

The items of the test were largely constructed on the basis of the
symptoms of anxiety reported by those who visited the Institute of
Psychological Research and Service, Patna University for psychological
assistance. A few items from the existing tests of anxiety were also
incorporated after such modifications as were considered necessary. Thus
initially 315 items were prepared in Hindi. These items were given to five
judges (all engaged in counseling and psychological testing work) for
examining the merit of each item for inclusion in the test of anxiety. They
were also asked to score out those items, which they thought were
 redundant. On the basis of 100% agreement among the judges, 70 out of
315 items were eliminated. For the item analysis of 245 items, the point
biserial correlations were computed. Consequently, those 90 items which
fulfilled the criterion constituted the test in its final form.

Reliability . The coefficient of reliability was determined by using the

product moment correlation was 0.85 and by using Spearman Brown
formula was 0.92. Both the values ensure a high reliability of the test.

Validity : The coefficient of validity was 0.62, which is significant beyond

0.01.level of confidence.

Time : No time limit is fixed for completing the test. However, usually an
individual takes 15 to 20 minutes in completing the test.

Scoring : The inventory can be scored accurately by hand and no scoring

key or stencil is provided. For any response indicated as ‘ Yes’, the testee
should be awarded the score of one, and zero for 'No'. The sum of all the
positive or yes responses would be the total anxiety score of the individual.

Rationale for Selecting Sinha’s Comprehensive Anxiety Test

1. This test provides ample opportunity to study individual’s reactions
to different situations.
2. The tool is having a fair standard and relevant in its use for
intermediate classes.
3. It can be conveniently used by Hindi knowing students.
4. The tool is easy to administer. It can be administered in individual or
group settings.
3.3.1.2 Socio-Economic Status Scale fSESS) :Dr. Beena Shah (1986)
This scale constructed and standardized by Dr. Beena Shah, was
used for determining socio-economic status for rural and urban area both

This scale measures SES in terms of caste, occupation, education,

income, possession and social participation. The scale is accompanied with
 a detailed scoring key. It is an improvement over Kuppuswami’s scale
because it takes into accounts both the education and income of both the
parents. The test constructor believes that the caste is important index of
social status of an individual in India and particularly in this part of the
country.

The measure developed by Kuppuswami (1962), Verma (1969),

Kulshrestha (1972),Rao (1977), Srivastava (1978), Uniyal and Bisht (1982)
and Rao(1982)etc. have incorporated variables like family size, education,
occupation, social position , caste, land ownership, social participation and
possessions. This socio-economic scale was developed to identify the
correct categories and minimize the perceptual content in SES and it was
found that the socio-economic status can be measured more accurately
with the help of following variables :

(1) Caste (2) Occupation (3) Education (4) Income (5) Possession
(6) Social Participation.

The basic feature of this SES measure which is not in other tools of
SES measurement is :

1. Occupational Status : Occupational status is measured as the average

score of two basic indicators of family occupation i.e. occupation of the
parents (mother & father) and main occupation of the family.

2. Educational Status : Educational status of the family is considered with

the help of educational level of father, mother and siblings (who has
achieved the highest qualification among siblings). The average of the
total scores obtained by these three individual persons, is the measure
of actual educational status of the family.

3. Economic Status : Economic status is measured not only with the help
of father/guardian’s per month income. In this SES scale total per month
income of the family is divided by family size (total number of family
 members), to obtain the actual economic condition of the family. Two more
questions related to income tax and property tax are also incorporated to
this dimension in this SES scale. Weightage to different income categories
are provided on the basis of standardized norms.

4. Weightage : Weightage to different articles included in the list of

possession has been assigned according to the cost & quality, that
characterizes their status.

M o d ific a tio n of the Scoring of Socio -Economic Status Scores

The SES Scale was published by Dr. Beena Shah in the year 1986
and it came in practice in the same year. In the scale, the fourth section
includes the income in rupees which has changed now. These surveys
were carried out in the year 1986, the per capita income is thus to be
revised and updated to year 1999, For this a committee was formed
comprising three members including one professor each of economics,
commerce and education discipline. The committee was requested to give
conversion ratio for the value of one rupee since 1986 to August 1999. The
committee suggested the conversion ratio as 1:4.10. On the basis of the
conversion ratio the modified rupee values and the corresponding score

points are given below in table No. 3.5

Tahle No. 3.5

Revised Rupee Value from 1986 to 1999

Modified (1999) Score Points
SN. Dr. Beena Shah (1986)
Below 98 1
1. Below 24
Between 99 to 447 2.5
2 .
Between 25 to 109
Between 448 to 968
3. Between 110 to 236
Between 969 to 1693 7.5
4. Between 237 to 413
Above 1694
5. Above 413

T his m odified incom e groups with the corresponding score p o in ty

were considered for scoring of income section of SES, The sconng o f the
items of other five section of this SES have been taken as per the scale
scores.

Reliability : The value of the reliability coefficients derived with the help of
test retest method, were found to be highly significant.

Validity : The values of correlation coefficients (r) between composite SES

scores and scores on individual six components variables were very high
and statistically significant far beyond .001 level of significance. This
indicates that the validity of this SES measure is of high order.

Time : Time limit was decided according to convenience of the students.

The maximum time allotted was 20 minutes.

Scoring : The details of scoring procedures are given in the manual. The
total of all six sections gives the SES score.

Rationale for Selecting Dr. Beena Shah’s Scale of Socio-Economic

Status
1. The test is standardized, hence it has its relevance in its use over the

pupils under study.

2. It can be conveniently used with subjects who know Hindi.
3. The questions are easily understandable to all the students and easy t

response.
4 I, is an improvement over Kuppuswam/s scale because ,t takes ,nto
accounts both the education and income of both the parents
5. Administering and scoring of the scale is very simple.
6. It can be used in rural and urban area both.

3.3.1.3 s .h n n ! Environm. nt Invnntory |SFI): Pr.Karuna Shanker Mjs ra

i n v e n t o r y constructed by Dr. Karuna Shankar

for the identification of school environment. The
Environment Inventory (SEI) is an instrument des,gned to
 psychosocial climate of schools as perceived by the pupils It provides a
measure of the quality and quantity of the cognitive, emotional and social
support that has been available to the students during their school life in
terms of teacher pupil interactions.

SEI contains 70 items related to the six dimensions of school

environment i.e., concepts intuitively judged relevant to the social
psychology of the classroom. The six dimensions are (A) Creative
Stimulation (CRS), (B) Cognitive Encouragement (COE), (C) Acceptance
(ACC), (D) Permissiveness (PER), (E) Rejection (REJ) and (F) Control
(CON). Twenty items belong to the (CRS) dimension while each of the
remaining five dimension has ten items belonging to it.
Operational definitions of these six dimensions are as follows

A. Creative Stimulation : It refers to “teacher's activities to provide

conditions and opportunities to stimulate creative thinking."

B. Cognitive Encouragement : It implies “teacher’s behaviour to

stimulate cognitive development of student by encouraging his
actions or behaviours."

C. Permissiveness : It indicates “ a school climate in which students

are provided opportunities to express their views freely and act
according to their desires with no interruption from teachers.”

D. Acceptance : It implies “ a measure of teacher's unconditional love,

recognizing that students have the right to express feelings, to
uniqueness, and to be autonomous individuals Teachers accept the
feelings of students in a non-threatening manner

E. Rejection : It refers to “ a school climate in which teachers do not

accord recognition to students’ rights to deviate, act freely and be
autonomous persons."
 F. C ontrol. It indicates “ autocratic atmosphere of the school in which
several restrictions are imposed on students to discipline them.”
The instrument requires pupils to tell the frequency with which
a particular teacher-pupil interaction behaviour is expressed in his or her
school. To start with, students have been made familiar with the nature and
purpose of measurement of school climate. Later, the procedures to be
followed while marking responses on the booklet have been explained to
them. They have been told to put (X) mark on any cell indicating five
responses i.e., he/she is required to tell whether a particular teacher-
behaviour occurs - ‘Always’, ‘often’, ‘sometimes’, ‘rarely’, and 'never.'
Reliability : The split half reliabilities (corrected for length) for various
dimensions of the school environment are as follows:-
Spilt - half Reliability Coefficient
( For six scales of SEI)
Scale -dimension Reliability Coefficient
A. Creative Stimulation .919
B. Cognitive Encouragement .797
C Acceptance .823
D. Permissiveness .673
E. Rejection .781
F. Control .762

Scale intercorrelations for SEI scores are shown in the table

School Environment Inventory Scale Intercorrelations

Scale A B C D E
A. Creative stimulation -

B. Cognitive Encouragement. .77 -

C. Acceptance .74 .89 -

D. Permissiveness .58 .47 56 -

E. Rejection -.01 -.03 -.22 .11

F. Control .51 .52 .45 .37 .20

 Observation of the table shows that four of scales are substantially
interrelated.

Validity : School Environment Inventory has been found to possess

content validity as measured with the help of views expressed by judges.
Because of the lack of appropriate external criteria, criterion related validity
could not be established.

Time . There is no time limit for this tool. Time limit was decided according
to convenience of the students. The maximum time allotted was 20
minutes. School environment inventory was administered in-group settings.

Scoring : Separate answer-sheet was not given to the students. The

responses are to be given on the booklet itself. Against each item of the
inventory five alternatives are given in forms of cells indicating the intensity
of the responses. 4 marks given to ‘ always’, 3 marks to ‘often’, 2 marks to
‘sometimes’, 1 marks to ‘rarely’, and ‘zero’ to no responses. Which area a
particulars item belongs to, is indicated by letters near the serial number.

Retionale for Selecting Dr. Karuna Shankar Misra*s School

Environment Inventory

1. It can be conveniently used with subjects who know Hindi.

2. School climate inventory has been found to possess content validity
as measured with the help of views expressed by judges.
3. The tool is having a fair standard and relevant in its use for
intermediate classes, it can also be used for students of high school
classes.
4. The school climate inventory provides the perceptions of an
individual student. It provides quality of learning environment that
prevails in a classroom. The inventory also provides ample
opportunity to a student to judge himself and to adjust himself well in
a provided classroom condition for better learning.
 5. The tool is easy to administer, hence it is found the best way to
judge school climate.
By taking into account of the above provisions, the scale has
been selected for the present study.

3.3.2 Dependent Variable:

Silent Reading Comprehension Test (In English): Dr. B.V. Patel
(1974)
This test has been developed and standardized by Dr. B.V. Patel of
M.B. Patel College of Education, Sardar Patel University, Vallabh
Vidyanagar, Gujarat in 1974.

The present test is useful to classroom teachers for assessing the

pupils for Reading Comprehension in English. The results give the idea
about the pupils’ Reading Comprehension and where he stands in the
class. It also enables the teacher to make a Comparative study of pupils
with regard to the skill of Reading Comprehension, and to guide them
accordingly.

The test is meant for the pupils of class XI. Hence in constructing
and standardizing the test language material used in the test is within the
reach of the pupils of class XI. This point was kept in view. The tests
measures the following components of Reading Comprehension .

Components
1. Ability to note significant details ;
2. Ability to select appropriate meaning of the word in context;
3. Ability to read maps, tables etc.;
4. Ability to follow sequence of events and to select main idea of the
passage;
5. Ability to draw generalization and to give proper title of the passage ,
 All these five components are measured by nine sub-tests For
paragraph Reading Comprehension there are six sub-tests, one to six
Each passage is followed by several multiple choice type questions The
subject is required to read the passage and answer the questions. Similarly
for measuring the ability to read maps and tables etc., there are two sub­
tests, seven & eight; they are grouped together. For vocabulary test, sub­
test nine is given at the end of the test.

The total time for completing this test has been mentioned as 74
minutes, but the pilot study showed that the students took more than one
and a half hour to complete the test, which was felt very lengthy and
tiresome, and was not found feasible on the campus of the school
schedule.

The test carries a provision for selectively administering the items,

which cover the different aspects of Reading Comprehension. Hence it was
decided to utilize this provision by selecting some sub-test items in the
present study. The sub-tests 2,4, 5 & 6 were withdrawn without disturbing
the structural framework of the test and adjusting the time limit so as to
complete the test in 42 minutes. The rejection of sub-tests 2, 4, 5 & 6 did
not affect the administrative efficiency of the tests because all the five
components were detected and fulfilled by sub-test items 1,3,7, 8 & 9. The
ability of the students to generalise the overall idea of the passage through
a variety of test items was made possible in favour of the age group taken
in all the locale taken in this study.

A separate answer sheet is provided to write the answer. The

student has just to put a ‘X’ at the space provided for that particular
answer.

Reliability : The reliability of the test has been established by the following
methods :
 1. Test-retest method 0.91± 0.011
2. Split-Half method 0.93 ±0.005
3. K.R. Formula-21 0.95 ± 0.004
4. The Rulon Formula 0.96 ±0.003
5. The Flanagan Formula 0.95 ± 0.004
6. Analysis of variance 0.95 ±0.004
Approach

The reliability of the test is ranging from as low as 0.91 to as high as

0.96.

Validity : The concurrent, predictive and factorial validity have been

carefully established.

The concurrent validity has been established by validating the test

scores with teachers’ opinion about pupils comprehension. The obtained
validity coefficient was 0.47, which is fairly high. The predictive validity has
been studied by correlating the scores on the test with marks in English at
the S.S.C Exam. The validity coefficients were 0.704 and 0.602
respectively. The study of the factorial validity revealed that there are three
factors namely (i) ability to grasp the significant details, (ii) word meaning
and (iii) perceptual speed factor. These factors are quite in close
agreement with the factors obtained by analysing some test on Reading
Comprehension.

Time : Fixed time is mentioned for each sub-test. The total time allotted for
the whole test is 42 minutes.

Scoring : A scoring key is provided by the author. One point is given for
one correct answer. The total number of items is fifty-seven, and therefore

the maximum score is 57.

 Rationale for Selecting Dr. B.V. Patel's Silent Reading
Comprehension Test
1. The test is reliable and valid for measuring Reading Comprehension
in English for class XI pupils.
2. The language material used in the test is within the reach of the
pupils of class XI.
3. This test can easily be administered in the schools where English is
taught as a second language.
4. The test measures the different skills of the students.
5. This test can conveniently be administered in both the urban and the
rural areas.
Owing to have these plus points, this test has been employed
in the present study.

3.3.3 Control Variables

3.3.3.1 General Data Sheet

The additional data required for the study relating to the subjects
(e.g., name , age, sex, locale, schools etc.) were obtained using general
data sheet administering to the students.

3.3.3.2 Sex
Boys and girls of different types of schools of class XI of urban and
rural areas have been taken.

3.3.3.3 Locale
The pupils of the urban and rural settings have been included for the

present study.

3.3.3.4 School
Different types of schools located in urban and rural area have been

taken for the study.

 3.4 Design of the Study
In the present study, Anxiety, Socio-Economic Status and Schools
Environment function as an independent variables whereas silent Reading
Comprehension in English has been employed as a dependent variable.
The three factors are Anxiety (A), Socio-Economic Status (B), and School
Environment (C) represent 2x2x2 factorial design for pupils of class XI.

3.5 Procedure

3.5.1 Selection of the Schools

The Procedure for selecting the schools has already been discussed
previously in the present chapter. The researcher contacted the Principals.
Day and time for data collection were fixed in consultation with the
principals.

3.5.2 Data Collection

Data collection was done during the school hours in the year 1999.
The tests were administered to groups of students, as no test used in the
study was an individual test. The students were given general instructions
regarding the tests and the task required by them. Then tests were
administered after giving the proper instructions of the concerned tests.

3.5.3 Administration of the Tests

After the instructions, tests were administered one by one - Sinha’s
Comprehensive Anxiety Test, Silent Reading Comprehension Test, and
then about fifteen minutes rest was given. Then the School Environment
Inventory was administered and after the instructions the Socio - Economic
Status scale was given to the students.

The duration of the different tests was about fifteen minutes for
Comprehensive Anxiety Test, forty - two minutes for Silent Reading
 Comprehension Test, twenty minutes for School Environment Inventory
and twenty minutes for Socio-Economic Status scale. Some time was also
needed for instructions, collection of papers etc. Hence the principals were
requested to spare the students for about three hours.

3.5.4 Scoring

After the collection of the filled in tests, scoring was done by the
method already mentioned earlier in this chapter and thereafter data were
analysed.

3.5.5 Data Analysis

The data collected were analysed and processed by computer in
accordance with the requirements of hypotheses formulated in chapter 1;
however simple treatment of data was done by a simple calculator. The
data have been presented in chapter IV.

Invariably, data were treated for Means, SD'S , Significance of

Differences employing t-values, ANOVA, Partial and Multiple Correlations.

1. Levels : In the present study the scores of the independent

variables were categorised as low & high level on the basis of their
mean. The score which is less than mean value is categorised as
low level and the score which is equal and higher than the mean
value is considered as high level.

2. Co-efficient of Correlation : This statistical technique has been

employed to verify hypotheses pertaining to correlational studies It
has been used to estimate the significance of the relationship
between the independent variables (i.e., Anxiety, Socio-Economic
Status and School Environment ) and the dependent variable (i.e.,
Silent Reading Comprehension in English).
3. t-Values : In ail the hypotheses pertaining to ‘differential studies’ this
technique of statistics has been employed to estimate the level of
significance of differences between two means.

4. Multiple Correlation : This technique has been employed to

calculate the joint effects of two or three independent variables on
the dependent variable

5. F-Ratio :The analysis of variance has been employed to verify

hypothesis pertaining to ‘Interactional study.’ This statistical method
has been used with a view to estimate the main effects and the
interactional effects of independent variables on dependent
variables.

The results arrived at by employing these statistical methods have

been presented in chapter 4.