COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT SCORES OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS EXPOSED TO COMPUTER-BASED TEST (CBT) AND PAPER AND PEN TEST (PPT) IN ECONOMICS IN NIGERIA

Assessment in education such as computerized test has taken a new direction as another form of students’ assessment at different levels of education in Nigeria. This introduction of computerized tests for educational assessments geared this study on comparative analysis of academic achievement scores of students exposed to CBT and PPT in Economics. Three research questions were raised and answered. Three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. The study utilized pretest-posttest non-randomized control group design involving experimental and control groups. The study was carried out in Asaba, capital of Delta State, Nigeria. 973 SS II students who offered Economics in ten co-educational secondary schools in the study area comprised the population of the study. The sample was 107 students who offered Economics in the schools selected. Economics Achievement Test (EAT) was the instrument for data collection. The instrument was validated by experts in Educational Measurement and Evaluation. The reliability coefficient of EAT was 0.9. Mean statistics was used to analyze the research questions while the null hypotheses were tested using ANCOVA. The findings revealed the that students’ mean achievement scores in PPT was slightly higher than students’ mean achievement scores in CBT and the students’ mean achievement scores were significantly different. The study recommended based on the findings that examination bodies, school authorities and other stake holders in education should use only PPT for all students’ assessments in various internal examinations conducted in the country.