Effects of study and Self-Reward skills counselling on study behaviour of students in Ghanaian Public Universities

Abstract

The study investigated the effects of study and self-reward skills counselling on study behaviour of students in Ghanaian public universities. It was designed to achieve two major objectives. Firstly, it was to determine the effects of study and self-reward skills counselling on study behaviour and its five dimensions namely time management, concentration, consultation, note taking, and reading and library use. Secondly, the research was intended to ascertain the difference in the study behaviour of participants in the experimental groups on the basis of gender and age. Based on these objectives, four research questions and four null hypotheses were formulated. The quasi-experimental, pre-test, post-test control group design guided the study. The population of the study comprised all first year undergraduate students in Ghanaian public universities. The sample was made up of 60 participants who were assigned to three groups: study skills counselling, self-reward skills counselling and control group. Each group had 20 participants (10 males and 10 females). Simple random sampling was used in selecting students with study behaviour problems for the research. A study behaviour inventory was used to measure the study behaviour of students. The four hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data were analysed using one-way and two-way analyses of covariance (ANCOVA). Two hypotheses related to the effect of study and self-reward skills counselling on study behaviour and its dimensions were rejected. A post hoc test revealed that study and self-reward skills counselling had significant effects on study behaviour when compared to the control group. Other post hoc tests showed that study skills counselling significantly improved participants’ behaviours in all the five dimensions of study behaviour while self-reward skills counselling had significant effects on only three dimensions, namely time management, concentration and note taking when compared to the control group. Two other hypotheses related to the influence of gender and age on study behaviour were retained. Based on the findings, it was recommended that study and self-reward skills counselling be utilised in modifying poor study behaviour at the university level. It was also recommended that study skills counselling be considered as an effective strategy for improving the five dimensions of study behaviour. It is expected that when these measures are introduced, the academic achievement of students would increase through improvement in study behaviour.