M.Ed. (Tertiary and Adult Education) / The purpose of this empirical study which forms part of a team research project, was to identify personality variables which may influence the academic achievement of first-year engineering-students. It was undertaken in the light of the relatively high failure rate of first-year students and the negative implications this has for an institute of higher learning and the students. The Bureau for University Education aims to establish a better student selection mechanism. The test group consisted of first-year engineering-students who registered at the Rand Afrikaans University during 1989, 1990 and 1991. This study focused on a single non-cognitive factor, namely personality, and its influence on academic achievement. The 16-PF-Questionnaire was used as a measuring instrument. student's t-test was utilized to establish significant differences between the two identified groups. The available data was processed by means of the BMDP-3S computer programme. The findings of this empirical study indicate that personality cannot be utilised in the prediction of academic achievement as a single factor, but in combination bined with other factors it forms an integral part of the selection mechanism. The successful engineering-students differed significantly from the less successful enigeering-students with regard to the following factors of the 16-PF-Questionnaire: * Factor G (dutyfullness) * Factor N (shrewdness)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:11336 |
| Date | 03 June 2014 |
| Creators | De Koker, Pieter Gerhardus |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Johannesburg |
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