Factors Affecting Undergraduate Students’ Performance in Mathematics in Rivers State Tertiary Institutions Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the factors affecting undergraduate students' performance in Mathematics in Rivers State, Nigeria. The study adopted the analytical survey design. The population of the study consisted of seven hundred and fifty-five (755) undergraduate Mathematics students from the Department of Mathematics of the three Universities in Rivers State. A sample of 249 Mathematics undergraduates was selected via stratified random sampling technique. Two researcher developed instruments: Factors Affecting Undergraduate Students' Mathematics Performance Questionnaire (FAUSMPQ) and Algebra Performance Test (APT) were used for data collection. The reliability indices of FAUSMPQ (r = 0.70) and APT (r = 0.76) were established using test retest method and Pearson's Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) statistic. Data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, PPMC and regression analysis. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer research questions one to five while PPMC was used to answer research question six. The six hypotheses of the study were tested using regression analysis. The study found out that the lecturer, student and parental factors have significant positive relationship while school and governmental factors have insignificant but positive relationship with undergraduate students' performance in Mathematics. The study recommended among others that the government and the school management should effectively manage the lecturers, students and collaborate with the parents to ensure improved undergraduate students' performance in Mathematics.