Comparative Study on Psychological Characteristics and Academic Achievement of First Year Students among Research, Applied and Comprehensive Universities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20372/dje.v03i01.03Keywords:
Applied, Characteristics, Comprehensive, Psychological, Research, UniversitiesAbstract
The objective of the study was to compare the psychological characteristics and academic achievement of first-year students enrolled in research, applied, and comprehensive universities. In doing so, the study included 436 first-year university students. A quantitative approach through a comparative cross-sectional survey design was applied. Three universities, one from each typology, were selected at random, and participants were selected by means of a multi-stage probability sampling procedure. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was applied as the method of data analysis. The results demonstrated that a statistically significant difference was found, F (418, 2) = 11.151, p = .000, in academic achievement; F(418, 2) = 3.816, p = .023, in academic self-concept; and F(418, 2) = 5.863, p = .003, in anxiety-free learning. The mean score of the students from the research university outperformed that of the students from the applied university in academic achievement (p = .000), in academic self-concept (p = .024), and in anxiety-free learning (p = .003). On the other hand, a statistically significant difference was found in academic motivation, F (418, 2) = 4.639, p = .010, and in academic social skills, F (418, 2) = 5.731, p = .004. In that, students from the research university showed better academic motivation (p = .008) and academic social skills (p = .002), respectively. Thus, the study results imply that there should be speedy implementation of the differentiation process and the establishment of unique standards for each differentiated university in student placement, teaching-learning processes, and assessment procedures.