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Psychology 20
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I. Background Information
Poor self-esteem is often connected to lower marks. In fact, Canada’s elementary schools continuing to promote students even if they do not meet the curricular outcomes for their grade level, partly, in order to maintain the self-esteem of students. (POV, 2011) While much research exists about the effects of low grades on self-esteem, little research has been done exploring the opposite connection; whether a high academic standing affects ones grades.
II. Research Question
Do students with higher marks have higher self-esteem?
III. Description of Hypothesis
Our hypothesis is that students with averages at or higher than 80% will judge their self-esteem as higher than those who have averages below 80%. In fact, the more below 80% the average, the lower the student’s esteem will be.
To study this we designed a simple survey to gather the data needed to conduct a correlation study. We planned to survey 60 grade 11 students at Winston Knoll Collegiate.
IV. Selection of a Research Method
We created a simple survey (see Appendix A) that asked students to provide their age, their average and to rate their self-esteem on a scale from one to ten. A rating of 7 or more would indicate high self-esteem. In addition to a numerical rating, we will also include descriptors to
2 3 TITLE accompany each rating so that participants can use those to help choose their rating. We chose to
conduct a survey because it allowed us to quickly obtain information from a large sample of
students and we felt that self-esteem was an easy variable to self-report.
V. Description of the Process Followed
Students from three 20-level classes taking place in first period participated were asked to
participate in a survey. The survey consisted of rating their self-esteem and providing an overall
average mark for their classes. In total there were 82 students who completed the survey,
however some were excluded because they were in Grade 12, leaving 66 participants whose data
was counted. Thirty participants were female and 36 were male. Participants ranged in age
from 15 to 17. After the survey we tallied the responses based on the criteria of whether their
average was above or below 80% and compared the two groups overall self-esteem rating.
VI. Collection of the Data
Collecting the data involved consolidating the survey information on a data collection
sheet (see Appendix B).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total 80% 0 0 4 4 5 8 4 3 2 0 31 or more 80% 0 1 3 4 6 7 9 4 1 0 35 or less
VII. Analysis of the Data
3 4 TITLE Twenty-nine percent of students with averages of 80% or more scored themselves at seven or more on the self-esteem scale. In contrast, 40% of students with averages less than 80% scored themselves at seven or more on the scale. However, on further inspection, there does seem to be a connection between the highest achievers and high self-esteem and the lowest achievers and low self-esteem. Students who had averages above 90% were most likely to have esteem rating above seven and students who averages were less than 60% were most likely to rate their esteem that less than 5.
VIII. Report of the Findings accounting for Reliability and Validity
The study suggests that there is no correlation between high marks and high self esteem in Grade 11students unless the marks are extremely high or extremely low. In fact, more students who had averages less than 80% had higher self-esteem.
Given the results of similar studies, we are unsure whether these results are reliable and looked for other existing research studies of the same topic. For example, one 1988 study of 150 high school students found a correlation between self-esteem and academic achievement
(Thomas-Brantley, 2010). Another study of 100 preuniversity students also found a correlation
(Mohammad, 2010.) We believe that it is important to conduct further testing to determine whether these results are reliable or whether the other studies are more representative of this issue. We do feel that the survey was a valid measure of self-esteem as students were directly asked the question and able to compare themselves with actual descriptive criteria.
IX. Conclusion in Relation to the Hypothesis
Our hypothesis was that students with higher marks would have higher self-esteem.
4 5 TITLE We surveyed 82 students and were able to use the data from 66 students. However, our data went against our hypothesis and showed overall students who have averages less than 80% were more likely to have higher self-esteem. Despite this overall data, it is also important to note that extremely high averages (90% or above) did correlate to high self-esteem and low averages
(60% or less) did correlate to low self-esteem.
This would lead us to believe that self-esteem can be based on marks for some students, but that doing well in school does not mean that one will feel positively about themselves. Other variables such as friendships, family support, and body image must surely play a role.
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References
Mohammad Aryana. (August 23, 2010). Relationship Between Self-esteem and Academic
Achievement Amongst Pre-University Students. Science Alert. Retrieved from
http://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=jas.2010.2474.2477&org=11
Thomas-Brantley, Betty J. (December, 1988). The Relationship between Self-Esteem and
Academic Achievement in a Group of High, Medium, and Low Secondary Public High
School Achievers. Doctoral Thesis, International Graduate School, Missouri. Retrieved
from
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp? _nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED323486&ERICExtSearch_SearchTy pe_0=no&accno=ED323486
POV. (January, 2011). Education: Should failing students be required to repeat a school year?
Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/pointofview/2011/01/education-should-students- be-required-to-repeat-a-school-year-3.html
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I. Appendices (these are placed in order at the back of the your report)
Appendix A: Copy of survey given to participants
Appendix B: Copy of data collection sheet
Appendix C: Full data collected
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