CHAPTER I

BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM

Introduction

The famous Chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates once stated “The first rule of any

technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will

magnify the efficiency.

Focusing on amazing advancements in the past ten years, one will see the largest leaps in

the field of information technology. As Wikipedia defines it, information Technology

(IT) is the branch of engineering that deals with the use of computers and

telecommunications to store retrieve and transmit information. It further simplifies this

definition by stating “anything that renders data, information or perceived knowledge in

any visual format whatsoever, via any multimedia distribution mechanism, is considered

part of the IT domain.”

Amazing though the advancements in the IT field are, it is rather baffling to note that

most of the advancements in the field were made in the business sector – barely a few

applications of the field have been seen in other sectors – most especially in the academe.

One would think that since it is in institutions such as schools, colleges and universities

that one first learns and appreciates the benefits of information exchange—the most

advancement in the IT field would be seen in these very same institutions. However, this

is not the case.

One particular discipline in the academe where IT may be most beneficial is in guidance

and counseling. The following reasons support this assumption:

the extremely high ratio of students vis-à-vis guidance counselors in an

institution,

the operational budget given this discipline compared to more established ones

such as sciences.

The low percentage of students having had interaction with guidance and

counseling during their stay in a school or college.

One basic function of this sector is assessing the needs of the student population in terms

of family, finances, etc. In this process, each first year student is required to undertake a

Needs Assessment Test. After accomplishing this test, the guidance and counseling

department will then be equipped with the information of what the student needs most –

on both individual and general population levels. With this information, they now can

draft a plan of action on how to address the said needs.

However completing this basic function presents more than some inherent hurdles. The

current system of manually correcting and recording the test results, not only invites the

presence of (human) errors , it is also very slow and time consuming. Most importantly,

this current system is a big waste of resources- from the guidance councilor’s time

preparing for the testing until the correcting and recording the results (time which may

be better used in counseling ),the institution’s storage space and even the use of actual

paper for the exam. The researcher of the study decided to develop a Java Program

includes all processes in completing the needs assessment of a student, including

checking of and recording answers. Furthermore, the system is LAN based to make the

testing more accessible to the students.

Statement of the Problem

This study entitled “Freshmen Needs Assessment- A Java Program assessment

system” seeks to find solutions to the following problems:

1. What system can be developed that efficiently provides test results for student’s

needs assessment?

2. What are the ways to design a system that automatically produces evaluation

reports about the needs of an individual student?

3. What system can be designed so that it can handle the results of an assessment

questionnaire effectively?

4. In what ways can a propose system be evaluated in terms of

a. accessibility;

b. functionality;

c. correctness (of report generation); and

d. result reliability?

Objectives of the Study

General Objective:

The objective of the study is to develop a system entitled “Freshmen Needs

Assessment- A Java Program assessment System”.

Specific objectives:

1. To develop a system that provides results for a Needs assessment questionnaire.

2. To design a system that automatically produces reports about the specific needs of

an individual student; as well as a general overview of the needs of the whole

freshmen class.

3. To develop a system that can effectively handle the results of a needs assessment

questionnaire.

4. To develop a system that is accessible, functional, correct and reliable for the

user.

Significance of the Study

The proposed system entitled ““Freshmen Needs Assessment- A Java Program

assessment System”. Is beneficial to the following:

Examiners: They benefit from the system because it makes collation of information

(from test results) easier. They will also benefit from the accuracy of the reports

generated; with these reports they can easily map out their action plan to address the

specific needs of an individual student or the general needs of the freshman class.

Students (Taking the NAQ): They benefit from the easy access to the needs assessment

questionnaire provided by the system. They will also benefit in the fast collation of

results the system can accomplish, their needs can then be met and addressed quickly.

Researcher: This system will have helped the researcher in developing and honing their

skills in designing and creating a functional system. The success of this system will be a

solid jump off point to launch his programming career.

Future Researchers: This study may serve as a reference for their own studies.

Scope and Limitation

This system is specifically designed for the freshman students of Lipa City

Colleges. Before answering the needs assessment questionnaire (NAQ), the examinee

will have to register by providing background information such as name, address, school

last attended, entrance exam result, NCAE, Admission Status, Course, Major,

Sex ,Parent’s Occupational Status, Annual Family Income, Living with, Who supports

your studies, username and password. After providing the required information, the

student gets access to the NAQ.

The NAQ is based on the actual questionnaire used by LCC and provided by Mr.

Aldwin Jose a psychologist. The system has the capability to produce the examination

result right after the examinee completes it.

The NAQ is a standard test used to assess a respondent’s current disposition on 4

aspects of his life: His self-worth, his family, his peers and his school. The questionnaire

has 4 sections, each section having 10 statements each. These Statements are general

and simple (no degree of comparison). The respondent is then asked to rate the statement

from 1 to 5 as to how much it applies to himself.

The questionnaire is designed so that the respondent is not able to readily grasp

what the tool is assessing specifically. Even the sections do not highlight any of the

aspects being assessed.

The administrator page is where maintenance of the NAQ can be done. It is where

the administrator can add or delete questions and categories. This is also where the

individual scores are viewed and inspected. A search function for individual students is

also integrated in this page.

The proposed system does not handle other types of examinations, such as

psychological and intelligence quotient tests.

The system will developed using Java Program and MySQL.

Definition of terms

Needs Assessments – Systematic process to acquire an accurate, thorough picture

of the strengths and weaknesses of a school community that can be used in

response to the academic needs of all students for improving student achievement

and meeting challenging academic standards. Process that collects and examines

information about schoolwide issues and then utilizes that data to determine

priority goals, to develop a plan, and to allocate funds and resources. Students,

parents, teachers, administrators, and other community members should be

included in gathering data. (Retrieved from:

http://www.dpi.state.nd.us/grants/needs.pdf)

Java – is a programming language developed by Sun Microsystems. It implements

a strong security model, which prevents compiled Java programs from illicitly

accessing resources on the system where they execute or on the network.

Popular World-Wide Web browsers, as well as some World-Wide Web servers

and other systems implement Java interpreters. These are used to display

interactive user interfaces, and to script behaviour on these systems.

While implementation problems have opened security vulnerabilities in some

Java interpreters (Java Virtual Machines or JVM's), the design of this language

makes it at least theoretically possible to execute program with reasonable

assurances about its Security, and in particular its ability to cause harm.

(Retrieved from: http://hitachi-id.com/concepts/java.html).

LAN – A local area network supplies networking capability to a group of

computers in close proximity to each other such as in an office building, a school,

or a home. A LAN is useful for sharing resources like files, printers, games or

other applications. A LAN in turn often connects to other LANs, and to the

Internet or other WAN.

(Retrieved from:http://compnetworking.about.com/cs.html)

World Wide Web – is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via

the Internet. With a Web browser, a user views Web pages that may contain text,

images, videos, and other multimedia and navigates between them using

hyperlinks (Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web).

Local Studies

Part of the problem as formulated was based on the attestations and findings outlined in

the study conducted by Josefina Santamaria and AG Watts entitled Public Policies

and Career Development: A Framework for the Design of Career Information,

Guidance and Counseling Services in Developing and Transition Countries.

COUNTRY REPORT ON PHILIPPINES

The study states that there is a need for legislature for Guidance and Counselling to

prosper in the Philippines. It also showcases the need for more support from institutions,

not only in term of finances but support in terms of expanding its role in the academe.

Some of the more intriguing statements included in this study comes in their assessment

of Guidance and Counselling in the Tertiary level (College level).

CHED (Commission on Higher Education) does not have policies, procedures and

guidelines for these services. The office of Student Services of CHED has two divisions:

Student Grants and Scholarships; and Student Auxiliary Services. It is in the latter that

guidance and counseling should fall. However, guidance and counseling is not listed

among the 16 student auxiliary services, the delivery methods and efficiency of which the

Office evaluates.

An HEI (Higher Education institution) has a guidance and counseling service if the

school administration believes that there is a need for it. If the guidance counselor hired

or appointed to provide such service appreciates and has had training in career guidance,

then there may be services beyond the usual Career Orientation Week provided for the

graduating senior students in the last two months of their final academic year. A budget

for guidance and counseling is provided from the overall student services budget. The

nature and quality of the career guidance services depend greatly on the guidance

counselor – his/her training in career guidance, and his/her creativity, resourcefulness,

assertiveness and initiative; and on the moral

and financial support provided by the school administrator.

Just as at the secondary level,…. , guidance and counseling services in HEIs span two

extremes: at one extreme are the majority, which provide only the minimum services in

the form of the Career Orientation Week; while at the other extreme are a few HEIs with

more comprehensive and better organized career guidance services offered to the

graduating senior students before they graduate.

Although this thesis does not purport to be the panacea for all the ills of guidance

counseling in the Philippines, it aims in part to assist the guidance counselors in their

tasks. One of its objectives is to make it easier for the guidance counselors to do their

tasks of testing and classifying students in order to achieve proper guidance and

counseling.

Further along the same study it is stated that “There are no research data to show the

number of students who have received guidance (educational and career) and counseling

(psychological and career) in the secondary schools and HIEs, whether public or private.”

This program , with continuous use and expansion, aims to provide a database of

information – including those specifically mentioned by the study. Although this program

is mainly formulated for the use of this college, further refinement will make it feasible

for use of all other colleges. And as more and more colleges use the program, a bigger,

more expansive databaseof information may be developed.

Synthesis

After studying all the related studies, the proponents learn more about

psychological studies and Guidance Counseling. The study is similar to the

aforementioned studies in a sense that it identifies and knows the behavior of certain

people even their mental capabilities.

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design

This study utilized the experimental method. The study aimed at designing and

developing a new system which then would be tested and evaluated to check its reliability

and accuracy.

Research Instrument

The main data gathering tool in the study is the Needs Assessment Questionnaire

(NAQ). The NAQ used for data gathering was also used as the basis for the actual

questionnaire programmed in the system. The researcher conducted multiple interviews

with Mr. Aldwin Jose, a psychologist and licensed guidance counselor, of Lipa City

Colleges helped and guided the researcher throughout the process of developing the

system. He gave invaluable inputs in how to formulate the exam questions, explaning

why the NAQ is needed and how its results can be used.

Reliability of the system was tested in order to see if it met all performance

requirement. Further retesting was likewise conducted whenever a new feature was

added.

Respondent of the Study

The respondent of this study are all first year student they are required to undertake a

Needs Assessment Test. After accomplishing this test, the guidance and counseling

department will then be equipped with the information of what the student needs most –

on both individual and general population levels. With this information, they now can

draft a plan of action on how to address the said needs

Sampling Technique

To determine the number of respondents, Slovin’s formula was used, which is

computed as follows:

n = __N__

1+Ne2

Where:n = total number of respondents

N = population size

e = margin of error

Then, the group found the convenience sampling as the most appropriate

sampling technique. A convenience sample is a group of individuals who conveniently

are available in the study (Fraenkel et.al, 1993).

Data gathering procedures

As stated previously, the Needs Assessment Questionnaire was the main tool used

for data gathering in this study, Interviews were only used as secondary tool for

gathering data.

The NAQ consists of 5 groups of 10 statements each. The statements used in the

NAQ are all general in nature. The examinee is asked to rank the statement from1-5 as to

the degree that the statement applies to himself. In order to protect the integrity of the

results, this study” “Freshmen Needs Assessment: | An software assessment tool”, used

the very same set of questions that was in the standard NAQ provided by Mr. Aldwin

Jose. Interviews -- in the form of face to face conversations with resource people where

questions were asked and answered-- helped in getting the requirements from the end

users. Technical at operational feasibility

Feasibility Study

Economic Feasibility

The projected benefits of the program far outweighs the estimated costs involved

in acquiring, installing and operating the program. The only substantial cost projected for

the study is in acquiring patents for of the program design.

Technical Feasibility

The proposed system was technically feasible. The technical requirements of at

least 10 individual desktop computers all connected via Local Area Network to a main

server where the software program “Freshmen Needs Assessment” had been installed,

was simulated. All 10 desktop units were able to access the system from their own

individual terminals and complete the questionnaire

Operational Feasibility

The system was operationally feasible. In the simulation conducted, the results

was reported by the system within required time. Report generated was accurate within

the 100ths decimal places. On the post-examination interview conducted, examinees

found the program simple and easy to use. It was described as user-friendly and efficient.

Statistical Treatment of Data

This study utilized the descriptive statistics in analyzing the gathered data such as

the percentage and measure of central tendency. Descriptive statistics summarizes data

collected for a sample population.

1. Percentage – This is a numerical analysis to describe or compare magnitudes (Vega,

2004).

2. Measure of central tendency – The most familiar of central tendency is the arithmetic

mean or average. To find the mean, add the raw scores and divide the total by the number

of scores. The mean is the balance point or center of gravity of the distribution. All the

scores above the mean are just as far away from it as all the scores below the mean

(Vega, 2004).

Formula: Mean = sum of all the scores in the distribution

Total number of scores in the distribution