Research Design on influence of selected factors on help-seeking behavior among
public secondary school students
This study used ex-post facto-causal comparative research design. It was appropriate
because the researcher used it to compare two groups and determine the relationship
between variables and the nature of prevailing circumstances without manipulating and
after manifestations had already occurred. This design was appropriate because there
were no manipulations done on the variables and also it was studying situations which
had already happened in Nyeri and Nairobi Counties. In the current study, the researcher
tried to compare students‟ attitudes toward psychological help, locus of control and
gender on student help-seeking behaviour among students in Nyeri and Nairobi Counties.
The design further helped the researcher to compare the influence of perceived severity
of the students‟ problems on their help-seeking behaviour in the two Counties under the
study.
Location of the Study
The study was conducted in Nyeri and Nairobi Counties and the two Counties were
purposively sampled to represent rural and urban areas respectively. Nairobi County is
the capital and largest city of Kenya, occupies 696 square kilometres, its altitude is 1,795
metres (5,889 ft) above sea level and is Located between Machakos, Kiambu and Kajiado
Counties. Nairobi is an urban region whose main economic activity is business related
occupations. The county is a cosmopolitan town and therefore the inhabitants are
composed of almost all the local Kenyan tribes. On the other hand, Nyeri County is
mainly a rural region which is located in the central highlands of the country and is
situated between longitudes 36038‟ East and 37020‟ East and between the equator and
latitude 00 380 south. It borders Laikipia, Kirinyaga, Murang‟a, Nyandarua and Meru
Counties. It covers an area of 3,337.1 square kilometres according to the 2009 Kenya
Population and Housing Census. The main economic activity in Nyeri County is farming
due to the favourable climate in most regions within the county. The main type of
farming is mixed farming where there are cash crops, food crops and animals rearing, all
in one farm. However other economic activities such as businesses also thrive in the
towns within the county. The two Counties were chosen because the secondary school
students in the two regions have been noted to be involved in many incidences in relation
to indiscipline and hence there was a need to find out information on the students help-
seeking behaviour.
Population of the Study
In this case, the target population comprised of all the 61,324 students and all the
teacher-counsellors in 140 public secondary schools in Nyeri and Nairobi Counties,
while the accessible population comprised all the 30,112 students in Form 3 and Form 4
public secondary schools. The Form 3 and 4 students were preferred as they had been in
secondary school for an adequate period of time to have understood the guidance and
counselling programme activities.
Table1
Distribution of Types of Public Secondary Schools and Students’ Population in
Nairobi and Nyeri Counties
County
School
No. of No. of No. of
Total no. of
Type
Schools
Boys
Girls
Students
Nairobi Boys
28 15815 15815
Girls 18 9336 9336
Mixed
26 3320 7011 10331
Subtotal 72 19135 16347 35482
Nyeri Boys
17 8121 8121
Girls 20 8515 8515
Mixed
31 5124 4100 9224
Subtotal 68 13245 12615 25860
Total
140 32380 28962 61342
(Sources: Nairobi and Nyeri County Educational Offices, 2012)
3.5 Sampling Procedures and Sample Size
The study used Krejcie and Morgan (1970) table of determining sample size from a
given population. For a population of 61,342 according to the appendix C a sample
size of 382 was derived. The appendix gives the minimum sample and therefore the
researcher adjusted the sample size upwards slightly to 400 to cater for non-return.
Twenty public secondary schools were used in the study because according to Borg and
Gall (1999), at least 10% is used in a survey, which gives 14 schools and the researcher
purposively adjusted it to 20. Stratified random sampling was used in getting the three
strata of schools; girls‟ schools, boys‟ schools and mixed schools and also placing
students in two categories; boys and girls. Eleven public secondary schools were
sampled in Nairobi County, which included 3 girls‟ schools, 4 boys‟ schools and 4
mixed schools while 9 public secondary schools were sampled from Nyeri County
which composed of 3 girls‟ schools, 2 boys‟ schools and 4 mixed schools to make a
total of 20 schools. Thereafter 20 students in each school were selected using systematic
random sampling 10 from each form that is form 3 and form
4. In cases of mixed schools 5 boys and 5 girls were selected obtain 10 students for each
form. Two teacher counsellors in each of the sampled school were selected using
purposive sampling to make a sample of 40. The two teacher counsellors in each
sampled school with more experience in school counselling were used in the study
because they had a higher chance of having been involved in guiding and counselling
students and in better position to give better responses to the questionnaire.
Table 2
Distribution of the Schools, Students and Teacher Counsellors Samples
County
School type
Schools Students
Teacher
Counsellors
Nairobi Boys
4 80 8
Girls 3 60 6
Mixed
4 80 8
Subtotal 11 220 22
Nyeri Boys
2 40 4
Girls 3 60 6
Mixed
4 80 18
Subtotal 9 180 18
Total
20 400 40
Instrumentation
The instruments used in collecting data were two sets of questionnaires one for students
and the other for teacher counsellors. The instruments helped the researcher in getting
information on students‟ attitudes toward psychological help, locus of control, severity of
the students‟ problem, demographic characteristics of the students, demographic
characteristics of the help providers, counselling physical facilities, time and support.
Some parts of the students‟ questionnaire were the adaptations of the Attitudes Towards
Seeking Psychological Help Scale (ATSPHS) by (Fischer and Farina, 1995) and the
Internal-External Locus of Control Scale by (Rotter 1966), which are standardised scales
for measuring attitudes towards seeking counselling help and locus of control
respectively. The other parts of students‟ questionnaire and the teacher counsellor
questionnaire were designed by the researcher. The part of the students‟ questionnaire
relating to students‟ problems and students‟ frequency of seeking counselling help had
response format in a frequency-related 4-point likert scale (always=1 sometimes=2,
rarely=3, never=4) and ATSPHS a 5-point likert scale (strongly agree=1, agree=2,
undecided=3, disagree=4, strongly agree=5). In the case of the Internal-External Locus of
control scale by Rotter (1966) there were two choices (a and b) with each representing
and internal or external locus of control.
Validity
The researcher went through the instruments to ensure that they contained all the required
information as per the study objectives. The researcher then ascertained the content
validity by subjecting the instruments to the researcher‟s supervisors who are experts in
the Psychology, Counselling and Educational Foundations department of Egerton
University. All the necessary adjustments were adopted in the final questionnaires.
Reliability
The questionnaires were pilot tested in 4 secondary schools, 2 in Nyeri County and 2 in
Nairobi County which were not be among the schools used in the actual data collection.
Twenty students, 10 in Form III and 10 Form IV were used in each school making a total
of 80 students in the sample and 2 teacher counsellors in each school to make a total of 8.
The pilot study helped in removing ambiguity and achieving the required precision of the
questionnaires and also assisted the researcher in testing the reliability of the instruments.
According to Fraenkel and Wallen (2000), reliability is the degree to which an instrument
provides scores consistent with what the instrument measures. Cronbach‟s Coefficient
Alpha was computed and the Internal-External Locus of Control Scale had a reliability
coefficient of 0.7842, that of Attitudes Towards Seeking Psychological Help was 0.7421
while that for the parts of instruments in students‟ questionnaire prepared by the
researcher was 0.7805. The teacher counsellors‟ questionnaire had a reliability
coefficient of 0.7106. According to Mugenda and Mugenda, (2003), a reliability
coefficient of 0.7 or above reflects adequate reliability of the instruments.
Data Collection Procedures
The researcher sought permission from Graduate School of Egerton University, The
National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI), and finally
the principals of the secondary schools that were used in the study. When the permission
was granted, the researcher visited the selected schools and informed the principals about
the purpose of the study and booked appointments for data collection. The researcher
personally delivered and administered some of the instruments while others were
delivered by a research assistant to the schools.
Data Analysis
Data collected was processed and coded. It was then analysed using descriptive and
inferential statistics with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS)
version 17.0. The researcher used means, frequencies distributions, percentages and
standard deviations in obtaining data relating to, severity of the students‟ problems and
qualifications of the counsellors in Nairobi and Nyeri Counties. The t-test was used to
test the hypotheses one, two, and three, while chi-square for hypothesis four and
Pearson‟s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient for hypothesis five. This helped the
researcher in determining whether to reject or accept the null hypotheses at a 0.05 level of
significance.
