Content Validity and Reliability Indices of National Examination Council Mathematics for Basic Examination in Adamawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the content validity and reliability indexes of national examination council certificate mathematics for basic certificate examination in Adamawa State, Nigeria. To achieve the purpose of the study, two null hypotheses were formulated to direct the study. Literature review was done according to the variables under study. Evaluation research design was adopted for the study. A sample of 556 JSS III students was randomly selected from 12 Local Government Areas of the state. Two research instruments were used for the data collection. The instruments were Basic Education Mathematics Achievement Tests (BEMAT) for the year 2018, 2019 and 2020 and a content validity checklist. Descriptive statistics was used to present the research questions. The null hypotheses were tested using analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) and Kruskal-Wallis H test. The result of the analysis revealed that, NECO Mathematics BECE question has moderate content validity and reliability. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that examination bodies such as NECO should not include items with low validity and reliability indexes. Experts in educational measurement and evaluation should carry out the rigorous process of item analysis by determining item validity and item reliability indexes and merely not by hand, picking of items from past questions.