STEM AND ABM STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC EXPENSES

HOLY ANGEL UNIVERSITY

Tend to Spend:
A Comparative Study on the Academic Expenses
of Grade 11 STEM and ABM Students

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

Statistics and Probability

Baoas, Shannen Braezcelle L.

Dela Rosa, Tisha Mae
Isip, Marvin Xylo Bryce L.
Piansay, Rowan Joshua S.
Salunga, Rizzi Anne M.
Ysais, Carlos Jose B.

Mr. Bren Albert M. Sotto

Statistics and Probability Instructor

March 2018
STEM AND ABM STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC EXPENSES
HOLY ANGEL UNIVERSITY

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The topic is all about the academic expenses of Grade 11 students from
Holy Angel University (HAU) when it comes to schoolwork especially performance
tasks (PETAs). The target population of this study is composed of Grade 11
students from the Accountancy, Business, and Management (ABM) strand and
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) strand. The study
will examine if there is a significant difference between the academic expenses of
grade 11 ABM students and grade 11 STEM students, which is caused by the
natures of their strand’s subjects as hypothesized by the researchers.
First, we must define expense to have a similar idea. According to Oxford
English Dictionary, expense is “the cost incurred in or required for something,”
where in our study’s case, expense is the cost required to be paid by students, to
photocopy written works, to obtain school supplies (such as pens and activity
sheets, and to complete PETAs - all in all these are called academic expenses).
But what makes up the expenses students need to pay for PETAs? Materials such
as paper (e.g. art paper, manila paper, bond paper, etc.), ink (especially printing
ink), paint, cloths, and adhesives (such as glue) are the first things to come to
mind. Materials for theses such as plants, solvents (like ethanol), filter paper, lab
materials (such as gloves and test tubes), and even animals (to be used for tests)
need to be considered for their higher costs. Moreover, even transportation and
food fees that rise up for group meetings can be included; even if they are minor
matters, when calculated, the fees stack up.
The researchers chose this topic as their study to show the average
expenses Grade 11 ABM and STEM students need to pay for school materials,
printing and photocopying services, and for accomplishing PETAs which according
to Felix and Rustia (2017) are requirements in all subjects and serve as major
outputs of the student yielding about 50% of the student’s grade. The researchers
also chose to compare the two strands, ABM and STEM, when it comes to
academic expenses to show the differences of the nature of the subjects they hold.
STEM AND ABM STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC EXPENSES
HOLY ANGEL UNIVERSITY

The researchers hypothesized that ABM students spend more than STEM
students when it comes to PETAs because their PETAs are focused on financial
management and accounting (Edukasyon, n.d.).
The results of this study will benefit the senior high school (SHS) community
of HAU by showing the average academic expenses spent by grade 11 ABM and
STEM students, as answered by such students, which can be used as basis by
upcoming grade 11 students to know how much they will spend for their academic
expenses.
HAU can conduct a study with a larger sample size to get more accurate
results so that they can provide students and parents the estimated cost students
need to have for PETAs, school materials, and printing and photocopying services
which some colleges are required to give annually in the form of COA (cost of
attendance) which is the combined cost of transportation, food, and other personal
and academic expenses (La Rocque, 2016). The results of this study can also
motivate the higher-ups of HAU to conduct a school-wide survey asking students
if they want to impose a budget limit when it comes to PETAs which will help
students manage money (because they need to stay within the budget) and stop
PETAs from becoming a burden financially. If the results show that there is a
significant difference between the academic expenses of grade 11 ABM and STEM
students, the budget policy can help close the gap which will help the current ABM
students financially. It will also force HAU to provide students the estimated cost
of completing their PETAs, which is different for each strand, beforehand to make
them aware and prepared. If the results show that there is no significant difference
between the academic expenses of grade 11 ABM and STEM students, then it is
shown that HAU was able to make the PETAs of both strands to cost the same
despite the differences of the nature of their subjects.
STEM AND ABM STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC EXPENSES
HOLY ANGEL UNIVERSITY

SAMPLING SCHEME

The researchers made use of convenience sampling technique wherein 26

students were surveyed from the Accountancy, Business and Management
Strand; and 26 students from Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
strand. The students were selected according to their availability and consent to
disclose their weekly academic expenses. The selected samples will accurately
represent the characteristics of their respective strand since performance tasks,
works, academic requirements and materials are all similar among the shared
course.
Upon determining the target population and research topic, which was a
comparative study between the academic expenses of ABM and STEM strands,
researchers made a record chart - one for ABM strand, and another for STEM
strand, to which respondents filled-in their name, section, and average weekly
academic expenses, affixed with their signature. The researchers roamed at Saint
Joseph Hall building during lunch break to survey available ABM and STEM
students.
As the needed data on the record chart was completely filled-up, the
researchers computed and tested the results in accordance with the 6-step
independent samples t-test.
STEM AND ABM STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC EXPENSES
HOLY ANGEL UNIVERSITY

PROBLEM

Senior High School students occupying the rooms in Saint Joseph Hall of
Holy Angel University are bombarded with performance tasks. Among these
students are Grade 11 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
(STEM) and Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM) students who
frequently rant about their academic expenses every week. The team took
respondents from the students and their average academic expenses weekly, in
pesos, are shown in the following table.

STEM students ABM students

200 75 220 300
200 320 200 300
150 200 250 500
250 200 100 300
20 200 100 500
75 200 120 500
100 150 500 500
100 200 100 500
100 350 100 750
150 200 250 750
100 150 300 200
100 100 300 200
100 100 300 250

Do the data provide sufficient evidence to arrive at a conclusion that there

is no significant difference between the average weekly academic expenses of
STEM and ABM students at 5% level of significance?
STEM AND ABM STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC EXPENSES
HOLY ANGEL UNIVERSITY

SOLUTION

Step 1: Null and Alternative Hypotheses

Null Hypothesis (Ho):
There is no significant difference between the average weekly academic
expenses of STEM and ABM students.

Alternative Hypothesis (Ha):

There is a significant difference between the average weekly academic
expenses of STEM and ABM students.

Step 2: Level of Significance

The level of significance stated is 5%, therefore:
α = 0.05

Step 3: Critical Values

Before determining the critical values, the data table should be complete first:

Getting the sample mean:

∑ 𝑥𝑖
𝑥̅1 =
𝑛
200 + 200 + 150 + 250 + 20 + 75 + 100 + 100 + 100 + 150 + 100 + 100 +
100 + 75 + 320 + 200 + 200 + 200 + 200 + 150 + 200 + 350 + 200 + 150 +
𝑥̅1 = 100 + 100
26
𝑥̅1 = 157.31

∑ 𝑥𝑖
𝑥̅2 =
𝑛
STEM AND ABM STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC EXPENSES
HOLY ANGEL UNIVERSITY

220 + 200 + 250 + 100 + 100 + 120 + 500 + 100 + 100 + 250 + 300 +
300 + 300 + 300 + 300 + 500 + 300 + 500 + 500 + 500 + 500 + 750 +
𝑥̅2 = 750 + 200 + 200 + 250
26
𝑥̅2 = 322.69

Getting the sample standard deviation:

∑𝑛 (𝑥𝑖 − 𝑥̅1 )2
𝑆1 = √ 𝑖=1
𝑛−1

(200 − 157.31)2 + (200 − 157.31)2 + (150 − 157.31)2 + (250 − 157.31)2 +

(20 − 157.31)2 + (75 − 157.31)2 + (100 − 157.31)2 + (100 − 157.31)2 +
(100 − 157.31)2 + (150 − 157.31)2 + (100 − 157.31)2 + (100 − 157.31)2 +
(100 − 157.31)2 + (75 − 157.31)2 + (320 − 157.31)2 + (200 − 157.31)2 +
(200 − 157.31)2 + (200 − 157.31)2 + (200 − 157.31)2 + (150 − 157.31)2 +
(200 − 157.31)2 + (350 − 157.31)2 + (200 − 157.31)2 + (150 − 157.31)2 +
(100 − 157.31)2 + (100 − 157.31)2
𝑆1 =
√ 26 − 1
𝑆1 = 76.33

∑𝑛𝑖=1(𝑥𝑖 − 𝑥̅2 )2
𝑆2 = √
𝑛−1

(220 − 322.69)2 + (200 − 322.69)2 + (250 − 322.69)2 + (100 − 322.69)2 +

(100 − 322.69)2 + (120 − 322.69)2 + (500 − 322.69)2 + (100 − 322.69)2 +
(100 − 322.69)2 + (250 − 322.69)2 + (300 − 322.69)2 + (300 − 322.69)2 +
(300 − 322.69)2 + (300 − 322.69)2 + (300 − 322.69)2 + (500 − 322.69)2 +
(300 − 322.69)2 + (500 − 322.69)2 + (500 − 322.69)2 + (500 − 322.69)2 +
(500 − 322.69)2 + (750 − 322.69)2 + (750 − 322.69)2 + (200 − 322.69)2 +
(200 − 322.69)2 + (250 − 322.69)2
𝑆2 =
√ 26 − 1

𝑆2 = 186.32
STEM AND ABM STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC EXPENSES
HOLY ANGEL UNIVERSITY

Updated given:
x̄1 = 157.31 x̄2 = 322.69
n1 = 26 n2 = 26
S1 = 76.33 S2 = 186.32
df1 = 25 df2 = 25

Computing the degree of freedom:

𝑑𝑓 = 𝑑𝑓1 + 𝑑𝑓2
𝑑𝑓 = 25 + 25
𝑑𝑓 = 50

Dividing the level of significance to be used:

0.05
α=
2
α = 0.025

Locating t0.025,50:
ta = ±2.0086
Therefore, the critical values are ±2.0086.

Step 4: Test Statistic

Given:
x̄1 = 157.31 x̄2 = 322.69
n1 = 26 n2 = 26
S1 = 76.33 S2 = 186.32
df1 = 25 df2 = 25
STEM AND ABM STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC EXPENSES
HOLY ANGEL UNIVERSITY

Computing the pooled variance:

(𝑑𝑓1 )(𝑆1 )2 + (𝑑𝑓2 )(𝑆2 )2
𝑆𝑝2 =
𝑑𝑓1 + 𝑑𝑓2
(25)(76.33)2 + (25)(186.32)2
𝑆𝑝2 =
25 + 25
𝑆𝑝2 = 20270.70565

Computing the test statistic:

𝑥̅1 − 𝑥̅2
𝑡=
𝑆𝑝2 𝑆𝑝2
√
𝑛1 + 𝑛2

157.31 − 322.69
𝑡=
√20270.70565 + 20270.70565
26 26

𝑡 = −4.1881

The test statistic, therefore, is -4.1881.

Step 5: Decision

Since the test statistic (t = -4.1881) is less than with one of the critical
values (ta = -2.0086), we, therefore, reject the null hypothesis.

Step 6: Interpretation

Thus, we can say that at 5% level of significance, there is enough evidence

to reject the claim that there is no significant difference between the average
weekly academic expenses of STEM and ABM students.
STEM AND ABM STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC EXPENSES
HOLY ANGEL UNIVERSITY

It is safe to say that there is, from the respondents themselves, a significant
difference between the average weekly academic expenses of STEM and ABM
students.
STEM AND ABM STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC EXPENSES
HOLY ANGEL UNIVERSITY

REFERENCES

Edukasyon (n.d.). Accountancy, and business and management strand.

Retrieved on 16 March 2018. Retrieved from
https://www.edukasyon.ph/courses/senior-high-tracks/academic/abm-
accountancy-business-and-management-strand

Felix, M. & Rustia, J. (2017, May 2). On DLSU students’ expenses on theses and
projects. The LaSallian. Retrieved on 16 March 2017. Retrieved from
http://thelasallian.com/2017/05/02/on-dlsu-students-expenses-on-theses-
and-projects/

La Rocque, M. (2016, May 24). Federal cost data for students living at home are
significantly understated. The Institute for College Access & Success.
Retrieved on 16 March 2018. Retrieved from https://ticas.org/blog/federal-
cost-data-students-living-home-are-significantly-understated
STEM AND ABM STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC EXPENSES
HOLY ANGEL UNIVERSITY

DOCUMENTATION

The team started to gather data from STEM and ABM students on the 14 th
of March 2018. As convenience sampling was the sampling technique used, the
team’s first instinct was to gather data from friends and acquaintances who fall
under the requirements of being respondents for the study; the team also took into
account the availability and the consent to disclose their weekly academic
expenses. The team was able to finish the gathering of data within two days.