Construction and Standardization of Academic-Corruption- Sensitivity-Test Instrument on Secondary School Students in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

The purpose of the study was to construct and standardize an instrument called Academic Corruption Sensitivity Test (ACST) for measuring academic corruption among students in secondary schools in Bayelsa State. The study used instrumentation research design. The investigation was conducted in Bayelsa State. A population of 10,170 senior secondar class three (SSIII) students during the 2023/2024 academic session were studied in the 126 senior secondary school in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. A sample of 500 SS III students were drawn, in 23 schools out of 126 secondary schools, through cluster and simple random sampling techniques. The items were selected through item scale value difference (ISVD). The ISVD of the 60-item ACST ranges from .09-2.37, items that had relatively high ISVD were selected to form the final version of the ACST which consisted of 30 items. Validation was done through face, content and construct validity methods. The instrument was reliable having a reliability coefficient of .89, which was determined through Cronbach alpha reliability method. Thus, the instrument was valid and reliable. Based on the ISVD ranges the final form of the 30-itemed ACST was formed. The study, therefore, concludes that ACST can be said to be a standardized test for eliciting academic corrupt behaviours among students in secondary schools in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Thus, the researcher recommends that the Academic Corruption Sensitivity Test should be used by classroom teachers, guidance counselors and other test focal persons to measure corrupt acts among students. This would help identify honest and dishonest students. Keywords: Construction, standardization, academic, corruption, sensitivity and test.