THE CORRELATION BETWEEN ACADEMIC STRAND AND FINANCIAL

LITERACY OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN KORONADAL

NATIONAL COMPREHENSIVE HIGH SCHOOL – SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

A Research Presented

To the Faculty of Senior High School

Koronadal National Comprehensive High School

In Partial Fulfilment of the

Requirements for the Practical Research II

(Quantitative Research)

By:

Carla Andrea O. Peria

Chanel Aira G. Rodriguez

Cyla Alexis Pabustan

Erl A. Opeña

Gilbert Narvas

Florie Aguilar

October 2022
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Filipinos right now are experiencing an increase in the price of goods and

services in our country due to inflation and the depreciation of the Philippine peso

against the US dollar. Students are one of the most affected by this problem, as

face-to-face classes have continued after years of being in distance learning,

where they need to pay for their fare, projects, snacks, and any other expenses.

In fact, based on a survey conducted, only 25% of Filipinos are able to correctly

answer questions about financial literacy, making financial literacy in the

Philippines a concept that is nearly unfamiliar to the majority of our countrymen

(BusinessMirror, 2022). Being financially literate is so important for students in

order to manage their needs, especially in terms of school projects and travel

expenses. Financial literacy is one of the essential indicators of a person's ability.

According to Lusardi, A. (2019), financial literacy does not only focus on

knowledge and financial understanding of its concepts; it is also a skill of a

person to apply that knowledge to make an effective decision.

A study from Sarigül (2014) determine the level of financial literacy of

students based on their characteristics. The study had 1,127 student participants

of which 1,099 were suitable for analysis from three universities in Konya. The
sections' results and the overall survey's findings clearly show that students who

attend business or economics schools are more knowledgeable than those who

attend non-business or non-economics schools. According to the findings,

university students need to increase their understanding of personal finance. If

people are unable to handle their finances, it could become a problem for them

and society as a whole.

Being a student with limited financial resources makes it difficult to

complete projects and cover other expenses. In this situation, being financially

literate can assist you in managing your budget, allowances, and wants while

staying within your limits and preserving money in case of an unexpected

expense. This research aims to look into the academic strand of Koronadal

National High School-Senior High School students and how this variable

influences their level of financial literacy.

Statement of the Problem

The study aims to determine the relationship between the academic

strand and financial literacy of senior high school students in KNCHS – SHS.

Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:

1. What is the level of financial literacy of senior high school

students?

1.1 ABM
 a. savings

b. spending

c. borrowings

d. allowances

1.2 HUMSS

a. savings

b. spending

c. borrowings

d. allowances

1.3 STEM

a. savings

b. spending

c. borrowings

d. allowances

2. Is there a significant correlation in the level of financial literacy

of the respondents?

Research Hypothesis

The null hypothesis of the study is:

There is no significant correlation between the academic strand and the

financial literacy of the senior high school students in KNCHS – SHS.

Significance of the Study

The primary reason for this study is to determine if there is a significant

correlation between the academic strand and financial literacy of senior high

school students in KNCHS – SHS.

The findings of this study are significant to the following:

ABM, HUMSS, and STEM Students. This research will give them information

about the level of their financial literacy. Through this research, they will be

aware if there are some measures that need to be taken, things that need to be

improved, and things that they need to know in order to successfully manage

their finances.

School Administrators. This research will serve as their guide on giving

importance on the financial literacy of senior high school students and to help

them improve it by conducting programs about financial management.

Future Researchers. This study will serve as a guide to the future researches

who have plans on doing advance work on the same topic.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The focus of this study is to conduct an overview of the correlation

between academic strand and financial literacy among senior high school

students. This study, however, is only centred on senior high school students in

KNCHS – SHS, which is a handful to give a true reflection of the correlation

between academic strand and financial literacy. In addition, only students who

enrolled in academic strands (ABM, HUMSS, and STEM) will be the respondents

in this study.

The researchers will randomly pick qualified respondents according to the

abovementioned limitations, and they will also use the quantitative type of

research approach, wherein the researchers will use a number of questions that

can be answered and measured statistically and mathematically. This study will

only focus on (no. of respondents) respondents. The researchers will include 4

specific factors to test the level of financial literacy in the questionnaire: savings,

spending, borrowings, and allowances. This research will take place from (date).

Definition of Terms

For a better understanding of this study, the following terms are defined

operationally:

Academic Strand – it refers to the three strands in senior high school: ABM,

HUMSS, and STEM

Allowances – it refers to the money that is given regularly to a student

Borrowings – it refers to the process of taking a loan from a certain person or an

institution

Correlation – it describes the relationship between two variables

Financial Literacy – refers to the student’s ability to manage their finances

Savings – refers to the money that has been set aside for different purposes

Spending – to use up money for a particular product

 CHAPTER II

Review of Related Literature

This chapter entails a review of related literature and studies that the

researchers considered in order to strengthen the importance of the present

study. It provides an overview with the purpose of completely comprehending the

research and gaining a better understanding of the study. This chapter includes

both international and national studies.

Financial Literacy

On understanding financial literacy, Americans had the capability to

purchase goods and services using cash, via card products that are variously

popular nowadays. According to Fernando (2022), financial literacy is the ability

to understand and effectively use various financial skills, including personal

financial management, budgeting, and investing. However, the usual meaning of

financial literacy is to talk about the relationship between money and a life-long

journey of learning how to manage and deal with money. Learning is the key to

success when it comes to money. The benefits of financial literacy are that it

prevents destructive or damaging people's lives because a wise man knows

her/his place to settle such things. Another benefit of financial literacy is that it

helps people with emergency matters. A lot of people have difficulties with money

for many reasons, such as lack of budget, salary, or no job available. Some of
these reasons might affect people's lives. Therefore, financial literacy can help

them and give insight about managing their own personal money.

Furthermore, financial literacy has become one of the most concerned

issues in the developed countries in recent years especially after the economic

crisis of 2008 since the effects of personal finance are significant to societies.

Prior to the economic crisis of 2008, studies on financial literacy were scarce in

academic journals, but governments of many developed countries however gave

the needed attention to the issue of financial literacy after the crisis. For instance,

there was an advisory committee on personal finance which was put in place to

encourage financial literacy awareness among Americans after the economic

crisis. The idea of personal finance has been described in the literature as the

awareness and use of financial knowledge in our day to day economic activities.

It is therefore the application of financial knowledge and terminologies by

individuals in order to make a rational decision. Many academic researchers in

the field of personal finance have chosen to define the concept as “the ability to

make informed and efficient judgment regarding the use and management of

money” (Schagen & Lines, 1996).

In addition, financial literacy is low even in advanced economies with well-

developed financial markets. On average, about one third of the global

population has familiarity with the basic concepts that underlie everyday financial

decisions (Lusardi and Mitchell, 2011). An essential indicator of people’s ability to

make financial decisions is their level of financial literacy. The Organisation for

Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) aptly defines financial literacy

as not only the knowledge and understanding of financial concepts and risks but

also the skills, motivation, and confidence to apply such knowledge and

understanding in order to make effective decisions across a range of financial

contexts, to improve the financial well-being of individuals and society, and to

enable participation in economic life. Thus, financial literacy refers to both

knowledge and financial behaviour, and this paper will analyse research on both

topics.

Related Studies

Financial literacy of high school students: Evidence from Germany

A study carried out by Erner, Menke, and Oberste (2016) surveyed 1,540

tenth grade students who came from 25 different schools in Germany and tested

their financial literacy levels and related factors. The result shows that high

school students share a general lack of financial knowledge across various

samples. Overall, they discovered that sociodemographic factors have an impact

on literacy scores. Both financial literacy measures show a substantial

relationship between gender and level of integration, with female or less

integrated students showing lower knowledge levels. Furthermore, lower levels of

basic financial literacy are associated with weaker levels of mathematical

proficiency, and lower levels of sophisticated financial literacy are associated with

weaker levels of general cognitive aptitude and foreign language proficiency.

Increasing financial literacy among senior high school non ABM students

through interactive multimedia

Galope, Dimatanday, Villaver, and Llanes (2019) conducted a study on non-ABM

strands with the aim of helping them cope with their difficulty in ABM-related

subjects, specifically, with Business Math, and increase their financial literacy by

integrating interactive multimedia into their lessons. The study revealed that only

22.5% out of 80 students have knowledge regarding stocks, bonds, annuities,

and interests and 58.8% percent of the total sample size are students coming

from STEM, which indicates low financial literacy among non-ABM students.

Moreover, the study shows that the respondents are not knowledgeable enough

about the terms used in ABM-related subjects, and it also shows that the reason

they think they have to take ABM-related subjects is to increase their financial

literacy.

Level of financial literacy of senior high school students from private

schools of Bacolod City

A study about the financial literacy of students as a whole and when

grouped into different variables, involving six private schools in Bacolod City, with

a total respondents of 140 senior high school students. The factors that were

considered in measuring the level of financial literacy of students are their

spending habits, saving habits, and financial knowledge, and the variables where
they will be grouped are according to their sex, grade level, district, and family

monthly income. The result shows that there is no significant difference in the

financial literacy of the respondents when they are grouped according to their

grade level, district, and monthly family income. However, it was found out that

when they are grouped according to sex, female participants have lower saving

habits than male participants. On the other hand, it shows that the level of

financial literacy of the respondents would still be neutral whether they are taken

as a whole or grouped according to different variables (Binobo, Salazar,

Polidario, Somcio, & Sosunton, 2019).

Conceptual Framework

The main focus of this study is the correlation between academic strand

and the level of financial literacy of senior high school students in KNCHS – SHS.

ABM
The Level of Financial
HUMSS Literacy of the Senior
High School Students
STEM

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework of the Study

 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents various approaches that will be utilized to collect

and analyze data for the research. The methodologies include areas such as the

research design, location of the study, participants of the study, data gathering

instrument, data gathering procedure, and sampling technique.

Research Design

The present study followed a quantitative research approach. The

researchers used a correlation approach to conduct research (a non-

experimental type of research design) to determine the correlation between

financial literacy and the academic strand (ABM, STEM, and HUMSS) of

students at KNCHS. The data and information will be gathered through a survey

questionnaire and will be distributed to the selected sample participants of the

study. The survey will be conducted through face-to-face interaction.

Research Locale
The research will be carried out at Koronadal National Comprehensive High

School which is located in the City of Koronadal, Province of South Cotabato,

Philippines.

Figure 1. Map of the Locale of the Study. KNCHS 2022.

KNCHS is the school where the researchers and the participants are

currently studying; therefore, both parties are familiar with it. It was established in

1947 and covered an area of 79,000 square meters then. It now has a population

of approximately 18,000 students, both from junior high school and senior high

school.

Participants of the Study

The participants of the study are going to be senior high school students

that are currently enrolled at Koronadal National Comprehensive High School –

Senior High School. The researchers will select participants based on the
following criteria: senior high school student from KNCHS who are enrolled in

academic strands (ABM, HUMSS, and STEM), and who are willing to participate

and share their time to answer the survey questionnaire. The researchers aim to

obtain a sample size of _ senior high school students. The participants’

availability will also be taken into account when making a selection. To make this

study reliable and accurate, all of these qualifications will be applied in the

participant selection process.

Data Gathering Instrument

In this study, the researchers will collect the necessary data and

information from respondents through a research survey questionnaire. The

research survey questionnaire is divided into two parts. The first part consists of

the demographics of the respondents in terms of their academic strand. The

second part contains a series of questions in the form of a rating scale using

Likert Scale Method. The questions were taken and modified from the study of

(Binobo, Polidario, Salazar, Somcio, and Sosuntong, 2019). However, some

questions were researcher-made. The research instrument adapted is attached

below in figure 1.
 In order to determine the level of financial literacy of the respondents, the

researchers will use mean. The mean would then be interpreted using the figures

shown in table 1.

Table 1. Likert Scale Interpretation

Scale Mean Range Verbal Interpretation
5 4.21 – 5.00 Very High Level
4 3.41 – 4.20 High Level
3 2.61 – 3.40 Medium Level
2 1.81 – 2.60 Low Level
1 1.00 – 1.80 Very Low Level

Appendix A
Content of Survey Questionnaire
Name (Optional):_________________________________

Academic Strand:_________________________________

Direction: Using the scale given below, please put a check () on the column that

corresponds your answer.

1 – Never 4 – Often
2 – Rarely 5 – Always
3 – Sometimes

Savings 1 2 3 4 5
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always
I set aside savings for emergencies.
I set aside 20% of my daily allowance for my savings.
I record my expenses.
I make use of student discounts.
Spending 1 2 3 4 5
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always
I spend less than my allowance.
I compare prices when shopping for purchases.
I spend my money mostly on the things I need.
I prefer eating my meal at our house before going to
school.
I don’t get easily tempted to buy products that are on
sale.
Borrowings 1 2 3 4 5
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always
I make sure that I can afford the payment before
borrowing money.
I examine first the consequences or results of borrowing
money.
Allowances 1 2 3 4 5
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always
I use budgeting apps to help me manage my allowances
I only bring enough cash at school.
I apply the 50-30-20 (50 – needs, 30 – wants, 20 –
savings) rule in managing my allowance.
I organize my expenses into fixed (transportation fee,
snacks, phone bills) and variable (entertainment,
clothing, dining out) categories

Statistical Treatment

The following statistical procedures will be used to analyze and interpret

the data that will be gathered: mean, frequency distribution, and percentage.

Mean. It will be used to determine financial literacy by adding all the scores and

dividing them by the total number of questions. The total score obtained in every

area (savings, spending, borrowing, and allowances) will also be added up and

divided by four (the total number of areas). After the researchers were able to

compute the mean of every respondent, the same process will be used to find

the mean in every academic strand. The score attained will be interpreted by

referring to Table 1, which will determine the financial literacy of respondents in

each academic strand.

∑ xi
Formula: x ¿
n

x – Mean
∑ x i – sum of the terms

n – number of terms

Frequency Distribution. It will be used to determine the frequency count of the

respondents’ academic strand. It will show how often a data occurs in the study.

Percentage. The mean of every academic strand will be converted into a

percentage for easier analysis and graphical presentations.

value
Formula: percentage= ×100
total value

Data Gathering Procedure

First, the researchers will write a letter to ask permission from the

research adviser to conduct the survey. After the permission is granted, the

researchers will proceed to the random selection of participants for the study. In

order to avoid the destruction of class discussion, the researchers will distribute

survey questionnaires during the students' free time. The researchers will then

randomly select __ students per academic strand (ABM, HUMSS, and STEM).

After the selection of participants, the researchers will give them a survey

questionnaire and enough time to answer. The researchers will repeat this

method until the desired sample population is reached.

Permission from research adviser

Selection of sample population
participants

Data gathering through survey

questionnaires

Analysis and interpretation of the

gathered data