Traits Influencing Academic Performance

The purpose of the study was to investigate traits that influence academic performance of pupils at grade twelve (12) level from selected secondary schools in Chipata, Petauke, and Sinda districts in Eastern Province of Zambia. The choice of study came out of the curiosity by the researcher over the puzzle and wonderment surrounding what makes some secondary school pupils perform academically better than others do. The research design employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches. These enabled the researcher to explore and describe the phenomena regarding academic performance of pupils. They further provided a broad understanding of the problem by harmonizing data from different perspectives. Thus, data was collected quantitatively and qualitatively, all at once. The use of a case study provided for indepth data collection and the ability to deal with a full variety of evidence sources present in documents (questionnaires), interviews, and observations of the interviewees.