The Evaluation and Comparison of General Self-Efficacy in Attending and Non-attending Students of Kerman Province

Self-Efficacy is an individual's judgment about his/her abilities and assurance about having personal capabilities. People, who are highly efficient, perceive higher goals for themselves, have more desirable behavior, and are more successful in different fields such as education, etc. Moreover, with recent advances in information technology in the 21st century, accessibility to quality learning for all individuals has become inevitable and it is necessary to use more modern educational approaches. In this descriptive-analytic study, data was collected using Schwartz's general self-efficacy questionnaire. The statistical population of our study consisted of all students in the field of educational sciences who were in their final semester at Shahid Bahonar University (attending university, n=29) and all students in the field of educational sciences who were in their final semester at Payam-e-Noor University (non-attending university, n=29), Kerman, Iran. The statistical sample was equal to the statistical population. Data were analyzed using SPSS software, version 12. Frequency, percentage, mean, t test, and Pearson's correlation coefficient were used as appropriated. There was no significant difference in the general self-efficacy of the attending and non-attending students (P=0.174). The mean diploma grades of the attending students were higher than the non-attending students (P<0.001). The mean BA scores of the attending students were higher than that of the non-attending students (P<0.001). There was a correlation between the mean BA scores and general self-efficacy of the students attending university (P=0.009, r = 0.546). There was no correlation between the mean BA scores and general self-efficacy of the non-attending students (P=0.933, r = 0.019). Although there was no significant relationship between the self-efficacy scores of attending and non-attending students, open and distant education can be helpful because of other advantages such as compensating the lack of educational spaces, reducing costs, creating equal opportunities, and alignment with global developments.