Reality television programs in Malaysia : a dream come true?

Reality television programs have changed the media landscape drastically since the turn of the millennium. Owing to its interactive nature, reality television has become a highly marketable advertising vehicle. In view of its rising popularity and potential in marketing, the influence of these programs is of public interest. This study examines what motivates the viewers in Malaysia to watch reality television programs. Using factor analysis, five motivation factors were extracted: suspense; personal identity and social interaction; engaging?entertaining; romance or attractiveness of contestants; sensation seeking. Three MANOVA models were used to explore the relationship between group differences due to gender, age, education background and the composite of the five motivational factors. Significant multivariate effects were found for all the three models considered. Univariate effects were also found for three of the factors, revealing some interesting findings of those who are fascinated by reality television programs in Malaysia

A case study on the difference between students of SPM and O-level backgrounds in studying mathematics in the A-level programme

This study aims to understand the difference in the perceived and actual mathematics performance of the A-Level students from the SPM and O-Level backgrounds. Perceptions and expectations of lecturers are explored using an open-ended questionnaire. A comprehensive survey to understand the students’ attitude, proficiency in the English language and other important predictors of academic achievement is also conducted. Content analysis is used to analyse the lecturers’ feedback. Descriptive statistics, parametric and non-parametric tests are conducted to test differences between the two cohorts