Students Profile Based on Attitude towards Statistics

Instructors in statistics courses usually face huge challenges in dealing with students with lack of interest. These students show signs of negative attitude such as feel tired to follow the course, incapable to appreciate the benefits of statistics, unable to focus in class, tend to interfere during class progress and absent. Student's attitude towards a course is important because it affects the entire learning process. A positive attitude enables students to develop statistical thinking skills, to apply knowledge acquired in everyday life, and to have an enjoyable experience throughout the course. In connection with the matter above, what is the distinguished feature of students having a positive attitude towards statistics compare to that of having negative attitude? Are these categories of students offer a different demographic profile? The two questions are answered in this paper by using data obtained from an online survey using attitude towards statistics instrument. There are six components in the assessment of students’ attitude, i.e. affect, cognitive ability, value, difficulty, interest and effort. Data were obtained from a sample of 180 students in a statistics course at Faculty of Information Science and Technology (FTSM) Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. In addition to the six-components, student demographic factors are also tested to determine a profile. The results show that attitude components differentiate students into three groups: positive, neutral, and negative attitude towards statistics. However, the analysis reveals that demographic factors do not contribute to the profile of these students. Results from this study will be useful to help lecturers to identify their students and to modify teaching and learning (T&L) methods in statistics course to be more effective and applicable to all students.