An investigation into undergraduate students’ attitude towards statistics: A case of a university in Ghana

Abstract

Students’ mastery in statistics is of great importance since it serves as a tool for conducting a good research in every academic sphere. This study investigated undergraduates’ attitude towards the study of statistics and its possible implication on their academic achievement in this subject with particular reference to determining plausible differences between male and female students. A purposive sample size of two hundred and sixty (260) students drawn from 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 academic year was used. This sample did not include students who read mathematic as a major programme in the University.  A self-structured multidimensional questionnaire with four components which had internal consistencies ranging from 0.69 to 0.74 was used as the data collection instrument. Data obtained were analyzed using linear regression model and MANOVA. Analysis of the result revealed that students’ attitude has a significant effect on their learning outcome. Also, significant differences were observed between male and female on a linear combination of their attitude towards statistics and achievement. Further analyses showed only gender differences in attitude towards statistics but not in achievement. The implications of the findings for classroom practice were discussed.