Evolution of undergraduate tourism students’ attitudes towards Statistics: pre and post evaluation

ABSTRACT Data analysis skills are key competencies which today’s students in higher education must acquire. Among non-cognitive factors hindering the acquisition of these competencies are negative attitudes towards Statistics. This study analyzes attitudes towards Statistics among tourism students enrolled on their first Statistics course, paying special attention to its evolution from the beginning to the end of the course. Positive attitudes are a desirable course result, and its development needs to be assessed. An exploratory factor analysis performed on the SATS-28© items reveals the existence of three main components of students’ attitudes towards Statistics: Anxiety, Affect & Self-confidence, and Value. At the end of the course, only the Anxiety dimension improved its score. Since there is an absolute lack of research on tourism students’ attitudes towards Statistics, it would be advisable to carry out further research, extending the preliminary methodology presented in this research to other courses, universities, and countries.