Assessment of single factor structure in SATS-36 categories

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Date

2016

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University of New Brunswick

Abstract

The attitude of students toward statistics has an impact on students’ overall academic performance. For non-science students such as those enrolled in marketing or business, statistics courses are often seen as secondary and/or difficult. The Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics (SATS) instrument has been developed to measure the attitude towards statistics. The instrument consists of a questionnaire divided into several categories. Statistical analysis performed on the obtained data is based on assumptions that should be valid. Using Factor Analysis method on SATS-36 data collection, we investigate to which extent these assumptions, including normality and dimensionality, are validated. We have found that most items have a score that significantly depart from a normal distribution. The results obtained from exploratory factor analysis indicate that the item score variability within each SATS category is sufficiently accounted for when attributing one single factor.

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