Affective, Cognitive, and Behavioral Attitudes towards Research in Peruvian University Students

Abstract

The affective, cognitive, and behavioral attitudes towards research in students of public and private universities in Peru were analyzed according to socio-academic variables. Methodology. 2448 university students from a public university and 4 private universities participated; intentional sampling was used. In addition, the study was descriptive-comparative, quantitative, and non-experimental. An adequately validated measurement instrument was applied to determine students' attitudes. Results. A moderate level was found in attitudes towards research in university students (mean = 77.06, standard deviation = 12.32, median = 77, ranges from 0 to 140) for both affective and cognitive attitudes found at moderate level observing some assessment of favorable attitude, however, in behavioral attitude the average was low, being valued as unfavorable attitude towards the research. It is concluded that university students according to the area of health sciences have better attitudes towards research than students of social sciences and engineering; in addition, students of public universities have better cognitive attitudes than private students, as well as are women who present better clarity in the behavioral and cognitive attitude than male students and are the students of the last cycles of study those who value and present a more extraordinary vocation for research than students of the first cycles.