The interest in science among Malaysian: A comparative study between gender, age group and ethnics

Abstract

This paper reports a study which was conducted to know the interest in science among the Malaysian. Altogether 642 respondents from all over the country participated in the study. The respondents, male and female from different ethnics were randomly obtained. They were given booklets of questionnaire containing statements related to the issues of science. The statements were provided with responses in the form of Likert style scale ranging from 1. Strongly disagree, 2. Disagree, 3. Not sure, 4. Agree and 5. Strongly agree. The booklets were collected and the responses were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to obtain the means and percentages of the responses. The findings show that 68.3% of the respondents claimed that they have interest in science, although the interest in science is not strong, no difference of interest in science is found between male and female respondents as well as between the ethnics. However there is significant different of means between age groups.