ASSESSING SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' STATISTICAL REASONING, ATTITUDES TOWARDS STATISTICS, AND STATISTICS ANXIETY

Abstract

Assessment on statistical reasoning is an area of academic interest in statistics education research in tandem with attitudes and anxiety towards statistics, since many studies report students are likely to encounter problems with statistics due to these two non-cognitive factors. In this study, 320 Tenth Grade science stream students from Sabah, Malaysia were tested using the Statistical Reasoning Test Survey (SRTS), the Survey of Attitudes towards Statistics (SATS), and the Statistical Anxiety Scale (SAS), which assessed their statistical reasoning, attitude, and anxiety, respectively. Generally, the findings revealed the students held i) a quantitative level in statistical reasoning, ii) a positive attitude towards statistics, and iii) a moderate level of statistics anxiety. A positive relationship between attitudes towards statistics and statistical reasoning, and a negative relationship between statistics anxiety and statistical reasoning were also observed. The Value, Interest, and Interpretation Anxiety components were predictor variables for statistical reasoning.