Students Anxiety and Its Causes in Mathematics: A Sequential Explanatory Mixed Method Design

Abstract

From the last few decades, math anxiety has become the major concern of educationists. Students’ academic achievement especially in mathematics has been considered as a crucial factor in determining the future progress of students. But unfortunately, the participation rate of students in mathematics is decreasing day by day. The main objectives of the study were to assess secondary school students’ anxiety in mathematics and to explore the causes of students’ anxiety in mathematics.  A sequential explanatory mixed method research design was used. The data was collected through both quantitative and qualitative methods. A five-point rating scale questionnaire was developed for quantitative data collection. The tool was validated through pilot testing. 100 students participated in pilot testing. Internal consistency of the instrument was assessed by Croanbach’s alpha which was 0.7. The targeted population of the study was both male and female secondary school students from the district Bahawalpur, Punjab.  Out of the whole population, 726 male and female students were approached via multi-stage sampling technique.  After quantitative data collection data was entered in SPSS version 20 and percentage, frequency distribution and mean score was calculated.  Based on the quantitative data results it was observed that secondary school students were numerophobic and had moderately a high level of anxiety in mathematics. On the basis of quantitative results, interviews of secondary school teachers were conducted to explore the causes of students’ anxiety in mathematics. 20 teachers were approached via purposive sampling. The qualitative data revealed that major causes of students’ anxiety in mathematics were lack of practice, lack of previous knowledge, communication gap between student and teacher, and lack of interest in mathematics.