1

CHAPTER I
Background of the Study

Research (Shaukat, et.al, 2014) plays a significant role in our daily life, as it

becomes one of the most important intellectual possession (Oguan et.al, 2014) for a

person for him to be able to manage change on his way of life in accordance to the needs

and demands of the society. As Swindoll (2012) define it as a process of accumulating

and scrutinizing information in order to perpetuate knowledge of a phenomenon under a

study. Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) believes that the contribution towards the understanding

of the phenomenon and delivering it to others is the aim of research as it gives rewarding

learning experiences for students, producing graduates of high personal and professional

achievement (cited by Gallos, 2017).

In today’s professional environment, statistics is increasingly important, playing a

vital role in many fields (e.g., medicine, economics, engineering, natural and social

sciences) where statistical techniques are highly valued (Wackerly, Mendenhall, &

Scheaffer, 2007). Acquiring statistical skills and knowledge poses significant challenges

for many students; a statistics course is challenging because it is abstract and requires

logical reasoning, critical thinking, and the skills of interpretation and drawing conclusions

(Peters et al.). Because of these challenges, many students perceive statistics as difficult

and uninteresting (Sotos, VanHoof, Van den Noortgate, & Onghena, 2007).
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It is obvious that society can’t be run effectively on the basis of hunches or trial

and error, and that in business and economics much depends on the correct analysis of

numerical information. Decisions based on data will provide better results than those

based on intuition or gut feelings. What applies to this wider world applies to undertaking

research into the wider world. And learning to use statistics in your studies will have a

wider benefit than helping you towards a qualification. Once you have mastered the

language and some of the techniques in order to make sense of your investigation, you

will have supplied yourself with a knowledge and understanding that will enable you to

cope with the information you will encounter in your everyday life (McGraw-Taylor Harris,

2007). This means that statistics and research goes together. Each one of them holds a

big role on one another in order for our community to strive and develop the qualities of

a developed country. The major purposes of statistics are to help us understand and

describe phenomena in our world and to help us draw reliable conclusions about those

phenomena (Harshana, 2014).

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Review of Related Literature

i. Student’s Attitude towards Statistics Course

In a study by Noraidah Sahari, Hairulliza Mohamad Judi, Hazura Mohamed,

Tengku Meriam, and Tengku Wook on “Student’s Attitude Towards Statistics Course,”

they employed Survey of the Attitudes Towards Statistics (SATS), to observe students’

attitude towards a statistics course. There are six factors contributing to the attitude which

are affective factor, cognitive capability, value, difficulty, interest and student’s effort. This

study was conducted on first year students in FTSM according to the mentioned six

factors. This study has also investigated the relationship between the six factors to the

demographical variable of the students.

The results show that students have displayed a positive attitude towards some

components studied as listed below. Positive attitude towards statistics was mostly

exhibited for items in the effort component, followed by interest and difficulty. All items in

effort component were given a positive response, which shows that the students really

have worked hard in learning the course. Students were found to show a positive attitude

towards non-cognitive factors related to the course. Although they find that this subject is

difficult, they have put great effort to master the concept of statistics.

Negative attitude regarding statistics was mostly demonstrated in items under the

affective and value components. As the affective component assesses the student’s

feeling towards the subject, the results have shown that the students feel quite
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intimidated, afraid and stressed in solving problems concerning statistics and in

undergoing course. Value, on the other hand, assesses the significance of learning

statistics course for the students. Students were found to be quite uncertain about the

usage, relevance and advantages of statistics as well as their future professional life.

The results show that the students have given great effort and are prepared to

learn statistics course. However, they feel that this course is not relevant for their field of

study, as well as for their future career, thus demonstrated some negative attitude

towards the subject (Ashaari, N. S., Judi, H. M., Mohamed, H., Tengku and Wook, M.T.,

2011).

In a study conducted by Carita Hommik and Piret Luik in 2017 about “Survey of

Attitudes Towards Statistics” for Estonian secondary school students where SATS-36

was employed, they find out that Estonian secondary school students have rather positive

attitudes towards statistics. The real-life value of statistics is clearer to upper secondary

level students than to lower secondary level students. Gender differences are also more

present on the upper level than the lower level, where male students had higher mean

values (C. Hommik & P. Luik, 2017).

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ii. Students’ Attitude Towards Research

Nowadays, research (Hussain et.al, 2016) has turned into one of the most

significant rational assets for all human being to transform his way of life. Man’s huge rise

depends upon research which made an important function in itself. In the Philippines, the

demands for research in education was addressed through immersing pioneers of senior

high school programs since school year 2016 until now. The Department of Education

(2013) included two (2) applied subjects for grades 11 and 12. Practical Research 1

(Qualitative Research) and Practical Research 2 (Quantitative Research) are included in

the K-12 Curriculum of all the tracks offered. The subjects aim to develop critical thinking

and problem-solving skills through systematics inquiry or research (cited by Gallos, 2017).

The important factors of resisting research in our daily life. The fear of learning,

making change and being criticized are the possible factors that hold us back in doing a

research. The fear of learning posits reflection on the things we don’t want to hear or see,

research reveals everything. The fear of change triggers the resistance for research since

it focus on solving problems and make an abrupt change on it. Research requires action

on what is concluded and recommended. Lastly, the fear of being criticized, the risk of

hearing feedbacks on what is done. Researchers often afraid to hear negative comments

about the results which sometimes lead them to negativity of pursuing another study

(GKS, 2015 and Taylor, 2017).

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As the research demands rises, most students have to come up with a research

article fixing issues or theme related to their concern. However, Papanastasiou (2005)

revealed on her study that undergraduate level tend to view introductory research courses

negatively. Students’ attitude (Miandashti and Rezaei, 2013) directly influences how they

mentally approach research including all the work related to research. Positivism enables

students to solve problems quickly in which negative attitude hampers the efforts in

research. Early (2014), concluded from fifty-one articles he reviewed, indicated students

enrolled in introductory research courses exhibit the following characteristics: Fail to see

the relevance of research to one’s life; Anxious or nervous about the course difficulty;

Uninterested and poorly motivated to learn; Poor attitudes in approaching the course; and

Misconceptions about the course. Early’s study presented the pessimistic side of students

wherein they have negative thoughts about research.

Siemens, Punnen, Wong, & Kanji (2010) conducted a study on the medical

students to explore their attitudes towards the research and found that though the majority

of the students felt that the research would be beneficial in their career, fewer than half of

the students were significantly involved in any research activity during their medical

school. Students who realize the need of spending more time on research activities are

even fewer. About one fourth of the student reported no interest in any such activity.

Sabzwari, Kauserand Khuwaja, (2009) conducted a study on junior faculty in the medical

profession in Pakistan and found that though the majority of them perceive research a

difficult endeavor but they have positive attitude towards the research.
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Butt and Shams (2013) observed negative attitude towards the research among

prospective teachers. However, Butt and Shams (2013) found that students enrolled in

selfsupport evening programs have significantly better attitude towards the research than

those enrolled in morning programs. The reason might be that evening students come to

this field with more enthusiasm. Similarly, the prospective students with premedical

background were found to have significantly better attitude towards the research than

those who have arts and computer science as their previously studied subjects at higher

secondary level. The reason according to Butt and Shams (2013) might be that

experimentation during their previous pre-medical study might have developed a positive

attitude towards the research among prospective teachers.

From the literature gathered, it really implies that attitude towards research greatly

affects on how people deal with research. Whether a person undergone a good or bad

experience with research, it indicates when he or she will still engage in research and his

or her attitude towards it will neither be optimistic or pessimistic. The ideas discussed can

help the researcher in suggesting ways of overcoming negative attitudes towards

research. It could also be possible that the result of this study be a great help to research

teachers, especially in senior high school to consider their students attitude towards

research and be able to address them properly. Likewise, the researcher is looking

forward for a better and positive result of the study.

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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Figure 1 presents the framework of the study. It seeks to find the relationship

between the students’ attitudes towards research (dependent variable) and students’

attitudes towards statistics (independent variable). The data were taken from 4th year

BSED Mathematics Major Students of Leyte Normal University, through employing both

standardized tests of Attitude Towards Statistics and Attitude Towards Research.

Students’ Attitudes
Towards Research

Students’ Attitudes
Towards Statistics

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework

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Statement of the Problem

The study aims to determine if there is a relationship between the “Students’

Attitudes Towards Statistics” and “Students’ Attitudes Towards Research” of 56 4 th year

BSED Mathematics Students from Leyte Normal University.

Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:

1. What is the attitude of 4th year BSED Mathematics students towards statistics?

2. What is the attitude of 4th year BSED Mathematics students towards research?

3. Is there a significant relationship between the “Students’ Attitudes Towards

Statistics” and “Students’ Attitudes Towards Research?”

Moreover, the following alternative and null hypothesis were formulated:

𝐻𝑎 : There is a significant relationship between the “Students’ Attitudes Towards Statistics”

and “Students’ Attitudes Towards Research.”

𝐻𝑜 : There is no significant relationship between the “Students’ Attitudes Towards

Statistics” and “Students’ Attitudes Towards Research.”

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Chapter II
METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the variables, the respondents, the statistical tool and the

instrument used in this study will be discussed.

Variables

The following are the variables used in the study:

1. Students’ Attitude Towards Statistics

This is opinion or general feeling of the students about Statistics.

2. Students’ Attitudes Towards Research

This is opinion or general feeling of the students about Statistics.

Respondents

The respondents of this study are the 4th year Bachelor of Secondary Education

major in Mathematics students of Leyte Normal University, Tacloban City of the School-

Year 2018-2019. Each respondent answer the two instruments (Students’ Attitude

towards Research Questionnaire and Students’ Attitude towards Statistics

Questionnaire). A total of 46 students participated in this study.

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Statistical Tool

This study used the Correlation Research Design to determine the extent to which

the variables of this study are related, not to the extent to which one variable causes or

changes in another variable. Moreover, this study utilized the Spearman Rank-Order

Correlation. The Spearman's rank-order correlation is the nonparametric version of the

Pearson product-moment correlation. Spearman's correlation coefficient, (ρ, also

signified by 𝑟𝑠 ) measures the strength and direction of association between two ranked

variables.

Before the researchers decided to use the Spearman Rank-Order Correlation, the

researchers first test the data if it can satisfy the assumptions in using Pearson product-

moment correlation.

The researchers have tested the gathered data for normality using the

Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test results are summarized by the

table below.

Table 1. Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test of Students’ Attitudes towards Statistics and

Students’ Attitude towards Research
Std. Asymp. Sig.
Mean Distribution
Deviation (2-tailed)
Students’ Attitude towards
153.22 19.11 .694 Normal
Statistics
Students’ Attitude towards
134.17 17.78 .805 Normal
Research

The researchers also tested the data for linearity but unfortunately, the data has

many outliers and does not conform to a linearly related sample. So the researchers opt

to use the nonparametric counterpart Pearson’s r which is the Spearman rho.

 12

Figure 2. Scatter Plot of Students’ Attitude towards Statistics and Students’ Attitude
towards Research.

Instruments

This study made use of two statistical tools — Students’ Attitude towards Statistics

Questionnaire and Students’ Attitude towards Research Questionnaire. Both instruments

are standardized; therefore, both are valid and reliable. The Students’ Attitude towards

Statistics Questionnaire and the Students’ Attitude towards Research Questionnaire are

composed of 32 items and 30 items, respectively. Both instruments used 7-point Likert
 13

Scale to express the degree of agreement and disagreement to each statement in every

item.

1 – Strongly Disagree

2 – Disagree

3 – Slightly Disagree

4 – Neutral

5 – Slightly Agree

6 – Agree

7 – Strongly Agree

Students’ Attitude Towards Statistics Questionnaire

Item
Statement 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
No.
1 Statistics makes me anxious.
2 Statistics should be taught to all students.
3 I enjoy statistics.
4 Statistics is interesting.
5 I like Statistics.
I feel insecure concerning the statistical analysis of
6
the research data.
7 Statistics scares me.
8 Statistics is useful for my career.
I find it difficult to understand the concepts of
9
Statistics.
10 I make mistakes in Statistics.
11 I have trouble with Statistics.
12 I love Statistics.
13 I am interested in Statistics.
14 Statistics is connected to my field of study.
15 Most students benefit from Statistics.
 14

16 Statistics is stressful.
17 Statistics is very valuable.
18 Statistics makes me nervous.
19 I use Statistics in my daily life.
The skills I have acquired in Statistics will be helpful
20
to me in the future.
21 Statistics is useful to every professional.
22 Knowledge from Statistics is as useful as writing.
23 Statistics is irrelevant to my life.
Statistics should be indispensable in my professional
24
training.
25 Statistics is complicated.
26 Statistics thinking does not apply to my personal life.
27 I will employ Statistics approaches in my profession.
28 Statistics is difficult.
I am inclined to study the details of statistics
29
procedures carefully.
30 Statistics is pleasant.
Statistics-oriented thinking plays an important role in
31
my daily life.
32 Statistics is a complex subject.

Students’ Attitude Towards Research Questionnaire

Item
Statement 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
No.
1 Research makes me anxious.
2 Research should be taught to all students.
3 I enjoy Research.
4 Research is interesting.
5 I like Research.
6 Research scares me.
7 Research is useful to my career.
I find it difficult to understand the concepts of
8
Research.
9 I make many mistakes in research.
10 I love research.
11 I am interested in research.
12 Research is connected to my field of study.
13 Most students benefit from Research.
14 Research is stressful.
 15

15 Research is very valuable.

16 Research makes me nervous.
17 I use research in my daily life.
The skills I have acquired in Research will be helpful
18
to me in the future.
19 Research is useful to every professional.
20 Knowledge from Research is as useful as writing.
21 Research is irrelevant to my life.
Research should be indispensable in my professional
22
training.
23 Research is complicated.
24 Research thinking does not apply to my personal life.
25 I will employ research approaches in my profession.
26 Research is difficult.
I am inclined to study the details of research
27
procedures carefully.
28 Research is pleasant.
Research-oriented thinking plays an important role in
29
my daily life.
30 Research is a complex subject.
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Chapter III
PRESENTATION, DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS

In this chapter, the results and findings of the gathered data, and the conclusion
of the researcher are discussed.

Results and Findings

Table 2. Levels of Students’ Attitude

Percent of Score Qualitative Description

0-20 Highly Negative
21-40 Moderately Negative
41-60 Neutral
61-80 Moderately Positive
81-100 Highly Positive

Table 2 shows the level of Students’ Attitude both of Statistics and Research. If a

student got 0%-21% of score out of the perfect score, he/she has a Highly Negative

Attitude, 21% - 40% of score indicates that the student has Moderately Negative Attitude,

41% - 60% of score indicates that the student has Neutral Attitude, 61% - 80% of score

indicates that the student has Moderately Positive Attitude, and 81% - 100% of score

indicates that the student has a Highly Positive Attitude.

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Table 3. Distribution of Students’ Attitude towards Statistics

% of Score Frequency Percent Description

0-20 0 0 Highly Negative
21-40 0 0 Moderately Negative
41-60 7 15.2 Neutral
61-80 35 76.1 Moderately Positive
81-100 4 8.7 Highly Positive
Total 46 100

Table 3 shows the Distribution of Students’ Attitude towards Statistics. No students

has Highly Negative and Moderately Negative Attitudes toward Statistics. Seven (7) or

15.2% have a Neutral Attitude towards Statistics, Thirty-Five (35) or 76.1% have

Moderately Positive Attitude towards Statistics and four (4) or 8.7% have Highly Positive

Attitude towards Statistics.

Table 4. Distribution of Students’ Attitude towards Research

% of Score Frequency Percent Description

0-20 0 0 Highly Negative
21-40 0 0 Moderately Negative
41-60 16 34.8 Neutral
61-80 29 63.0 Moderately Positive
81-100 1 2.2 Highly Positive
Total 46 100
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Table 4 shows the Distribution of Students’ Attitude towards Research. No

students has Highly Negative and Moderately Negative Attitudes towards Research,

sixteen (16) or 34.8% have Neutral Attitude towards Research, twenty-nine (29) or 63.0%

have Moderately Positive Attitude towards Research, and only one (1) or 2.2% has a

Highly Positive Attitude towards Research.

Table 5. Spearman Rank-Order Correlation of Students’ Attitude towards Statistics and

Students’ Attitude towards Research

Correlation
N Sig. (2-tailed)
Coefficient
Students’ Attitude towards
Statistics
46 .503 .000
Students’ Attitude towards
Research

Table 5 shows the Spearman Rank-Order Correlation of Students’ Attitude towards

Statistics and Students’ Attitude towards Research. Based on the SPSS output, the

researchers obtained the following information:

1. Spearman Rank-Order Correlation Coefficient of Students’ Attitude towards

Statistics and Students’ Attitude towards Research is .503. The Correlation

Coefficient is greater than 0 but less than 1 (0< 0.503 < 1). This means that there

is a positive correlation between Students’ Attitude towards Statistics and

Students’ Attitude towards Research.

2. The associate p-value (2-tailed) is .000, which is less than 𝛼= .025. Moreover, the

null hypothesis should be rejected and accept the alternative hypothesis.

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Discussion

The overall aim of this study was to determine the attitude of the students towards

statistics, their attitude towards research, and for the researchers to find out if there is a

significant relationship between the students’ attitude towards statistics and attitude

towards research. Aligned to the said aim, firstly, the researchers obtained the students’

attitude whether highly positive, moderately positive, neutral, moderately negative, or

highly negative towards statistics and research. Only then can the researchers find if there

is a significant relationship between the students’ attitude towards statistics and attitude

towards research.

The researchers utilized the level of students’ attitude towards statistics and

research to successfully identify whether the students highly positive, moderately positive,

neutral, moderately negative, or highly negative attitude towards statistics and research.

The level of attitude can only be identified if the percentage of the students’ attitude is

obtained. Below is a table of the level of students’ attitude with the corresponding

percentage:

Table 2: Levels of Students’ Attitude

Percent of Score Qualitative Description

0-20 Highly Negative
21-40 Moderately Negative
41-60 Neutral
61-80 Moderately Positive
81-100 Highly Positive
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Table 3: Distribution of Students’ Attitude towards Statistics

% of Score Frequency Percent Description

0-20 0 0 Highly Negative
21-40 0 0 Moderately Negative
41-60 7 15.2 Neutral
61-80 35 76.1 Moderately Positive
81-100 4 8.7 Highly Positive
Total 46 100

Table 4: Distribution of Students’ Attitude towards Research

% of Score Frequency Percent Description

0-20 0 0 Highly Negative
21-40 0 0 Moderately Negative
41-60 16 34.8 Neutral
61-80 29 63.0 Moderately Positive
81-100 1 2.2 Highly Positive
Total 46 100

Based on the given tables 3 and 4 above, it is revealed that the 4th year BSED

Mathematics Major Students have neutral, moderately positive, and highly positive

attitudes both towards statistics and research. Although, negative attitudes towards

statistics and research still exist as they go through their research which is in relation to

the appropriate utilization and application of statistics. Given that research requires
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sufficient statistical knowledge, and statistical knowledge requires thorough

understanding of the concepts.

Since some students attained positive attitudes and some attained neutral

attitudes, then no students have attained negative attitude towards statistics and

research. This is evident for Mathematics Major Students because they took up statistics

course and have gained statistical knowledge, and they were also able to conduct few

researches and apply their statistical knowledge. The implication of this is that

Mathematics Major Students are likely to be engrossed with research because of having

scientific thinking. Everything in Mathematics deals with problem solving and research is

one way to do it.

CONCLUSION

Since the p-value is equal to .000 which is less than 0.025, this implies that we

must reject the null hypothesis. Based on the findings, the study concluded that there is

a significant relationship between students’ attitude towards statistics and students’

attitude towards research. Statistics is a bridge to fill the gap in research, and that there

is a need for students to gain sufficient and deep statistical knowledge in order to produce

an accurate and reliable research. Research must not be a burden but a problem-solving

strategy for Mathematics Major Students which could help them to prepare a more

challenging research work. Establishing the positivity and life-relation of research to

Mathematics Major Students aids them to appreciate learning of research. In order for
 22

the knowledge on statistics and research to flourish, teachers and students must

collaborate in this important matter.

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REFERENCES

Bryan M. Gallos (2017). Senior High School Students’ Attitudes towards Research, Holy
Child Catholic School, Inc., 1-5.

Butt, I. H. & Shams, J. A. (2013). Master in Education Student Attitudes towards

Research: A comparison between two public sector universities in Punjab, South Asian
Studies 28 (1), 97-105.

Department of Education. (2013). Senior High School-Applied Track Subject-Practical

Research 1. Retrieved from: http://www.deped.gov.ph/ sites/ default/ files/ SHS%20
Applied_ Research% 201%20CG.pdf

Department of Education. (2013). Senior High School-Applied Track Subject-Practical

Research 2. Retrieved from: http://www.deped.gov.ph/ sites/ default/ files/ SHS% 20
Applied_ Research %202%20CG.pdf.

Early, M. A. (2014). A synthesis of the literature on research methods education.

Teaching in Higher Education, 19(3), 242-253.

GKS. (2015). Fears of knowing – why we resist doing research. Retrieved from http://
www. gksconsulting.com/fear-of-knowing-why-we-resist-doing-research/

Miandshti, N., & Rezaei, M. (2013). The relationship between research self-efficacy,
research anxiety and attitude toward research: A study of agricultural graduate students.
Journal of Educational and Instructional Studies in the World, 3(4), 69-76.

Papanastasiou, E. C.(2005). Factor structure of the “attitudes toward research” scale,

Statistics Education Research Journal, 4(1), 16-26. Available at
http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/serj
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Sabzwari, S., Kauser, S &Khuwaja, A. K. (2009).Experiences, attitudes and barriers

towards research amongst junior faculty of Pakistani medical universities,BMC Medical
Education, 9 (68), available at http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/9/68

Siemens, D. R., Punnen, S., Wong, J., & Kanji, N. (2010).A survey on the attitudes
towards research in medical school.BMC Medical Education, 10 (4), available at
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/10/4.

Shaukat, S., et.al. (2014). Postgraduate students’ attitude towards research. Bulletin of
Education and Research, 36(1), 111-122.

Taylor, I. (2017). Fears that are holding you back from doing research. Retrieved from
https:// www.questionpro.com/blog/fears-that-are-holding-you-back-from-doing-
research/