ABSTRACT

Data analysis skills are key competencies which today’s students in higher education must acquire. Among non-cognitive factors hindering the acquisition of these competencies are negative attitudes towards Statistics. This study analyzes attitudes towards Statistics among tourism students enrolled on their first Statistics course, paying special attention to its evolution from the beginning to the end of the course. Positive attitudes are a desirable course result, and its development needs to be assessed. An exploratory factor analysis performed on the SATS-28© items reveals the existence of three main components of students’ attitudes towards Statistics: Anxiety, Affect & Self-confidence, and Value. At the end of the course, only the Anxiety dimension improved its score. Since there is an absolute lack of research on tourism students’ attitudes towards Statistics, it would be advisable to carry out further research, extending the preliminary methodology presented in this research to other courses, universities, and countries.

摘要

数据分析技能是当今的高等教育学生必须获得的关键能力。阻碍获得这些能力的非认知因素包括对统计的消极态度。这项研究分析了第一门统计学课程的旅游学生对统计学的态度，并特别注意了它从课程开始到结束的演变过程。积极的态度是理想的结果，需要对其发展进行评估。对SATS-28©项目进行的探索性因素分析显示，学生对统计的态度存在三个主要成分：焦虑，情感和自信心以及价值。在课程结束时，只有焦虑维度提高了得分。由于绝对缺乏关于旅游学生对统计的态度的研究，因此建议进行进一步的研究，将本研究中介绍的初步方法论扩展到其他课程，大学和国家。