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Internal consistency and structure of the statistics anxiety rating scale: A multivariate analysis among undergraduate students of SUST, Sylhet

Corresponding Author : Mohammad Romel Bhuia (romel_stat@yahoo.com)

Authors : Farha Nusrat Zahan

Keywords : Education, Statistics Anxiety, STARS, Internal Consistency, Mental Health

Abstract :

The need for basic statistics knowledge in undergraduate level is increasing day by day. However, many students find it difficult to figure out statistical concepts and have become one of the greatest challenges among students at all levels of study. Few studies related to statistics anxiety have been done in the regions other than English-speaking populations. No study has yet been done to examine the internal consistency and structure of Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale (STARS) in Bangladesh. This study aimed to examine the internal consistency and structure of the STARS at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), Sylhet, Bangladesh. Data were collected from the undergraduate students who enrolled Statistics as a non-major course from January 2019 to June 2019 of SUST using the modified version of STARS questionnaire. The STARS was identified as a reliable tool for measuring the level of statistics anxiety in Bangladesh. Cronbach's alpha was computed for measuring internal consistency and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was applied to find out the structure of STARS. The Cronbach’s alpha for the 51 items of STARS was 0.88, suggesting high internal consistency. Six factors labelled as ‘Estimation of the worth of Statistics’, ‘Test and class anxiety’, ‘Fear of Statistics teacher’, ‘Interpretation anxiety’, ‘Computational self-concept’ and ‘Fear of asking help’ respectively were extracted by the CFA method. The estimates of reliabilities of six factors ranging from 0.70 to 0.86, were found to be satisfactory. Findings of the present study would be helpful for the students, teachers, even policymakers to design the student-friendly curriculum.

Published on June 30th, 2020 in Volume 30, Issue 1, Physical Sciences