Questionnaire of Attitudes Toward Statistics (QATS): evidence of validity and reliability of scores in a sample of education students

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. Attitudes may be defined as a set of inferred predispositions that guide the personal actions. The study of the attitudes towards statistic is relevant by its effects in the teaching-learning process and in the academic/professional performance of the students. About 17 different instruments to test this construct were found, but there is few consensus regarding its factor structure, requiring greater depth. For that reason, the main goal of the present work is to propose a new test that combines items of SATS (Schau, Stevens, Dauphinee y Del Vecchio, 1995) and EAE (Auzmendi, 1992) tests and to analyses the psychometric properties of the test scores. METHOD. The tests SATS and EAE were applied to a sample of 836 university students. First, a detailed exploration of the dimensionality was made taking into account the 53 items that compose both scales using Confirmatory-Factor-Analysis (CFA), the found structure was different to the expected, for that reason, a new test (QATS), composed by 24-items and 3-dimensions, was proposed. In a second phase, the proposed factor structure was confirmed by Confirmatory-Factor-Analysis (CFA) using the robust-maximum-likelihood method and the asymptotic covariance matrix. Following the modification indices, it intends a test of 16-items with three-dimensional structure and excellent fit to the second order model. The third phase includes the reliability analysis. RESULTS. The results confirm the three-dimensional structure (positive emotions, negative emotions and usefulness), with a second order factor (attitude) in which they are subsumed. The model has an excellent fit (χ²=123.20; 101df; p=.066, RMSEA=.024; CFI=NNFI=1; SRMR=.045) and all the loadings are significant. The reliability of scores of all the scales is greater than those of the original tests. DISCUSSION. This study has allowed clarify the factor structure of the construct by means of the construction of the QATS, an instrument simple and quick with adequate psychometric properties and a solid factor structure.