Student's Attitude towards Statistics Course

Statistics is a structural method to solve a problem and frequently used in various fields including information and communication technology (ICT). The importance of the subject leads to making the subject compulsory to be offered to students in Higher Education Institutes in Malaysia. Majority of students find the subjects difficult due to non-cognitive factors like attitude, perception, interest, expectation and motivation. Cognitive factors also play significant roles in contributing to the capability of the students excelling the subject. Both factors could interrupt the learning process involved and hinder the students from using statistics daily. A survey using Survey of the Attitudes Towards Statistics (SATS) was employed to observe student's 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. Nonetheless, the students showed a highly positive attitude in making necessary efforts to understand the subject better. Findings from this study will be used as a guidance in producing an effective and innovative teaching and learning method to bring interest towards the subject. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Kongres Pengajaran & Pembelajaran UKM, 2010