Skip to main content

Advertisement
Hide
Search

Home

Contact Us

Log in

Buy options
Quality and Quantity
August 2006, Volume 40, Issue 4, pp 661674

Factors Related to the Academic

Performance of Students in the Statistics
Course in Psychology
Authors
Authors and affiliations
Joan GurdiaEmail author
Montserrat Freixa
Maribel Per
Jaume Turbany
Antonio Cosculluela
Maite Barrios
Xavier Rif

o

o

o
1. 1.
Research Note
DOI: 10.1007/s11135-005-2072-7
Cite this article as:
Gurdia, J., Freixa, M., Per, M. et al. Qual Quant (2006) 40: 661.
doi:10.1007/s11135-005-2072-7
6Citations

300Downloads

Abstract
Many studies have examined the factors that influence academic performance in
primary and secondary education as well as at university, with the purpose of
enhancing learning at these stages and reducing drop-out rates. It is within this
research framework that we want to emphasise the deficient performance of students
enrolled on the statistics course in the Faculty of Psychology at the University of
Barcelona. Consequently, this paper attempts to determine the factors that affect
student performance in this subject by undertaking an analysis of a structural equation
model and determining its stability over time. In order to accomplish our objective, we
worked with two samples of students enrolled statistics classes. The first group
comprised 211 students enrolled in the academic year 20002001, while the second
comprised 287 students enrolled in the academic year 20012002. By administering a
questionnaire, we obtained information concerning such variables as demographic
data, previous academic record, information related to the subject and the degree of
satisfaction with it, and the final mark obtained by the students in the subject. The
parameters for each group of students were estimated separately and the goodness of
fit of the proposed structural model was assessed. The data analysis showed a good fit
with both data bases, but the set of estimated parameters differed in the two academic
years under consideration.
 Keywords
academic performance statistics structural models
References
1. Alvarado, J. M., & Garca, M. V. (1999/2000). Incidencia de la asistencia a clase, del
trabajo efectivo y de factores individuales sobre el rendimiento acadmico. In: A. M.
Lpez, J. L. Lpez & R. Moreno (eds.) Proceedings of the V congreso de Metodologa
de las C.C. Humanas y Sociales, 2326 September 1997, Sevilla, pp. 683686.

2. Barrios, M., Cosculluela, A., Freixa, M., Gurdia, J., Per, M. & Turbany, J. (2000). La
transicin entre el bachillerato y la asignatura de estadstica en la facultad de Psicologa
de la Universidad de Barcelona. In: C. Loureiro, F. Oliveira & L. Brunheira
(eds.), Proceedings of the Encontro sobre Ensino e Aprendizagem da Estadstica, 3 4
February 2000, Lisboa, pp. 93102.

3. Boyle, C. R. (1999). A problem-based learning approach to teaching

biostatistics. Journal of Statistics Education, 7(1).

4. Castejn, J.L., Navas, L., Sampascual, G. 1996Un modelo estructural del rendimiento
acadmico en matemticas en la educacin secundariaRevista de Psicologa General y
Aplicada492743Google Scholar

5. Gabinet dOrientaci Universitria (2000a). Gabinet dOrientaci Universitria.

Colecci dOrientaci Universitria 1. Barcelona: Edicions Universitat de Barcelona.

6. Gabinet dOrientaci Universitria (2000b). Actes del Congrs dOrientaci

Universitria. Colecci Gabinet dOrientaci Universitria 3. Barcelona: Edicions
Universitat de Barcelona.

7. Gal, I. & Ginsburg, L. (1994). The role of beliefs and attitudes in learning statistics:
towards an assessment framework. Journal of Statistics Education 2(2).

8. Garca, L., Fumero, A. 1998Personalidad y rendimiento acadmico en estudiantes

universitarios: un estudio predictivo en tres cursos acadmicosAnlisis y Modificacin
de Conducta246577Google Scholar

9. Garca, M.V., Alvarado, J.M., Jimnez, A. 2000La prediccin del rendimiento

acadmico: regresin lineal versus regresin logsticaPsicothema12248252Google
Scholar

10. Gardner, P., & Hudson, I. (1999). Universtiy students ability to apply statistical
procedures. Journal of Statistics Education, 7(1).

11. Garfield, J. B. (1994). Beyond testing and grading: using assessment to improve
student learning. Journal of Statistics Education, 2(1).
12. Garrido, I., Rojo, C. 1996Motivacin, cognicin y rendimientoRevista de Psicologa
General y Aplicada49512Google Scholar

13. Gurdia, J., Freixa, M., Turbany, J., Cosculluela, A., Per, M., Barrios, M. & Rif, X.
(2002). Estudio sobre los factores que inciden en el rendimiento acadmico en la
asignatura anlisis de datos en Psicologa. Metodologa de las Ciencias del
Comportamiento, volumen especial: 7880.

14. Hodgson, T., Burke, M. 2000On simulation and the teaching of statisticsTeaching
Statistics229196CrossRefGoogle Scholar

15. Huberty, C.J. 2000Assessment of student performance in statisticsTeaching

Statistics224448CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16. Hunt, N., Tyrrell, S. 2000Learning statistics on the WEB DISCUSSTeaching

Statistics228590CrossRefGoogle Scholar

17. Lee, L., Poon, C. 1994Structural Equation Models. EQS GuideUniversity of Los Angeles
PressCaliforniaGoogle Scholar

18. Liljander, J.P. 1998Gains and losses on academic transfer markets: dropping out and
course-switching in Higher EducationBritish Journal of Sociology of
Education19479495Google Scholar

19. Loeb, L.S. 1994Community career services: the past, present and futureJournal of
Career Development21167169CrossRefGoogle Scholar

20. Prez-Snchez, A.M., Castejn, J.L. 1996Factores psicosociales en la prediccin del

rendimiento acadmicoRevista de Psicologa de la Educacin193151Google Scholar

21. Per, M., Gurdia, J., Freixa, M. & Turbany, J. (2002). Evaluacin de los factores que
inciden en el rendimiento acadmico de los alumnos de la asignatura Anlisi de dades
en Psicologia. Proceedings of the 2 Congreso Internacional Docencia Universitaria
e Innovacin. 13 July 2002, Tarragona.

22. Roces, C., Gonzlez, M. C., Touron, J. 1997Expectativas de aprendizaje y de

rendimiento de los alumnos universitariosRevista de Psicologa de la
Educacin2299123Google Scholar

23. Smith, G. (1998). Learning statistics by doing statistics. Journal of Statistics

Education 6(3).

Copyright information
Springer 2006

About this article

Publisher NameKluwer Academic Publishers
 Print ISSN0033-5177

Online ISSN1573-7845
About this journal

Reprints and Permissions

Personalised recommendations
Log in to check access
Buy (PDF)
EUR 34.95
Unlimited access to the full article
Instant download
Include local sales tax if applicable
Subscribe to Journal
Get Access to
Quality and Quantity
for the whole of 2017
Learn about institutional subscriptions
Export citation
.RISPapersReference ManagerRefWorksZotero
.ENWEndNote
.BIBBibTeXJabRefMendeley
Share article
Email
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
We use cookies to improve your experience with our site. More information
Accept

Over 10 million scientific documents at your fingertips

Academic Edition
Corporate Edition
Home
Impressum
Legal Information
Accessibility
Contact Us
2017 Springer International Publishing AG. Part of Springer Nature.
Not logged in Not affiliated 119.95.21.71