Analysis of attitudes and image in relation to statistics: a comparative study with students graduation

Abstract

This work had the objective of analyzing the image and the attitudes that students of higher education have in relation to Statistics, through a comparative study before and after studying the discipline. The research involved a sample of 101 students enrolled in the discipline of Statistics in the undergraduate courses in Administration, Accounting and Information Systems of a private college in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre. However, for this article only the results of the questions answered by the students who failed the course were presented Data analysis tools were used for descriptive statistics and the results were compared with the study validated by Cazorla et al (1999). It was verified in this study, that the students now have favorable attitudes and images, which are unfavorable, which is in line with Ragazzi’s (1976) study, which showed that if students apply the concepts learned in Statistics to real situations, or And if their usefulness is verified in daily life, they tend to have favorable attitudes toward discipline. Similarly, negative attitudes can discourage students, hindering the learning process. This fact may be related to other factors not contemplated by this research, such as: teacher methodology, learning difficulty, classroom environment, etc. Even with this kind of behavior, students recognize the applicability of statistical knowledge.