International Association of Educators   |  ISSN: 2834-7919   |  e-ISSN: 1554-5210

Original article | International Journal of Progressive Education 2017, Vol. 13(2) 74-84

Development of Attitudes towards Mathematics Scale (ATMS) using Nigerian Data – Factor Analysis as a Determinant of Attitude Subcategories

Yusuf F. Zakariya

pp. 74 - 84   |  Manu. Number: ijpe.2017.014

Published online: June 01, 2017  |   Number of Views: 567  |  Number of Download: 1005


Abstract

This study was aimed at the development of an instrument for measuring students’ attitudes towards mathematics. A survey research design was adopted involving 510 students randomly selected. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was carried out to determine the number of factors to be retained in the ATMS. The adequacy of the sample was confirmed by means of Bartlett’s Sphericity Test (BST), the Kaiser- Meyer-Olkin (KMO) index, and the matrix determinant. The BST was significant at p < 0.01 with KMO index of .93 and correlation matrix determinant of 0.00006207. The factors were extracted using principal component analysis and the components were rotated using Varimax with Kaiser Normalization and converged after 10 iterations. The final 30-item ATMS contains four attitude subcategories: perception of difficulty, feelings of anxiety towards mathematics, usefulness of mathematics, mathematics phobia and has a reliability coefficient of .91 with sufficient evidence of content and face validity.

Keywords: Attitudes, Mathematics, Scale, ATMS


How to Cite this Article?

APA 6th edition
Zakariya, Y.F. (2017). Development of Attitudes towards Mathematics Scale (ATMS) using Nigerian Data – Factor Analysis as a Determinant of Attitude Subcategories. International Journal of Progressive Education, 13(2), 74-84.

Harvard
Zakariya, Y. (2017). Development of Attitudes towards Mathematics Scale (ATMS) using Nigerian Data – Factor Analysis as a Determinant of Attitude Subcategories. International Journal of Progressive Education, 13(2), pp. 74-84.

Chicago 16th edition
Zakariya, Yusuf F. (2017). "Development of Attitudes towards Mathematics Scale (ATMS) using Nigerian Data – Factor Analysis as a Determinant of Attitude Subcategories". International Journal of Progressive Education 13 (2):74-84.