The Development and Factor Structure of the Faculty Perceptions of Statistics (FPS) Scale

Laura Taylor, Kirsten Doehler, Jessalyn Smith

Abstract


The purpose of this study is to introduce the Faculty Perceptions of Statistics (FPS) scale.  Question items refer to numerous facets of statistics such as the use of statistics in teaching and scholarship.  A larger version of the FPS scale was administered online at seven universities and colleges to 747 participants.  In this research we report on a preliminary validation of the FPS scale to measure attitudes of college faculty towards the statistics discipline based on hierarchical cluster analysis with n=674 participants who completed all items.  We utilized seven clusters within the FPS scale: Comfort, General Teaching, Expectations, Statistical Literacy, Scholarship, Effective Teaching, and Benefits.  The Cronbach’s alpha values for the individual clusters ranged from 0.58 to 0.92.  We also report on numerous results of the data collected by cluster based on participant demographics, such as discipline and previous statistical experience.


Keywords


attitudes toward statistics, hierarchical cluster analysis, factor structure, scale development

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References


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