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 2000–2001, while the second comprised 287 students enrolled in the academic year 2001–2002. 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.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alvarado, J. M., & García, M. V. (1999/2000). Incidencia de la asistencia a clase, del trabajo efectivo y de factores individuales sobre el rendimiento académico. In: A. M. López, J. L. López & R. Moreno (eds.) Proceedings of the V congreso de Metodología de las C.C. Humanas y Sociales, 23–26 September 1997, Sevilla, pp. 683–686.
Barrios, M., Cosculluela, A., Freixa, M., Guàrdia, J., Peró, M. & Turbany, J. (2000). La transición entre el bachillerato y la asignatura de estadística en la facultad de Psicología de la Universidad de Barcelona. In: C. Loureiro, F. Oliveira & L. Brunheira (eds.), Proceedings of the Encontro sobre Ensino e Aprendizagem da Estadística, 3 – 4 February 2000, Lisboa, pp. 93–102.
Boyle, C. R. (1999). A problem-based learning approach to teaching biostatistics. Journal of Statistics Education, 7(1).
J.L. Castejón L. Navas G. Sampascual (1996) ArticleTitleUn modelo estructural del rendimiento académico en matemáticas en la educación secundaria Revista de Psicología General y Aplicada 49 IssueID1 27–43
Gabinet d’Orientació Universitària (2000a). Gabinet d’Orientació Universitària. Colecció d’Orientació Universitària 1. Barcelona: Edicions Universitat de Barcelona.
Gabinet d’Orientació Universitària (2000b). Actes del Congrés d’Orientació Universitària. Colecció Gabinet d’Orientació Universitària 3. Barcelona: Edicions Universitat de Barcelona.
Gal, I. & Ginsburg, L. (1994). The role of beliefs and attitudes in learning statistics: towards an assessment framework. Journal of Statistics Education 2(2).
L. García A. Fumero (1998) ArticleTitlePersonalidad y rendimiento académico en estudiantes universitarios: un estudio predictivo en tres cursos académicos Análisis y Modificación de Conducta 24 IssueID93 65–77
M.V. García J.M. Alvarado A. Jiménez (2000) ArticleTitleLa predicción del rendimiento académico: regresión lineal versus regresión logística Psicothema 12 IssueIDSuppl. 2 248–252
Gardner, P., & Hudson, I. (1999). Universtiy students’ ability to apply statistical procedures. Journal of Statistics Education, 7(1).
Garfield, J. B. (1994). Beyond testing and grading: using assessment to improve student learning. Journal of Statistics Education, 2(1).
I. Garrido C. Rojo (1996) ArticleTitleMotivación, cognición y rendimiento Revista de Psicología General y Aplicada 49 IssueID1 5–12
Guàrdia, J., Freixa, M., Turbany, J., Cosculluela, A., Peró, M., Barrios, M. & Rifà, X. (2002). Estudio sobre los factores que inciden en el rendimiento académico en la asignatura análisis de datos en Psicología. Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, volumen especial: 78–80.
T. Hodgson M. Burke (2000) ArticleTitleOn simulation and the teaching of statistics Teaching Statistics 22 IssueID3 91–96 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1467-9639.00033
C.J. Huberty (2000) ArticleTitleAssessment of student performance in statistics Teaching Statistics 22 IssueID2 44–48 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1467-9639.00017
N. Hunt S. Tyrrell (2000) ArticleTitleLearning statistics on the WEB – DISCUSS Teaching Statistics 22 IssueID3 85–90 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1467-9639.00032
L. Lee C. Poon (1994) Structural Equation Models. EQS Guide University of Los Angeles Press California
J.P. Liljander (1998) ArticleTitleGains and losses on academic transfer markets: dropping out and course-switching in Higher Education British Journal of Sociology of Education 19 IssueID4 479–495
L.S. Loeb (1994) ArticleTitleCommunity career services: the past, present and future Journal of Career Development 21 IssueID2 167–169 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF02117442
A.M. Pérez-Sánchez J.L. Castejón (1996) ArticleTitleFactores psicosociales en la predicción del rendimiento académico Revista de Psicología de la Educación 19 31–51
Peró, M., Guàrdia, J., Freixa, M. & Turbany, J. (2002). Evaluación de los factores que inciden en el rendimiento académico de los alumnos de la asignatura “Anàlisi de dades en Psicologia”. Proceedings of the “2° Congreso Internacional Docencia Universitaria e Innovación”. 1–3 July 2002, Tarragona.
C. Roces M. C. González J. Touron (1997) ArticleTitleExpectativas de aprendizaje y de rendimiento de los alumnos universitarios Revista de Psicología de la Educación 22 99–123
Smith, G. (1998). Learning statistics by doing statistics. Journal of Statistics Education 6(3).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Guàrdia, J., Freixa, M., Peró, M. et al. Factors Related to the Academic Performance of Students in the Statistics Course in Psychology. Qual Quant 40, 661–674 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-005-2072-7
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-005-2072-7