Estatística Aplicada à Administração: um estudo de atitudes versus desempenho do aluno

Abstract

This paper aims to identify the attitudinal profile of the Administration course students. The profile was acquired by the application of a questionnaire, the SATS scale (Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics) by Schau (1999) during an applied Statistics subject. It was acquired five dimensions, denominated: positive feelings toward Statistics, negative feelings, cognitive competence, relevance to professional life and Statistics practical approach. It was applied the cluster analysis, obtaining three groups: insecure, confident and committed. It was also analyzed the attitudes considering gender and it was not noticed significant difference between both female and male sex. Comparing the attitudes versus the performance acquired by the students in the exam of Statistics subject, it wasn’t observed correlation between grades and attitudes, that is, for this sample higher attitudes don’t implicate in better performance in the subject. All the students recognize statistics’ relevance for their business carrier, no matter to which gender, performance and general attitudes profile they are associated.