Journal of Shandong University (Health Sciences) ›› 2020, Vol. 58 ›› Issue (11): 109-114.doi: 10.6040/j.issn.1671-7554.0.2020.1115

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Survey of medical students attitudes toward statistics and analysis of influencing factors

LIU Yumei1,2, YUAN Zhongshang1, SUN Xiubin1, LI Xiujun1, WANG Shukang1, LIU Jing1   

  1. 1. School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China;
    2. Shandong Mental Health Center, Jinan 250014, Shandong, China
  • Published:2020-11-04

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Abstract: Objective To investigate medical students attitudes toward statistics, explore the influencing factors, and to explore the correlation between attitudes and course performance, so as to provide reference for teaching reform and to improve teaching effect. Methods Medical students registered for medical statistics during the academic year of 2018-2019 in a comprehensive university were surveyed with the Chinese version of Scale of Attitudes Toward Statistics(SATS-36). The items in the scale were scored with Likert 7-point method. Higher scores meant more positive attitude. The data were collected with online questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS 25.0 software. Results A total of 776 students completed the survey, and the mean score of scale was 4.84±0.64. The mean score of effort dimension(6.41±0.85)was the highest, followed by the dimension of value(5.93±0.88), and the dimension of difficulty had the lowest mean score(2.73±0.77). Gender, education level, major and self-evaluation of mathematical ability influenced students attitudes toward statistics. Male students had more positive attitudes than female students, and postgraduates were more positive than undergraduates. Students who majored in public health or clinical medicine were more positive than students in other majors. Higher self-evaluation of mathematical ability was associated with more positive attitude. There was a positive correlation between course performance and attitudes, but the correlation was weak(Spearman correlation coefficient was 0.227, P<0.001). Conclusion Medical students attitudes toward statistics were fairly positive, especially in terms of effort and value dimensions. However, statistics was widely considered difficult. The attitudes were positively correlated with course performance. In the teaching process of medical statistics, teachers should pay more attention to students emotion and cater to students individual needs.

Key words: Medical statistics, Attitudes toward statistics, Influencing factors

CLC Number: 

  • R195.1
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