Validation Study of Korean Version of Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics(K-SATS)

Previous research has recently shown that non-cognitive factors such as attitudes toward statistics contribute positively to statistics learning, Hence, helping students develop positive attitudes toward statistics has become one of the essential goals of statistics teaching. A wide variety of instruments assessing attitudes toward statistics were developed and validated in foreign countries, but not many in Korea. The SATS-36(Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics-36; Schau et al., 1995) has been regarded as one of the most valid measures of attitudes toward statistics. Therefore, this study was designed to validate a Korean version of Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics(K-SATS). Instead of six factors of the original scale, a five-factor structure including interests, value, cognitive competence, difficulty, and effort was empirically supported by the Korean student sample. The results evidenced high reliability and construct validity of K-SATS. In addition, students' attitudes towards statistics differed across gender, level of statistics courses, degree programs, and major. These findings were discussed in terms of their implications for future research and statistics teaching.