A framework and survey for measuring students’ motivational attitudes toward statistics

Abstract

The Survey of Motivational Attitudes toward Statistics (SOMAS) for Students is part of a family of instruments designed to assess attitudes toward statistics. In the SOMAS project, attitudes toward statistics are conceptualized broadly, and the instruments are designed drawing from Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT) (Eccles, 1983). In this way, the SOMAS project aims to build upon and extend the work of other attitude measures, e.g. the SATS-36. This paper describes the EVT model for students' motivational attitudes, the constructs to be assessed by the student SOMAS instrument, and future directions for the project.

Douglas Whitaker

Associate Professor of Statistics