Psychometric characteristics of a questionnaire on attitudes toward mathematics among economics students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30972/rfce.3528874Keywords:
attitudes toward mathematics, content validity, reliability, Aiken’s V, Cronbach’s alpha, McDonald’s omega, economics studentAbstract
The study of attitudes toward a specific discipline –such as Mathematics– has gained increasing relevance in both educational settings and professional training. Accordingly, the present study aimed to analyze the psychometric properties –content validity and reliability– of the Mathematics Attitude Questionnaire (CAHM) among students of the Economics degree program at the Faculty of Economic Sciences (UNNE, Argentina). The instrument, developed ad hoc, consists of 16 items grouped into four dimensions: Affectivity, Applicability, Ability, and Stress, with responses rated on a five-point Likert scale. Content validity was evaluated through expert judgment by three specialists in Mathematics, Statistics, and Economics, applying Aiken’s V coefficient. Results showed values above 0.80 for both clarity and relevance, indicating a high level of agreement among experts. Reliability was estimated using Cronbach’s α, McDonald’s ω, and the corrected item–total correlation (ritc), based on a sample of 49 students from the 2024 academic year. Values of α and ω greater than 0.70 and ritc coefficients above 0.40 indicated adequate internal consistency across all dimensions. Overall, the findings confirm that the CAHM exhibits satisfactory psychometric properties for measuring attitudes toward Mathematics in the context of university-level economics education. The instrument is considered a useful tool for future research on the relationship between attitudes and academic performance in the field of economic sciences.
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