Attitudes toward statistics among dentistry postgraduates

Abstract

To validate the Attitudes Toward Statistics Scale (EAE) and to investigate the perceptions and attitudes toward statistics among dentistry postgraduates students.

A total of 115 postgraduates students (62 master's students, 80 women, age 26 ± 4 years) answered the items of the EAE and the Clinician Attitudes Toward Biostatistics (CATB). Information on academic training was collected. Confirmatory factor analysis (χ²/df, CFI, TLI and RMSEA) was conducted to estimate the validity of the instruments to sample. The standardized mean scores of CATB and EAE factors were estimated and compared (ANOVA).

The EAE two-factor fit model exhibited adequate validity for the sample (χ²/df = 1.814, CFI = 0.979, TLI = 0.976, and RMSEA = 0.086). Individuals who received their first training earlier, reported better performance in mathematics and greater knowledge of statistics, also exhibition more positive attitudes toward statistics. Individuals who reported having a research career focus, and who evaluated their supervisors’ knowledge of statistics as very poor to intermediate, presented a greater awareness of the importance of statistics in research and scientific evidence.

The EAE was valid and reliable for the sample. Perceptions and attitudes toward biostatistics were associated with variables involving the participant's academic formation.