On Meaningful Measurement: Junior College Pupils' Anxiety towards Computer Programming

Abstract

This article reports the use of Rating Scale Analysis on a computer programming anxiety instrument which was designed for use by teachers to identify and diagnose a student's level and forms of computer programming anxiety. This instrument comprised three subscales: “Errors,” “Significant Others” and “Confidence,” with the former two measuring state anxiety and the latter trait anxiety. The subscales are of Likert type and have been normed on a sample of 200 Computer Science students from Junior Colleges (Grade 12) in the Republic of Singapore. The article seeks to illustrate the possibility of obtaining quantitative anxiety measures with qualitative interpretation. The recommended diagnostic procedures can be readily programmed and implemented on a microcomputer system.