Students' perceptions of computer-based learning environments, their attitude towards business statistics, and their academic achievement: implications from a UK university

International Masters’ student perspectives of team business simulations

“…Due to the numerous shortcomings reported, critics consider simulations as superficial fun (Egenfeldt-Nielson, 2007;Chin et al, 2009). Practical concerns are highlighted by students, including grades, frequency of team exercises and class time allocation, perceptions of problematic peer behaviours and the appropriate use of peer evaluations (Pfaff and Huddlestone, 2003;Nguyen, Charity and Robson, 2016). Further challenges include poor team dynamics (Hansen, 2006) and specialisation of labour within teams undermining teamwork (McCorkle et al, 1999).…”

“…Section one consisted of 58 items measured on a five-point Likert scale (strongly disagree [1] through neither disagree nor agree [3] to strongly agree [5]) although not all items were used. The measurement scales were adapted from the instrument used by Nguyen et al (2016), capturing "computer-based learning environments" and "attitude towards business statistics". The former construct is highly relevant here since the business simulation module relies on computer-based software.…”

“…The former construct is highly relevant here since the business simulation module relies on computer-based software. This second-order construct consisted of four first-order constructs: "student cohesiveness", "task orientation", "technology adequacy" and "integration" (Nguyen et al, 2016). The current study uses the first three of these, with modification to the fourth to represent "cooperation" within the simulation.…”

“…The current study uses the first three of these, with modification to the fourth to represent "cooperation" within the simulation. The secondorder construct "attitude towards business statistics" (Nguyen et al, 2016) was re-focused to become "attitude towards the business simulation", retaining the supporting first-order constructs "anxiety" and "enjoyment", with the final construct becoming "perceived usefulness of the business simulation" after item modifications.…”

Validation of the Clinician Attitudes Toward Biostatistics Among Brazilian Dentistry Graduate Students

“…The Clinician Attitudes Toward Biostatistics survey (CATB) (WEST and FICALORA, 2007) is an instrument that was developed and used on individuals in the medical field to measure general perceptions of biostatistics, perceptions of knowledge and training of biostatistics, perceptions of biostatistics and research, and perceptions of biostatistics and evidence-based medicine/dentistry. This instrument has been used recently on graduate students in the field of dentistry (SHETTY et al, 2015;BATRA et al, 2014;NGUYEN et al, 2016) However, the use of psychometric instruments requires a rigorous evaluation of the quality of the measured variables, including validity and reliability of the instrument relative to the sample data (CAMPOS et al, 2013;MAROCO, 2014). This analysis can reveal a need for validation studies to be performed on a psychometric instrument for each sample on which it is used.…”