Gender And Goal Orientation As Correlate Of Research Statistics Anxiety Among Post-Graduate Students In South-East In Nigeria :- Uzoka, Rose N

Abstract

This study investigatedgender and goal orientation as correlate ofresearch statistics anxiety amongpostgraduate students in universities, South-East Nigeria. Two research questions and two research hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a correlational research design. Samplefor the study consisted of500 respondents drawn through multistage sampling techniquefrom 10, 001 2014/2015 post-graduate students across universities in South-East Nigeria. Two instruments were adaptedfor the study; Students’Statistics Anxiety Scale /SSAS) andStudents’ Goal Orientation on Statistics Anxiety Scale (SGOSAS). The instruments were duly re-validated and reliability co-efficient was established using Crobach’s alpha method which yielded indices of 0.90 and 0.86 respectively. Data were analysed using multiple regression and one-way ANOVA statistics. Findings indicated 45% contributions ofgoal orientation ofPG students in predicting their research statistics anxiety was significant. Gender ofpost-graduate students had only seven percent contribution in predicting the relationship between goal orientations and research statistics anxiety. It was recommended that students should be guided to build their self-confidence by helping them to set realistic goals which would consequently reduce their anxiety among others.