Adaptation of Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale-Revised (MARS-R ...

27th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning

For more resources: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference

Adaptation of Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale-Revised (MARS-R) for Adult Online Students Arfe Yucedag-Ozcan, Ph.D. Doctoral Research Faculty University of Phoenix Susan Brewer, Ph.D. Director, Instructional Assessment University of Phoenix Problem Both children and adults experience math anxiety, and it is often related to test taking in math, particularly for performing well on high stakes tests (Marikyan, 2009). High math anxiety in students hinders their ability to perform in the college environment by causing poor academic achievement in math areas (Woodard, 2004). In a study of undergraduate students, individuals high in math anxiety were found to have reduced working memory span, which in turn resulted in increased reaction time and increased errors when performing math tasks (Ashcraft, 2001). Experiencing high math anxiety may be even more prevalent for nontraditional students. Malinsky et al. (2006) reported that older students (age 25 and above) showed higher anxiety than younger students (less than 25 years old). Additionally, in this study, female college students experienced higher math anxiety when measured by MARS-R than male students. This finding is noteworthy for University of Phoenix students because of the composition of the population: University of Phoenix students tend to be relatively older than traditional college students, and a greater proportion of the students are female (University of Phoenix, 2009). . Instrument The Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale used in this study is adapted from MARS-R, revised by Plake and Parker (1982). The scale has 24 questions and is scored from 1 to 5, where 1 indicates no anxiety and 5 indicates high anxiety. There are two factors in the scale. The first factor is Learning Math Anxiety, which includes items that measure anxiety experienced during activities that deal with learning mathematics, such as listening to another student explain a math formula. The second factor is Math Evaluation Anxiety, which contains eight items that measure the anxiety experience of being evaluated, such as taking an exam in a math course. Originally, MARS was developed by Richardson and Suinn (1972) as a 98-item tool to diagnose and recommend treatments for mathematics anxiety. Initially, the tool had one general factor; later, factor analysis by Rounds and Hendel (1980) showed that the tool actually contained two factors. Factor 1, the Mathematics Anxiety Scale, consisted of items related to learning, such as studying, test taking, and so on. Factor 2, Numerical Anxiety, consisted of items pertaining to daily use of mathematical concepts and computations. Later, the scale was shortened to 24 items by Plake and Parker (1982) for the purpose of efficiency. They wanted to achieve a reliable and valid instrument with one-fourth of the original items. They still had two factors with similar reliability and validity numbers. Internal consistency was α = .98. They labeled the first factor as Mathematics Learning Anxiety and the second factor as Mathematical Evaluation Anxiety.

Copyright 2011 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

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27th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning

For more resources: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference

Plake and Parker (1982) concluded that the relationship pattern of the 24-item MARS-R was similar to the 98-item MARS and also that there were clearly two factors. Hopko (2003) designed a study to measure construct validity of MARS-R. After confirmatory factor analysis using a larger sample, he eliminated 12 of the 24 items but maintained the two-factor model, suggesting that Mathematics Evaluation Anxiety should be called Mathematics Testing Anxiety. Purpose The purpose of this study was twofold. The first purpose was to adapt MARS-R for online students, which included developing validity and reliability measures. The second purpose was to investigate whether academic success in math decreases math anxiety. Additionally, the factors that predict MARS-R post scores were investigated. Data was analyzed for these purposes after establishing that the instrument was valid and reliable. Research Hypotheses The researchers tested three hypotheses in this study: 1. Adapted MARS-R is a valid and reliable instrument to measure math anxiety of online students. 2. Academic success in math will decrease the level of math anxiety, evidenced by students with above average end-of-course grades having significantly lower post–MARS-R scores compared to their MARS-R pre scores 3. For students with below average end-of-course grades, there is no significant difference between the pre– and post–MARS-R scores. Method This study was carried out using quantitative research methods. The research design was quasiexperimental due to the lack of random selection of the sample. The sample consisted of 800 students enrolled in multiple sections of an Algebra 1-2 course, delivered primarily in the online modality with some sections in the face-to-face environment, who also used the online system for lessons and tests. Two versions of the course were utilized; one set of courses that lasted 5 weeks each, and another set of courses that lasted 9 weeks each. The instrument was embedded in online course materials as part of the weekly assignments. The students responded to the instrument during the first week and last week of the course. The study was planned as a pre-test post-test design, to establish a baseline with pre scores and to test if academic success in math decreases math anxiety. Where necessary, the wording of items on MARS-R was changed to accommodate online students. For example, the original item was buying a math textbook. In the current version, it has been changed to downloading a math book. Data Analysis The first research hypothesis was tested by analyzing students’ MARS-R pre scores. Cronbach's alpha was used to determine internal consistency, which was the same method used by other researchers who have tested the reliability of the instrument (Hopko, 2003; Plake & Parker, 1982). Validity of the instrument was tested by analyzing the students’ MARS-R pre scores and their end-of-course grades. The literature shows that math anxiety and academic success in math are negatively correlated (Malinsky et al., 2006; Woodard, 2004). If students who score high on the anxiety scale receive a low end-of-course grade, the instrument will be valid. A factor analysis was also applied to determine the existence of the two subscales in the current MARSR. Varimax rotation was used to clearly identify the dimensions. Hypotheses 2 and 3 were tested by

Copyright 2011 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

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27th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning

For more resources: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference

employing paired t-test analysis after the sample was divided into two groups of students, those who received above average end-of-course grades and those who received below average end-of-course grades. Findings Validity and Reliability Factor analysis included 452 students’ MARS-R pre scores. Principal component analysis was used for the extraction method and Varimax rotation was also utilized. A scree plot clearly showed two dimensions in the scale. Initially, the first dimension explained 67% of the 73% explained total variance. After the rotation, Math Evaluation Anxiety explained 38% and Math Learning Anxiety explained 35% totaling 73%. The 7 items with factor loads smaller than .70 were deleted from the analysis. According to Hair et al (2006) a factor load of .70 and higher shows well-defined structure. After deleting items 2, 4, 8, 12, 13, 15 and 22, the explained variance increased to 76%. The same method was followed in terms of extraction method and rotation. Math Evaluation Anxiety explained 40% of variance and Math Learning Anxiety explained 36% of the variance. Math Evaluation Anxiety had 9 items and Math Learning Anxiety 8 items to measure anxiety (see Table 1 for factor loads). The students’ MARS-R pre scores were used for a reliability test. The internal consistency of the instrument with 17 items was tested using Cronbach’s alpha and α=.97, N=456. As a validity measure, students’ end-of-course grades were used. The correlation analysis showed that students’ anxiety pre scores and their course grades are negatively correlated (r= -.186, p