Influences of Math Anxiety on Undergraduate Students by Jordan Stiede and Brendan McCoy

Influences of Math Anxiety on Undergraduate Students by Jordan Stiede and Brendan McCoy

Psychology

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of sex, major, and school on undergraduate students’ levels of math anxiety and math performance. First, the participants completed a math experience questionnaire designed to compute their level of math anxiety. In the questionnaire, participants answered demographic information including their sex and primary major. After completing the questionnaire, participants were given three separate one minute math tests that consisted of basic equations. The first test completed was exclusively addition questions, the second was exclusively subtraction, and the final test was exclusively multiplication. After collecting data from undergraduate students who attend either Ripon College or Johns Hopkins University, two separate 2 x 2 x 5 factorial analyses of variance (ANOVAS) were completed, along with Pearson Correlations. The results showed that the math anxiety level of math majors is significantly lower than natural science majors, social science majors, and humanities majors. However, after analyzing the data concerning the math performance, it was found that there was no significant difference in the scores from each major cluster. Lastly, it was found that a significant negative correlation exists between the level of math anxiety of an individual and his or her math performance score.

Jordan Stiede

Brendan McCoy

Senior Showcase Oral presentation

Ripon College

April 18, 2017

The authors reserve all rights.

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Major (Jordan Stiede): Psychobiology
Minor (Jordan Stiede): Spanish
Majors (Brendan McCoy): Self-Design (Sport Psychology), Economics

Pulaski, Wisconsin (Jordan Stiede)
Peosta, Iowa (Brendan McCoy)