Majors’ Gender-Based Affective States Toward Learning Physical Chemistry - Affective Dimensions in Chemistry Education - page 301

item-based meaning in words. Our interpretation is based on the factor onto which
individual items loaded: confidence in learning physical chemistry.] There was no
statistically significant difference in the composite confidence T -scores of female
( M

¼ 49.00; SD ¼ 5.74) and male ( M ¼ 51.64; SD ¼ 10.44) students; t (27) ¼ .88,

p >

0.05. Although both gender groups are in agreement with respect to
their perception of low confidence toward physical chemistry, male students

¼ 0.053

'

perceive that they have higher confidence than female students.

4.2.2 Factor 2: Satisfaction

Item 17 is “It would be really great to win a prize in the courses in which we use
physical chemistry” ( M 2.00). Students tended to have highly positive

attitudes about their satisfaction in learning physical chemistry. There was no
statistically significant difference in the composite satisfaction T -scores of female
( M

5.03; SD

¼ ¼

51.88; SD 8.13) and male ( M 46.92; SD 7.65) students; t (27) 1.63,

¼ ¼ ¼ ¼ ¼

p 0.05. However, female students tend to report more satisfaction toward

physical chemistry.

0.53 >

¼

4.2.3 Factor 3: Relevance

Item 36 best represents this category: “Using physical chemistry effectively will
help me earn a living” ( M 1.80). The mean value for this item implies

that all of the students regardless of their gender, grade level, and major have
neutral attitudes about the relevance of physical chemistry in their life. There was
no statistically significant difference in the composite relevance T -scores of female
( M

4.10; SD

¼ ¼

6.96) and male ( M 9.73) students; t (27)

¼ 49.97; SD ¼ ¼ 50.05; SD ¼ ¼ 0.03,

p 0.08 > 0.05.

¼

4.2.4 Factor 4: Perceived Personal Ability

Item 12 is “Most subjects I can handle okay, but I have a knack for flubbing up the
problems about physical chemistry.” This statement refers to a negative attitude in
the instrument. When it is reverse coded for the analysis, the item reads: “Most
subjects I can handle okay, but I do not have a knack for flubbing up the problems
about physical chemistry” ( M 2.16). In general, students tended to

perceive that they were able to learn physical chemistry in a moderate level. There
was no statistically significant difference in the composite perceived personal
ability T -scores of

3.38; SD

¼ ¼

female ( M 48.72; SD 7.42) and male ( M 52.10;

¼ ¼ ¼

SD 0.05. Male students feel better

than female students with respect to perceived personal ability toward physical
chemistry.

8.96) students; t (27) 1.10, p 0.37 >

¼ ¼ ¼