Using multiple regressions in social sciences research : Some important aspects to be considered

This article discusses one of the most commonly used statistical methods in studying the relationship between dependent and independent variables in social sciences research. The purpose of using multiple regression and types of data suitable for multiple regression analysis are discussed Some important a~pects to be considered when multiple regression analysis is used will be discussed in detail. These aspects are variables selection method (i.e. forward selection. backward elimination and stepwise). Multicollinearity, tolerance, variance inflation factor, influence statistics (DFFIT and DFBETA). Leverage. Cook s distance. standardized regression coefficient (β). coefficient of determination (R²), assumptions such as normality, linearity. homoscedasticity and independence. Figures and tables are illustrated to give better picture of the concepts described

Logical thinking abilities among Form 4 students in the interior division of Sabah, Malaysia

The science curriculum in Malaysia emphasizes the acquisition of scientific skills, thinking skills, and the inculcation of scientific attitudes and noble values. Besides that, the acquisition of scientific and technological knowledge and its application to the natural phenomena and students' daily experiences are also equally emphasized. The purpose of this study was to gauge the logical thinking abilities namely conservational reasoning, proportional reasoning, controlling variables, combinatorial reasoning, probabilistic reasoning, and correlational reasoning among Form 4 students in the Interior Division of Sabah, Malaysia. This study was also aimed to ascertain if there is any significant difference in students' logical thinking abilities based on their gender and science achievement at lower secondary level. This was a non-experimental quantitative research and sample survey method was used to collect data. Samples were selected by using a two-stage cluster random sampling technique. Independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to test the stated null hypotheses at a specified significance level, = .05. Research findings showed that the overall mean of students' logical thinking abilities were low. The mean score in percentages for all the subscales (except conservational reasoning) were lower than the overall mean. This research also revealed that up to 98% of the respondents were categorized at the concrete operational stage whereas only 2% were categorized at the transitional stage. Research findings also found that there was no significant difference in the mean of logical thinking abilities (except for conservational reasoning) based on students' gender. Nonetheless, a significant difference based on their science achievement at lower secondary level was found. This research finding brings some meaningful implications to those who are involved directly or indirectly in the curriculum development and implementation of science curriculum especially at the rural secondary schools of Sabah, Malaysia. Background of the Study The development of thinking abilities is well-discussed in the world of education. Cohen (1980) stated that the higher the ability of a person to think in an abstract way, the higher the ability of the person will function effectively in the society. Hence, the improvement of formal reasoning and thinking abilities among students is one of the aims of science education at all level of schooling. Cognitive Development Theory, a well-known theory proposed by Jean Piaget has conceptualised four different stages in the cognitive development of a person i.e. sensorimotor (0-2 years), preoperational (2-7 years), concrete operational (7-11 years) and formal operational (11-16 years). The main difference among these stages of cognitive development is the mode of thinking. Children at formal operational stage can think logically about abstract propositions and test hypotheses systematically. At the same time, they become concerned with the hypothetical, the future and ideological problems. Researchers (e.g. Inhelder & Piaget, 1958; Lawson, 1982b, 1985; Linn, 1982) have identified five different modes of formal operational reasoning i.e. proportional reasoning, controlling variables, probabilistic reasoning, correlational reasoning and combinatorial reasoning which are determinants of students' success in science and mathematics advanced courses at secondary level (Wilson & Wilson, 1984)

An analysis on selected factors contributing to science and mathematics achievement among secondary school students in two SEAMEO member countries

This paper sets out to examine critically the effects of selected factors contributing to science and mathematics achievement among 8th grade students in Malaysia and Singapore. The Trend in International Science and Mathematics Study (TIMSS) 2007 database was utilized to explore a) if there were correlations between students receiving additional support and/or gaining exposure from academic related enrichment activities at home and schools with their science and mathematics achievement and, b) How well do the knowledge/skills gained from the use of technological tools and Internet contribute towards their science and mathematics achievement among Malaysian and Singaporean Grade 8 students. The sample consists of 4,466 students from Malaysia and 4,599 students from Singapore who participated in the TIMSS 2007 assessment. This study will provide some insights on why some students perform better than others in science and mathematics by highlighting the effect of additional support and/or exposure from academic related enrichment activities at home and schools, and the knowledge/skills gained from the use of technological tools and internet on students' science and mathematics achievement

Relationships between actual and preferred Science learning environment at tertiary level and attitudes towards science among pre-service Science teachers

Over the last four decades, researchers in many countries have shown increasing interest in the conceptualization, assessment, and investigation of students perceptions of psychosocial dimensions of their classroom environment. Research conducted over the past 40 years has shown the quality of the classroom environment in schools to be a significant determinant of student learning. However, not many studies, especially in the state of Sabah, Malaysia, were conducted to examine the tertiary Science learning environment and its relationship with students attitudes towards Science. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between the perceptions of actual and preferred Science learning environment at tertiary level and the attitudes towards Science among pre-service science teachers in Sabah, Malaysia. This study was also aimed to ascertain the difference in students perceptions of Science learning environment and the attitudes towards Science based on gender. This was a non-experimental quantitative research and survey method was used to collect data. Samples were selected by using a cluster random sampling technique. The College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI) was adopted to measure pre-service Science teachers perceptions of Science learning environment. Seven subscales of the CUCEI measured were Personalization, Cooperation, Student Cohesiveness, Equity, Task Orientation, Innovation, and Individualization. Pre-service Science teachers attitudes towards science were measured using the 'Test of Science-Related Attitudes (TOSRA). The seven subscales measured in TOSRA were Social Implications of Science, Normality of Scientists, Attitude to Inquiry, Adoption of Scientific Attitudes, Enjoyment of Science Lessons, Leisure Interest in Science, and Career Interest in Science. Independent samples t-test, Pearson product-moment correlation, and multiple linear regression analysis were used to test the stated null hypotheses at a predetermined significance level, alpha = .05. Correlation analysis results showed that there were low to moderate, positive and significant correlations between the actual and preferred Science learning environment and the attitudes towards science. CUCEI subscales can be used to explain appreciable amounts of variance in pre-service Science teachers attitudes towards science

The Effect of Emotional Intelligence, Self-Efficacy, Subjective Well-Being and Resilience on Student Teachers’ Perceived Practicum Stress: A Malaysian Case Study

Stress is inevitable in the world of teaching and practicum training and therefore, student teachers naturally incur a certain level of stress due to the demands for them to use various knowledge and skills in real school and classroom environment. Hence, practicum stress needs to be addressed accordingly. The central focus of this study is using a partial least square-structural equation modeling to explore the inter-relationships among the student teachers’ personal resources to mitigate practicum stress. A sample of 200 student teachers selected by purposive sampling from teacher education institutions in Sabah, Malaysia was used in this study. This study collected data via survey methods using a questionnaire developed from several existing scales. Findings showed that emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, and subjective well-being were able to explain resilience with good predictive accuracy and relevance but poorly for practicum stress. These findings were suggestive of the need to include additional constructs to explain perceived practicum stress better in future exploratory research

The relationship between resilience and perceived practicum stress: the mediating role of self-efficacy

The purpose of this study is to determine the mediating role of three subdimensions of self-efficacy (instructional strategies, classroom management and students’ involvement) on the relationship between resilience and trainee teachers’ perceived practicum stress. Hypothesized multivariate model was tested using partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS3.0 to determine the mediating effect self-efficacy on of these variables. The reflective measurement model analysis indicated a good statistical fit. The structural measurement model showed that resilience has a significant relationship with instructional strategies, classroom management and students’ involvement. The relationship between resilience and perceived practicum stress was also significant. However, the result showed that although classroom management was a significant mediator of the relationship between the studied variables, instructional strategies and students’ involvement were not. Hence, this implied that efficacy in classroom management enables trainee teachers to reduce perceived practicum stress more than efficacy in instructional strategies and students’ involvemen

Relationship between stress coping Factors with stress level during practical training among trainee teachers: a PLS-SEM approach

Practicum is a highly stressful situation whereby trainee teachers are subjected to a high quality standard, deals with numerous students’ behaviour, adapt with the school climate and so forth. In this stress coping factors comprising of selfefficacy, subjective well-being and emotional intelligence are associated with practicum stress experienced by 137 trainee teachers in the Sabah Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs). Resiliency Scale for Young Adults (RSYA), Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale, the Emotional Intelligence Traits, Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and Rating Pre-Service Teacher Events for Stress Scale were adapted and used in this study. Collected data were analysed using the PLS-SEM approach. The result showed self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, subjective well-being and stress are moderate but resiliency has moderately low level. Self-efficacy and subjective well-being are significant predictors of resilience and stress, however, emotional intelligence is not. It is hoped that this study will provide more understanding about stress and stress coping abilities so that appropriate orientation, content, and practice during practicum can be planned and implemented in an effort to prepare high quality educators

Contributing factors of secondary students’ attitude towards mathematics

The research investigated the effect of socioeconomic status, gender, perceived parental influences, teacher affective support, classroom instruction and previous achievement on students’ attitude towards mathematics. The comparison of these effects was also done between urban and rural school students. This research employed a cross-sectional quantitative design based on a structural equation modelling approach. The sample consisted of 808 students from ten secondary schools in Sabah, three of which were urban and seven were rural schools. Findings showed positive relationships exist between perceived parental influences (r = .231), teacher affective support (r = .242), classroom instruction (r = .439), and previous achievement (r = .284) with students’ attitude towards mathematics. The multigroup analysis for urban and rural students showed similar results as the whole student group. However, for urban students, classroom instruction (r = 0.352) and previous achievement (r = -0.363) had the greatest impact on attitude towards mathematics. For rural students, the highest impact on attitude towards mathematics was from classroom instruction (r = 0.452) and teacher affective support (r = 0.246). The least impact for both groups was perceived parental influence. This study implied that factors affected students’ attitude towards mathematics in rural and urban secondary students are differen

Perbandingan pola pembelajaran kontekstual dan tahap pemahaman konsep sains pelajar sekolah menengah rendah di Malaysia dan Singapura

In order to produce world class human model, science education that is able to provide individuals who are innovative, creative and productive was the main focus of the education system in Malaysia. Malaysian student science performance deteriorating sharply against other Asian countries (TIMSS 2007) has resulted in our country is falling behind. Failure to relate the lesson content with real-life context of a major source of students are not interested and thus not able to capture the knowledge of good science. Contextual learning approach to build a concrete relationship between the content of science education in the context of the day has become the main approach outlined in the syllabus of Science in Malaysia and also in many countries. Thus contextual learning pattern also focus on the survey. This study examined the differences contextual learning pattern and level of understanding of science concepts junior high school students in Malaysia and Singapore. Data were collected from the Trends in International Mathematics Program and Science Study 2007 (TIMSS), the sample consisted of 4,466 students of Malaysia and 4,599 students of Singapore. The results showed that there were significant differences between the patterns of contextual learning and students' level of understanding of the concept of Sciences Malaysia and Singapore. Singapore students showed a higher level of understanding of Malaysian students in all domains, especially in the understanding and application domains. The results also showed a significant relationship between contextual learning pattern with students' understanding of Science concepts, but the regression of these two variables is very low