Anxiety in undergraduate research methods courses: its nature and implications

Abstract

The study reported in this article examines the nature of anxiety that undergraduate students experience in a research methods course and explores some of the factors that influence their anxiety levels. Two questionnaires measuring the attitudes towards research and the anxiety level were administered to 472 students enrolled in a research methods course at the University of Cyprus between the fall of 2002 and the spring of 2005. The results showed that students’ self‐perceptions seemed to influence the level of anxiety in such courses, while the grades that students were expecting to earn did not predict students’ anxiety. Another important finding was that students who considered research to be important for their profession had higher levels of anxiety. Finally, the implications of this study are discussed and teaching interventions are suggested to assist students deal with their anxiety.

Keywords:

• research methods
• attitudes
• research anxiety
• Attitudes Toward Research scale (ATR)

Notes

1. Our argument focuses on research methods anxiety as such, that is, methodologically we are concerned with the overall anxiety related to research methods. We are certainly interested in the question whether qualitative or quantitative methods are reported to cause anxiety; however, most important is the issue of ‘research methods’ and ‘research methodology’ overall. More particularly, dispositional factors, for example, can be equally relevant both to qualitative and quantitative research methods anxiety, because the focus of these factors is on self‐concept and level of self‐esteem; such dispositional components are relevant (in various degrees) regardless of the nature of research methods involved. We are indebted to one anonymous reviewer for raising this issue.