Towards a profile of mathematical anxiety in high level students

Abstract

The article presents the development of a questionnaire about mathematical anxiety, which is designed in accordance with different theories emphasizing those of Legg and Locker and Leppärvita. The devolpment of the questionnaire follows the guidelins proposed by Galbraith and Haines, and by Pierce, Stacey and Barkatsas. It describes the process of validity and reliability of our questionnaire. It illustrates the statistical analysis methodology to confirm the reliability and validity of the instrument with Cronbach’s  alpha and factor analysis, in order to summarize  the information of the variables observed in a limited number of factors. The questionnaire was responded by 289  students in managerial courses and 128 students in engineering courses at a university in the metropolitan area of  Guadalajara.