Determinants of the academic performance of undergraduate students in statistics bachelor’s degree program. A study in an Arabic setting
| Published date | 04 February 2019 |
| Date | 04 February 2019 |
| Pages | 13-23 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-12-2016-0087 |
| Author | Darwish Abdulrahman Yousef |
| Subject Matter | Education,Educational evaluation/assessment |
Determinants of the academic
performance of undergraduate
students in statistics bachelor’s
degree program
A study in an Arabic setting
Darwish Abdulrahman Yousef
Department of Business Administration, UAE University,
Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
Abstract
Purpose –The present study aims to investigate the effects of a number of demographic and academic
factors, such as gender,age, nationality (Emirati vs non-Emirati), high school major(arts vs science) and high
school score, on the academic performance –measured by overall grade point average –of undergraduate
studentsmajoring in statistics at United Arab EmiratesUniversity.
Design/methodology/approach –This study includes 188 undergraduate statistics students (142
female and 46 male) for the academic years2012-2013 to 2015-2016. Descriptive and inferential statisticswere
used to analyze the collecteddata.
Findings –The results indicate that gender, age and nationality have no significant impacts on the
academic performance of undergraduate students in statisticsbachelor’s degree program, while high school
major and high school score do.
Research limitations/implications –This study had several limitations. First, only students of one
university were included in this study,which would have limited the generalizability of the results. Second,
the study focused on the impact of a limited numberof factors on academic performance of undergraduate
statistics students.But, the study has a number of implications for students, educators and universitypolicy-
makers.
Originality/value –The present study is the first attempt to explore the factors that might affect the
academicperformance of undergraduate students in statisticsbachelor’s degree program in an Arabicsetting.
Keywords United Arab Emirates, Higher education, Academic performance, Statistics majors
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The ultimate goal of anyhigher education institution is to provide its communitywith high-
quality graduates, equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to be successful.
Achieving such a goal requires that higher education institutions strive to provide their
students with first-rate education. Identifying the factors that are positively related to
students’academic performance is an importantstep toward providing students with such
high-quality education, especially for majors that students regard as difficult and thushave
negative attitudes toward. Statistics is one such major that most students consider to be
hard, and therefore few students usually choose to major in statistics. However, there is a
high demand for statistics graduates.Identifying factors influencing academic performance
of students of higher education institutions has attracted the attention of academics as well
as policy-makers overthe past decades. Because of this attention, a sizable number of papers
Statistics
bachelor’s
degree
13
Received12 December 2016
Revised1 April 2018
17June 2018
Accepted16 July 2018
QualityAssurance in Education
Vol.27 No. 1, 2019
pp. 13-23
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/QAE-12-2016-0087
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