Students who are enrolled for business and social sciences studies often find themselves having to compulsorily register for a module in research methodology and statistics. (Onwuegbuzie, 2000) asserts that the role of statistics is to orientate the would be graduate to the world of research, which improves both their numeracy skills and further improve their employability since research also teaches the to-be graduates to explore and solve problems scientifically.
2. Problem statement
There has been recognition among distance learning students at UNISA that many students registered for the research methodology …show more content…
Statistics: the science of collecting, collating and analysing numerical data in large quantities, especially for the purpose of describing the phenomena or making inferences about the relationships between variables.
Statistical anxiety: this refers to the irrational fear of some students when exposed to academic statistics courses.
6.2 Theoretical framework of motivation
The theoretical framework for motivation that will be used in this literature review is the McClelland’s achievement motivational theory. Dating back to the 1960, the theory looks at how the needs relating to high achievement become motivators to achieve the set goals (Nel, van Dyk, Haasbroek, Schultz, Sono and Werner, 2004). McClelland proposed that motivation to achieve is a triangle of three needs – the need for affiliation (nAff), the need for power (nPow) and the need for achievement (nAch).
Below, Figure 1 posits the McClelland’s motivational …show more content…
Robbins and Roodt (2012) state that for an employee, the drivers of motivation would differ from the drivers of motivation for a student. To understand the drivers of motivation to achieve hard at a workplace, one needs to understand the Herzberg’s two-factor motivation theory. According to Herzberg, Maunser and Snyderman (1959), Herzberg’s theory mentions that the level of motivation of an employee depends on the balance of the presence two drivers – the positive motivators and the negative hygiene factors. The explanation is that the presence of motivators motivates employees for higher achievement, and the absence or poor level of hygiene factors results in reduced