Abstract:
Structural equation modeling constitute a very widely used method in identifying the relation between latent and observable variables in multi-variable statistical analyses. Structural equation modelling are used with other multi-variable statistical methods such as factor analysis, regression analysis. Before determining the structural model; measurement model, which is also referred to as confirmatory factor analysis, is determined. This study aims to determine the factors which affect attitudes of university students, who major in the field of social sciences, towards numerical courses, using structural model. Taking into consideration the factors demonstrated in previous studies available in the literature, for the first step, those factors were determined such as attitude, student’s method of learning the course, instructor, course and school environment and family, using exploratory factor analysis. For the next step, measurement model and structural model were obtained respectively, with these five factors determined, using the software package LISREL. The study concluded that the student’s method to learn the course is the only factor which affects the attitude.

Keywords: Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Aanlaysis, Structural Equation Modelling, Measure Model, Structural Model

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