Architecture students and research courses

Abstract

Research courses are part of many higher education curricula. However, students’ attitudes towards statistics and research courses tend to be negative. One way to measure students’ attitude is with the Revised-Attitudes Towards Research scale (R-ATR). The current study examined: (1) the internal reliability of the R-ATR, (2) the attitude of Dutch second-year architecture students towards research courses, and (3) whether attitude is related to age and gender. It was found that the R-ATR has good internal reliability and that Dutch second-year architecture students’ attitude towards research courses is reasonably favorable. Students generally acknowledge the usefulness of research courses and do not feel anxious, but find them stressful and difficult to some extent and do not enjoy them. Further analyses showed three types of students: relaxed students, virtuous students and worried students, who each require a different approach to improving their attitude towards research courses. No relationship emerged between attitude and age or gender, but female students considered research courses somewhat more useful. Providing a research-friendly, enjoyable, and supportive environment might improve students’ attitude towards research courses.