Attitudes of university students towards research in Honduras

Authors

Reyes Flores, Luis Gerardo

Casco Valladares, Alex Rigoberto

Mejía Velásquez, Roberto Arturo

Avila Flores, Julio Cesar

Cruz, Orquídea Marina

Ávila, Delmy Esperanza

Fernández, José Antonio

Abstract

Abstract - The attitude towards research is of utmost importance to strengthen interest in science and social development. Therefore, the objective of this research was to identify the attitude towards research among young Honduran university students. For this purpose, the Escala de Actitudes Hacia la Investigación [Attitudes towards Research Scale] (EACIN) created by Papanastasiou (2012) and adapted by Aldana and collaborators [1] was used, which is called (EACIN-R) and consists of three dimensions: disinterest in research, vocation for research and valuation of research. For this purpose, it was administered virtually to a sample of 523 students from 9 universities in Honduras. For reliability purposes, a nominal Alpha was calculated, which reached 0.93 and an Armor's Theta of 0.92, which denotes a high level of reliability. In the results, a total score of 78/112 was identified, which represents a 70% positive attitude towards research. Being the careers in the service sector (ISCED-8) the ones that showed a higher score in relation to the rest, but with a significant difference (7.14 at the 0.05 level) in relation to Social Sciences and Law (ISCED-3). Likewise, they also highlight evaluations referring to research as a university task and the task of all professionals. This represents a potential development for society.