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Table 3 Descriptive statistics for scales in the study (N = 1299)

From: Middle school student attitudes toward science, and their relationships with instructional practices: a survey of Chinese students’ preferred versus actual instruction

Variable

School Type

Gender

Overall

A

B

C

Female

Male

 

α

N

393

573

333

647

652

1299

Attitude

2.98 (.30)

3.03 (.30)

3.10 (.32)

2.95 (.30)

3.12 (.30)

3.03 (.31)

.76

Actual

 Cooperative

3.00 (.48)

3.08 (.44)

3.17 (.54)

3.05 (.45)

3.11 (.52)

3.08 (.48)

.87

 Constructivist-oriented

2.27 (.68)

2.40 (.71)

2.82 (.97)

2.40 (.73)

2.54 (.87)

2.47 (.81)

.88

 Direct

3.88 (.52)

3.96 (.41)

3.91 (.55)

3.94 (.44)

3.90 (.53)

3.92 (.49)

.84

Preferred

 Cooperative

3.68 (.55)

3.80 (.45)

3.90 (.51)

3.78 (.44)

3.80 (.55)

3.79 (.50)

.88

 Constructivist-oriented

3.14 (.90)

3.39 (.81)

3.70 (.73)

3.35 (.79)

3.44 (.89)

3.39 (.85)

.90

 Direct

4.07 (.50)

4.14 (.37)

4.15 (.51)

4.14 (.40)

4.11 (.50)

4.12 (.45)

.86

Discrepancy

 Cooperative

−0.68 (.44)

−0.71 (.39)

−0.73 (.46)

−0.72 (.40)

−0.69 (.45)

− 0.71 (.42)

 Constructivist-oriented

− 0.87 (.87)

− 0.99 (.82)

− 0.89 (.87)

− 0.95 (.80)

− 0.90 (.89)

− 0.92 (.85)

 Direct

− 0.19 (.27)

− 0.18 (.24)

− 0.24 (.32)

−0.19 (.26)

− 0.20 (.29)

−0.20 (.27)

  1. Values shown as M (SD). Discrepancy is calculated as Actual-Preferred; negative scores indicate actual instruction was less than what students would prefer. α is Cronbach’s alpha