Turkish ASSIST: measuring university students’ approaches to learning statistics

Evidence-based decision making has become one of the most valuable tools for any profession with the ease of accessing vast amounts of data due to developments in computing and data storage facilities. This is especially important for future generations in management positions. Undoubtedly statistics play an important role in enabling managers to base their decisions on valid available evidence, but if students do not acquire the skills to understand and evaluate them during courses in statistics, their ability to utilise this evidence may be limited. In this study we investigated the learning approaches of students in statistics who are studying towards a management science or management engineering degree in six Turkish universities using Turkish Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (TASSIST) which is translated from English to Turkish. This paper presents an exploratory factor analysis for the validation of Turkish ASSIST.