The relationship between attitudes and performance in business calculus

Undergraduate business curricula include coursework in both statistics and calculus, subjects that can be daunting to even capable students. This study examines undergraduate business students' attitudes toward and performance in both business statistics and calculus, and determines that after controlling for ability, attitudes play a significant role in performance. Although self-reported attitudes become more positive over the course of the semester, attitudes toward calculus are less positive than those toward statistics, and negative attitudes are related to lower exam scores. For students with no prior calculus background, this relationship between negative attitudes and poor exam performance appears to be particularly strong. The conclusions have implications for increasing learning by improving attitudes.