Original article

Perception and attitude about the development of theses in university students

0000-0002-9819-1655Hermis Tolentino Quiñones^{1  *}  , 0000-0003-1123-8201Paulo César Chiri Saravia¹ 

¹ Universidad Nacional de Educación Enrique Guzmán y Valle. Perú.

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the university is to train the individual from a humanistic, scientific and technological perspective, considering the realities and needs of society. For this, it is necessary to encourage research throughout the training process of university students, who at the end of their studies must present a thesis to obtain the academic title; However, when preparing the thesis, perception and attitude play a very important role, therefore, the objective of the research was to determine the relationship between perception and attitude towards the preparation of thesis by 112 undergraduate students of the language specialty of a Peruvian public university, who responded to two surveys on perception and attitude in the preparation of theses. The investigative work focused on a quantitative approach, of a non-experimental, correlational design. The results showed that the statistical test of the Chi square was significant, concluding that there is a relationship between attitude and perception for the production of theses at the undergraduate level.

Key words: attitude; investigation; perception; thesis; university

Introduction

One of the purposes that universities have is the comprehensive training of future professionals, and for this, a humanistic, scientific and technological training is necessary according to the needs of each society, with the aim of solving the social problems that are generated in the various work fields, therefore, this training can be achieved by encouraging research in university classrooms (^{Martínez and Castellanos, 2018}). For this reason, it is relevant to promote research throughout the study period and also at the end of the degree by presenting a thesis, and this is how the students understand it, however, many of them point out that the preparation of a thesis causes them stress because they consider it to be an arduous process and it takes time for them to put together.

The stress that students manifest when preparing the investigations is accompanied by concern and annoyance due to the lack of time and poor coordination with the advisors (^{Vitón et al., 2018}). Well, the difficulty in preparing the thesis in the university environment has effects such as stress and various discomforts in the students; Likewise, there are negative consequences in quantity and quality (^{Chinchay and Arrospide, 2020}). These consequences arise from the poor execution of research activities in the faculties, the use of incorrect methods in the thesis classes and/or professors who are not so well trained in teaching the preparation of the theses and the writing of the final report (^{Mejia et al. al., 2021}).

Added to the aforementioned causes and consequences is the low investment that is given in Peru to research, unlike other countries where teachers are even financially encouraged to do research. Although, in recent years, in the Peruvian system there has been an increase in research teachers, officially recognized by the National Scientific, Technological and Technological Innovation Registry (Renacyt) in both public and private universities; because at present there is a total of 2686 researchers. However, the university where the study was carried out has only 22 officially recognized researchers.

Regarding this problem, many studies have been carried out, among them, that of ^{Rodríguez et al. (2018}), on the production and perception of research by undergraduate university students. His research shows that, out of a total of 114 students, only 5 published and collaborated on a scientific article; in contrast to 77.1% who considered scientific production relevant. Likewise, 47% of the total considered having regular knowledge for scientific writing. These data allowed us to conclude that there is a low scientific production and a low knowledge for it. ^{Carrillo-Larco and Carnero (2017}) studied the number of abilities that students perceive within their training to carry out research. The results showed that the statistical analysis and the calculation of the sample are the skills that are least mastered; however, 71.2% of the subjects stated that they wanted to dedicate themselves to research. In another context, ^{Ortega et al., (2018)}, in the study on the perception and research attitudes of university students, found that 90% consider that research will contribute to professional life and 80% would like to be part of research hotbeds.

Likewise, an important factor related to research is the publications that can be made, in this sense, ^{Bendezú et al. (2015}) evaluated the perception of 43 university students about scientific training and publication. Among the data found are that 80% consider it important to publish scientific articles; Thus, 55.8% state the importance of the distribution of scientific production. That is why, according to ^{Corrales-Reyes et al. (2017}), it is important to create student magazines and encourage participation in scientific events such as congresses, seminars, among others.

So, it can be said that one of the problems that students face is the feeling of lack of motivation towards the preparation of the thesis (^{Sabat and Slamet, 2019}). However, there are also data that indicate that there is an interest on the part of the students towards scientific research and publication in the undergraduate course, despite considering that the preparation received on these topics at the university is regular or deficient (^{Bendezú (2015}) Therefore, the research that was carried out had the objective of the research to determine the relationship between perception and attitude towards the preparation of thesis by 112 undergraduate students of the language specialty of a Peruvian public university. , the specific objectives were: Identify the relationship between perception and the cognitive attitude towards the preparation of theses in education students of a Peruvian public university; identify the relationship between perception and affective attitude towards the preparation of theses in education students. of a Peruvian public university and; identify the relationship between perception and behavioral attitude towards the preparation of theses in education students of a Peruvian public university.

In this sense, the first variable that was considered was perception; process that organizes and interprets the stimuli that were received by the senses and that help to identify objects and events to give meaning to said element. Perception is the ability to integrate internal and external stimuli to which people are exposed, these stimuli are organized and fully understood under certain criteria that the person has matured within to reach conclusions (^{Bedoya-Jojoa, 2022}). From this variable, three dimensions emerged on the perception of university students about the preparation of theses, which are:

A) Teaching of research methodology. In general, the courses related to research (thesis, thesis workshop, thesis seminar, whatever the name) in Peru begin in the third year. Each university adapts different methodologies, some, for example, in the first course of research methodology allow the acquisition of research terminology, the types of research and, above all, its importance (^{Loli et al., 2015}). B) Preparation of the thesis project. The university investigative development consists of two macro phases, the first related to the elaboration of the research project and the second referred to the elaboration of the final report, which is commonly called thesis. Regarding the first, ^{Miyahira (2018}) affirms that it consists of the planning and systematic structuring of the investigation and for this the activities that are carried out must be declared. Regarding the second macro phase, it is about the scientific evidence and deductions of the established and studied problems, and that these correspond to the last stage and that their realization allows the student to obtain an academic degree. C) Consulting. For ^{Alarcon and Quezada (2018)} the advisory consists of guiding the student in the completion of the thesis, which can be during class hours or outside of it and that said process ends with the presentation of the thesis report and the results are come on approving this.

Referring to the second variable, attitude, ^{Trujillo et al. (2021}) state that it is about how people face a certain situation in daily life, how they face a problem and a challenge, since the attitude is related to a type of intelligence and to the emotional charge as a reaction to external stimuli. In this sense, attitudes aim to regulate emotions in positive dimensions or not. The following dimensions can be derived from this variable:

A) Cognitive Component: Expresses the ideas of objects, subjects or situations, which can be liked or disliked. This component occurs through the cognitive presence of the object and as a result the attitude is generated, since it occurs when there is participation of the perceptual process and beliefs as mechanisms for classifying concepts and situations. B) Affective component. It refers to the emotional part of the subject and is associated with the cognitive component that the person has about the object; because it refers to the relationship between emotions, feelings and the object of the attitude. C) Behavioral component. This component directs the behavior of the subject, since it builds links between the cognitive components, in the beliefs that communicate qualities such as acceptable or unacceptable, that direct the person to give an answer to the object.

Materials and methods

The study had a quantitative approach, basic type, correlational level and cross-sectional. The population was made up of education students of the ninth and tenth cycle of the language specialty of a public university in Lima, Peru. Regarding the sample selection criteria, undergraduate students who were developing the thesis were considered, consequently, the type of sampling used was simple random, made up of 112 students.

Regarding the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents, the majority presented an age of 21 to 29 years (80.36%), followed by students with an age of 29 to 40 years (13.39%); Regarding gender, the female sex presented a 64.29% participation in the study and the male sex 35.71%.

The survey was used as a technique and the questionnaire as an instrument. The perception questionnaire was made up of three dimensions with 15 items, which were divided into 3 levels: unfavorable, unfavorable and favorable. The attitude questionnaire presented three dimensions with 14 items, which were divided into 3 levels: rejection, indifference and acceptance. The instruments were validated by expert judgments and reliability was determined by Cronbach's alpha with a result of 0.990, determining high reliability.

The information collected was processed by the Microsoft Office Excel version 2019 program, and then exported to the statistical program IBM SPSS Statistics v. 25. For the descriptive data analysis, a univariate and bivariate analysis was performed. Regarding the hypothesis contrast, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test was used , and the Pearson Chi-square test with a confidence level of 95% and a p<0.05 considered statistically significant.

Results

The data obtained were analyzed from the point of view of descriptive and inferential statistics, whose results are:

Table 1 - Perception towards the elaboration of theses in students. 

Perception towards the preparation of thesis	college students		Average
	No	%
Unfavorable (<38)	21	18.75
Unfavorable (39-50)	47	41.96	= 47.31
Favorable (>51)	44	39.29
Total	112	100.00

Table 1 shows that the perception towards the preparation of the thesis is unfavorable in 41.96%, favorable in 39.29% and unfavorable in 18.75%. Likewise, the arithmetic average places the perception globally as "Unfavorable" with a value of 47.31.

Table 2 - Perception towards the elaboration of thesis in the dimensions: Teaching of the research methodology, Elaboration of the thesis project and Consulting. 

Dimensions of perception		No.	%
Dimension 01
Teaching research methodology	Unfavorable (<21)	3. 4	30.36
	Unfavorable (22-28)	35	31.25
	Favorable (>29)	43	38.39
Dimension 02
Preparation of the thesis project	Unfavorable (<6)	4	3.57
	Unfavorable (7-8)	26	23.21
	Favorable (>9)	82	73.21
Dimension 03
Consulting	Unfavorable (<9)	21	18.75
	Unfavorable (10-12)	38	33.93
	Favorable (>13)	53	47.32
Total	112	100.00

Table 2 shows the perception towards the elaboration of the thesis according to its dimensions, the following results were obtained: In the teaching of research methodology, the perception is favorable in 38.39%, unfavorable in 31.25% and unfavorable. by 30.36%. In the dimension of elaboration of the thesis project, the perception is favorable with 73.21%, unfavorable with 23.21% and unfavorable with 3.57%. Finally, in the consulting dimension, the perception is favorable in 47.32%, unfavorable in 33.93% and unfavorable in 18.75%.

Table 3 - Attitude towards the preparation of theses in a Peruvian public university. 

Attitude towards thesis preparation	college students		Average
	no	%
Rejection (<35)	12	10.71
Indifference (36-46)	15	13.39
Acceptance (>47)	85	75.89	= 51.72
Total	112	100.00

Table 3 shows that 75.89% of the students present attitudes of acceptance towards the preparation of the thesis, 13.96% with attitudes of indifference and 10.71% presented attitudes of rejection. Likewise, the arithmetic average places the attitude globally as "acceptance" with a value of 51.72.

Table 4 - Attitudes towards the preparation of thesis according to its dimensions: cognitive, affective and behavioral. 

Attitude Dimensions		No.	%
Dimension 01
Cognitive	Rejection (<9)	18	16.07
	Indifference (10-12)	1	0.89
	Acceptance (>13)	93	83.04
Dimension 02
Affective	Rejection (<12)	2	1.79
	Indifference (13-16)	35	31.25
	Acceptance (>17)	75	66.96
Dimension 03
behavioral	Rejection (<12)	6	5.36
	Indifference (13-16)	38	33.93
	Acceptance (>17)	68	60.71
Total	112	100.00

Table 4 shows the attitude towards the preparation of theses in students according to their dimensions, the result was: In the cognitive dimension, 83.04% of the students' present attitudes of acceptance, 16.07% with attitudes of rejection and 0.89%. with attitudes of indifference. In the affective dimension, 66.96% of the students have attitudes of acceptance, 31.25% with attitudes of indifference and 1.79% with attitudes of rejection. Finally, in the behavioral dimension, 60.71% of the students present attitudes of acceptance, 33.93% with attitudes of indifference and 5.36% with attitudes of rejection.

Table 5 - Relationship between perception and attitude towards the preparation of thesis. 

Perception towards the preparation of thesis	Attitude towards thesis writing						Total		hypothesis test
	Rejection		Indifference		Acceptance
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Unfavorable	10	8.93	7	6.25	4	3.57	twenty-one	18.75	X 2 =55.473
Poor	2	1.79	7	6.25	38	33.93	47	41.96	gl=4
Favorable	0	0.00	1	0.89	43	38.39	44	39.29	P=0.000
Total	12	10.71	fifteen	13.39	85	75.89	112	100.00
Perception	D1: Cognitive						Total		hypothesis test _
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Unfavorable	14	12.50	0	0.00	7	6.25	twenty-one	18.75	X 2 =50.586
Poor	3	2.68	1	0.89	43	38.39	47	41.96	gl=4
Favorable	1	0.89	0	0.00	43	38.39	44	39.29	P=0.000
Total	18	16.07	1	0.89	93	83.04	112	100.00
Perception	D2: Affective						Total		hypothesis test _
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Unfavorable	1	0.89	13	11.61	7	6.25	twenty-one	18.75	X 2 =18.747
Poor	1	0.89	16	14.29	30	26.79	47	41.96	gl=4
Favorable	0	0.00	6	5.36	38	33.93	44	39.29	P=0.001
Total	2	1.79	35	31.25	75	66.96	112	100.00
Perception	D3: Behavioral						Total		hypothesis test _
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Unfavorable	4	3.57	fifteen	13.39	2	1.79	twenty-one	18.75	X 2 =37.757
Poor	2	1.79	16	14.29	29	25.89	47	41.96	gl=4
Favorable	0	0.00	7	6.25	37	33.04	44	39.29	P=0.000
Total	6	5.36	38	33.93	68	60.71	112	100.00

Table 5 shows that there is a higher proportion of favorable perception in students with accepting attitudes (38.39%). In addition, it is observed that there is a greater unfavorable perception in students with attitudes of indifference (6.25%). On the other hand, it is observed that there is a higher proportion of unfavorable perception in students with attitudes of rejection (8.93%).

Chi square statistical test was significant (X ² =55.473, p=0.000), therefore, it is affirmed that there is a significant relationship between perception and attitudes towards thesis preparation; thus, describing a situation compatible with the general hypothesis. It can also be concluded that a situation is compatible with the specific hypotheses, resulting in all statistical values less than 0.05 (p<0.05).

Discussion

The university process, whether at the undergraduate or postgraduate level, concludes with the presentation of the final research report, better known as thesis. Undergraduate students often feel that it is a frustrating and difficult process to face. The data found were that students have attitudes of acceptance in 75.89%, followed by attitudes of indifference in 13.39% and attitudes of rejection in 10.71%. These results are consistent with the study by Díaz et al. (2008), where it was reported that the interviewees develop a good attitude 71, 90% towards the development of the investigation. Despite the high percentage of acceptance, there is a significant percentage of rejection, which must be seen more carefully and discover what the causes are, and of course, what the consequences would be.

Regarding the first specific objective: Identify the relationship between perception and cognitive attitude towards thesis development, it was found that students have an attitude of rejection in 16.07%, indifference in 0.89% and acceptance in 83.04%. On the other hand, regarding perception, 18.75% were unfavorable, 41.96% unfavorable and 39.29% favorable. These results are consistent with the study by ^{Rodríguez et al. (2018}), who reported that the self-perception of the students' research was regular in 61.80%.

Regarding the second specific objective: Identify the relationship between perception and the affective attitude towards the preparation of the thesis, it was found that students have an attitude of rejection of 1.79%, 31.25% of indifference and 66.96 of acceptance. In reference to perception, 18.75% unfavorable, 41.96% unfavorable and 39.29% favorable were found. Although it is true that the data show a low percentage of rejection, this could be the result of the stress and concerns felt by the students (^{Vitón et al., 2018}), which could be mainly due to the few research activities and inappropriate employment of pedagogical strategies to encourage research.

Regarding the third specific objective: Identify the relationship between perception and behavioral attitude towards thesis development in students of a Peruvian public education university, it was found that students have an attitude of rejection of 5.36, of indifference of 33.93% and acceptance of 60.71%. In reference to perception, 18.75% unfavorable, 41.96% unfavorable and 39.29% favorable were found. The high percentage of indifference and perception towards research leads to obtaining results of low quality and quantity in carrying out theses (Díaz et al., 2008), as stated by ^{Rodríguez et al., (2018}), indicating that of 114 students, 5 published and collaborated in the preparation of a scientific article.

The analyzed data indicate the existence of a significant correlation between the perception and the attitude towards the preparation of thesis in the education students of a public university. Well, this indicates that, since perception is the ability to integrate internal and external stimuli, students react based on the stimuli provided by their university with respect to research through courses such as thesis seminar, thesis design and preparation, etc. and the advice that is provided. Well, these stimuli, internal and external, are related at a cognitive, affective and behavioral level, which leads the student to a good attitude or not in the preparation of the thesis, a key product in the initial culmination as a professional.

The results and the discussion allow us to conclude that there is a significant relationship between the perception and attitude towards the preparation of the thesis (p=0.000), affirming that the greater the favorable perception, the greater the attitudes of acceptance, and the greater the unfavorable perception, brings as a consequence rejection attitudes. Consequently, it is recommended that universities not only prepare curricular plans in the last semesters, but also develop research activities that encourage the student to generate knowledge and carry out the thesis. Among the activities that can be created are research seminars, research seedbeds, webinars with specific topics on writing, technological research tools, among others.

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Conflicto de intereses:

1Los autores declaran no tener conflictos de intereses.

Contribución de los autores:

2Los autores participaron en el diseño y redacción del trabajo, y análisis de los documentos.

Received: February 17, 2023; Accepted: May 13, 2023

^*Autor para correspondencia. E-Mail: [e-mail]