Investigation of the effect of sports science students' attitudes towards scientific research on their critical thinking skills (Erciyes (University case)

The aim of this research is to examine the effects of the attitudes of students studying in the field of sport sciences towards scientific research on critical thinking skills in terms of various sociodemographic characteristics. The research is a screening model and was evaluated within the scope of the relational screening method. The study group of the research consists of students studying at Erciyes University Faculty of Sport Sciences in the 2023-2024 academic year (452 students). In order to examine the attitudes of the students towards scientific research, the Attitude Towards Scientific Research Scale developed by Korkmaz, Şahin, and Yeşil (2011) was applied, and in order to examine the critical thinking skill levels of the students, the Critical Thinking Skills Scale developed by Sarıgöz (2014) was applied. In the analysis of the data obtained from the research, descriptive statistics for the variables are expressed as mean, standard deviation, number (n) and percentage (%). Independent T-test and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to compare scale scores. Following variance analysis, Tukey test was used to determine the different groups. In determining the relationship between the scales, Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated. According to the findings of the study, it was determined that there were significant differences in the age, gender, department, class, mother and father's employment status and mother and father's education status of the students in the field of sports sciences. As a result, it was determined that as the students' attitude scores towards scientific research increased, their critical thinking skills also increased.