Key drivers of graduate students’ interest in the subject of immunology in a tertiary institution of Ghana

• Main Authors: Alexander Kwarteng, Yarhands Dissou-Arthur, Augustina Sylverken, Michael Frimpong, Samuel Ahuno Terkper, Ellis Owusu-Dabo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2018-01-01
• Series: Cogent Education
• Subjects: immunology; principal component analysis; interest; ghana
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2018.1498162

Immunology is increasingly becoming a core biomedical discipline in recent times. Students’ interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics programs is essential for better academic performances and outcomes in a University of Science Technology. To this end, we assessed the factors that influence students’ interest in immunology among a group of 32 graduate students in a tertiary institution in Ghana. The study was conducted using quantitative instruments (questionnaires) after which principal component analysis (PCA) was used to reveal the underlying factors affecting students’ interest in the course. In all, six components were found including students’ perception, instructor quality, student’s interest/motivation, teaching methods, teaching materials and teaching facilities. Students’ interest in immunology correlated negatively but significantly with perception; however, interest correlated positively with teaching methods (p < 0.001). Our study is the first to investigate the factors that influence students’ interest in immunology in Ghana and supports the growing functionality of PCA approach for dimension reduction and exploratory factor analysis.