Assessing students' mathematics-related beliefs system in the Indonesian context.

The purpose of the present study is to adapt a mathematics-related beliefs system questionnaire (MRBQ) and explain students' mathematics-related beliefs in Indonesia. We used a quantitative method that involved association and descriptive approach study to explore students' beliefs about mathematics education. Two hundred and eighty-one eighth-grade students participated in the present study. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to observe the construct validity of the questionnaire. Cronbach alpha and McDonald's w were used to examine the reliability of MRBQ in the Indonesian version. We used Pearson correlation to analyze the intercorrelation between factors. We also utilized descriptive statistics and an independent sample t-test to explore the boys' and girls' mathematics-related beliefs. We found the coefficient of KMO=0.887, Barlett's test X²=5000.685, p<0.001 indicated the adequacy of the sample. Scree plot showed that students' beliefs in Indonesia represented with four-factor model beliefs about the role and functioning of their own teacher, beliefs about mathematics as a discipline and competence mathematics, beliefs about the self as a mathematics learner, and beliefs about mathematics as a domain excellent. Pearson correlation test provided empirical data of solid consistency for the structure of MRBQ, which indicated a correlation between all the factors. We found a significant correlation of 0.597 between factors 2 and 1, suggesting students who beliefs about mathematics as a discipline and competence in mathematics tend to believe in the role and functioning of their own teacher. We also found the gender gap of students in Indonesian, boys' students have higher beliefs about the self as a mathematics learner than girls' students (p = 0.005<0.05, Mean Difference=-154, Independent sample t-test) and beliefs about mathematics as a domain excellent as well (p=0.018<0.05, Mean Difference=-1.10 Independent sample t-test). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]