Mind and means: Investigating the nexus of scientific temper, intellectual achievement, and economic capacity

Abstract

Scientific temperament is known as an individual's attitude of logical and rational thinking. The current study debated the term scientific temper critically and explored its correlation with intellectual achievement among students undertaking higher studies. Furthermore, this research investigated the moderating role of monetary risk in such a correlation. The current study was carried out employing a quantitative research approach through a survey. The primary data was collected by administering the scientific temper scale. The survey was conducted in four locations in Karnataka, India. The census method was followed. Descriptive along with inferential statistics have been utilized to analyze the data. Hierarchical regression was utilized to perform moderating analysis. R programming was used for data analysis besides SPSS to test the hypothesis. It is found that there is a positive correlation between scientific temper and intellectual achievement. It is also found that there is a positive correlation between scientific temper and academic achievements. No correlation between scientific temperament and intellectual achievement was observed between boys and girl students. However, boys’ scientific temperament was much higher compared to that of girl students. The study also practiced measures for the development of scientific temper among students, such as integrating critical thinking and design thinking into learning and following new methods of education. The norms of the New Educational Policy (NEP-2020) of India should be adopted too so that the scientific temperament of the students could increase further at their initial school stage. In addition to the significance of cultivating a scientific temper and overcoming the economic limitations of education, the findings of the study have significant policy and program implications for education. It is also found that the education system is undergoing a lot of changes by incorporating interdisciplinary approaches and covering socially relevant topics. The research concludes that taking financial risk is a significant moderator of the link between scientific temper and intellectual achievement, indicating that low-risk financial strategies were better at assisting students in attaining their academic aspirations.