Abstract
When faced with a crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, it is normal for people to have various emotional, cognitive, physical, social, and behavioural reactions. When a university is facing a crisis, its students may be affected. The aim of this study was to measure students’ emotional state during the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of the transition from traditional courses to online courses, as imposed by the state of emergency. Based on a survey which took place between the 25th of March 2020 and 30th of April 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe, this paper empirically tested the perception of the students from the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași regarding the fear of contracting the virus, the self-isolation, the negative educational results, and the effectiveness of online courses during the state of emergency and their impact on students’ emotional state. The results are robust and show that students were, from an emotional point of view, negatively affected by the lack of socialisation at university. Another important finding is that the fear of negative educational results also harmed students’ emotional state, while the perceived effectiveness of online courses proved to have a positive and statistically significant effect. The results also show that the fear of contracting the virus did not have a statistically significant effect on the students’ emotions.
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The Consistency of the Latent Variables
The Consistency of the Latent Variables
Dimension/latent variable | Questions/observed variable (factors) | Factor loadings | Construct (composite) Reliability (CR) | Cronbach’s Alpha (CA) | Average Variance Extracted (AVE) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Emotional effects | Q1. I feel that I can’t cope with online learning | 0.7461 | 0.872 | 0.8795 | 0.463 |
Q2. I believe professors give us too much homework | 0.6223 | ||||
Q3. I can’t concentrate on online courses | 0.7233 | ||||
Q4. I have been more stressed since the courses take place online | 0.6891 | ||||
Q5. Home study demotivates me | 0.7614 | ||||
Q6. I have sleeping troubles | 0.5388 | ||||
Q7. Since I am in self-isolation, I have not been able to organise my study time effectively | 0.6933 | ||||
Q8. Since I am in self-isolation, I have been much more inefficient in the learning process | 0.6402 | ||||
The fear of contracting the virus | Q1. I am worried that I might become infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus | 0.7764 | 0.885 | 0.8626 | 0.562 |
Q2. I am worried that someone in my family might get infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus | 0.7733 | ||||
Q3. I am worried that I or a member of my family may be exposed to SARS-CoV-2 infection | 0.7770 | ||||
Q4. I am worried that I could infect other people with the SARS-CoV-2 virus | 0.7470 | ||||
Q5. I am worried that the treatment for the SARS-CoV-2 virus will not be found very soon | 0.7268 | ||||
Q6. I am worried that there is a SARS-CoV-2 infection in Romania | 0.6945 | ||||
The desire to socialise at university | Q1. I want to go back to the university as soon as possible | 0.8367 | 0.886 | 0.8935 | 0.504 |
Q2. I want to take classes in a classroom | 0.8462 | ||||
Q3. I want to see my professors again | 0.8339 | ||||
Q4. I feel that attendance at face-to-face courses is necessary for effective learning | 0.7031 | ||||
Q5. I want to see my classmates again | 0.7899 | ||||
Q6. I want the self-isolation period to end as soon as possible | 0.5639 | ||||
Q7. I am happier when the courses take place face to face in the university environment | 0.5649 | ||||
Q8. I am afraid that this self-isolation period will last a long time | 0.4092 | ||||
Fear of negative results | Q1. This period will have a negative effect on my career | 0.6750 | 0.749 | 0.7899 | 0.335 |
Q2. This period will have a negative effect on my personal development | 0.6284 | ||||
Q3. There will be fewer students willing to apply to a university abroad | 0.6243 | ||||
Q4. This period will have a negative effect on my future academic results | 0.5388 | ||||
Q5. I wanted to participate in an exchange of experience and now it is no longer possible | 0.5044 | ||||
Q6. The COVID-19 pandemic turned my plans upside down | 0.4763 | ||||
The perception of the effectiveness of online courses | Q1. I am willing to actively communicate with classmates and professors online | 0.6924 | 0.856 | 0.8556 | 0.440 |
Q2. I could easily adapt to online courses without the professors’ direct assistance | 0.7245 | ||||
Q3. I am capable of self-discipline and to find time to study at home, too | 0.6522 | ||||
Q4. I am able to easily access the internet in accordance with educational interests | 0.7100 | ||||
Q5. I am used to online communication | 0.6858 | ||||
Q6. I have a computer which allows me to easily participate in online courses | 0.6674 | ||||
Q7. I believe that a full course can be taught without difficulty through online programs or platforms | 0.5794 | ||||
Q8. Online education is effective during the COVID-19 pandemic | 0.4927 |
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Anichiti, A., Brînză, G., Butnaru, G.I., Niță, V. (2022). Measuring Students’ Emotional State During the State of Emergency Imposed by COVID-19 Pandemic. In: Fotea, S.L., Fotea, I.Ş., Văduva, S. (eds) Navigating Through the Crisis – A special Issue on the Covid 19 Crises. GSMAC 2020. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82755-7_9
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