Factors influencing statistics anxiety in UK psychology students

Many students have feelings of state anxiety when exams, and these feelings probably affect their performance. Statistics courses have been identified as producing the most anxiety. The purpose of our study is to measure statistics anxiety throughout an academic course (pre-test and three assessments) in order to observe its change and analyze the relationship between statistics anxiety and academic achievement. The sample is composed of 30 Psychology students taking a course in research designs and statistics (26.7% men and 73.3% women) with a mean age of 20.31 years (SD = 3.76). The results show that the students begin with a high level of statistics anxiety that gradually declines as the course progresses and they study the course materials. Moreover, the final achievement in the subject maintains an inverse relationship with the level of statostics anxiety. The recommendation is to present the detailed contents of the teaching guide on the first day of the course in order to reduce students' anxiety and uncertainty when beginning a statistics course.

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" I feel like I am wasting my time..." Addressing statistics anxiety in students required to learn statistics as part of another course.

10.31234/osf.io/7teb4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Maxine v Swingler ◽

Phil McAleer ◽

Lorna Morrow

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Student Engagement ◽

Research Methods ◽

Psychology Students ◽

Statistics Anxiety ◽

Second Stage ◽

University Courses ◽

The Social ◽

University Curricula ◽

The University

Statistics and research methods are embedded in the university curricula for Psychology and more widely in the curricula for university courses in education and the social sciences (QAA, 2010; BPS 2013), yet many students underestimate the extent of statistics covered in these subjects (Ruggeri, Dempster, Hanna & Cleary, 2008). Although statistics is an important part of many courses, it is also one of the subjects that is most disliked by students (Sciutto, 2002), and indeed causes anxiety in students (Schacht & Stewart, 1990).The purpose of the current research was initially to identify the levels of statistics anxiety in UG and PGT psychology students; identify perceived causes of this; and establish any practical interventions that could be introduced in an attempt to alleviate anxiety and increase student engagement. The second stage of the research was to introduce and evaluate a number of practical interventions targeted at alleviating statistics anxiety in psychology students at the University of Glasgow.

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Maladaptive Perfectionism, Adaptive Perfectionism, and Statistics Anxiety Among Graduate School Psychology Students

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e703202011-001 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Victoria A. Comerchero ◽

Dominick Fortugno

Keyword(s):

School Psychology ◽

Graduate School ◽

Psychology Students ◽

Statistics Anxiety ◽

Maladaptive Perfectionism ◽

School Psychology Students ◽

Adaptive Perfectionism

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Factors Influencing a Person to Become More Physically Active

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1989.68.3c.1104 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 68 (3_suppl) ◽

pp. 1104-1106

Author(s):

Traci Haynes ◽

J. Regis McNamara

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Sex Differences ◽

Phase 1 ◽

Psychology Students ◽

Information Feedback ◽

Phase 2 ◽

Physically Active ◽

Reading Material ◽

Factors Influencing ◽

Lifestyle Patterns

In the first phase of the study, 170 introductory psychology students were administered six questionnaires dealing with various beliefs and attributions about general lifestyle patterns and their consequences. Physical activity was generally perceived in a positive way and there were sex differences in the way in which such activities were practiced and the extent to which they provided deflection of stress. In Phase 2, 65 inactive individuals from Phase 1 were exposed to an information-feedback manipulation which was not effective in promoting interest in obtaining reading material on exercise or in encouraging initiation of activity.

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