scholarly journals WHEN DO STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES CHANGE? INVESTIGATING STUDENT ATTITUDES AT MIDTERM

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 476-486
Author(s):  
APRIL T. KERBY ◽  
JACQUELINE R. WROUGHTON

Statistics educators have been investigating how students’ attitudes change in the introductory statistics course for many years. Typically, an overall decrease in mean attitudes over the course has been noted. However, when and how do students’ attitudes change during the term? Do they steadily decrease or is there a point when students’ attitudes might actually be increasing? If so, can instructors use this to their advantage? This research introduced a mid-semester survey of attitudes. We found that students’ attitudes are not necessarily strictly declining from the beginning to the end of the semester. We also found it might be advantageous to follow individual student attitude trends throughout the semester instead of just looking at aggregate mean scores for the different surveys. First published November 2017 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 487-510
Author(s):  
WARREN PAUL

We used the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics to (1) evaluate using pre-semester data the Students’ Attitudes Toward Statistics Model (SATS-M), and (2) test the effect on attitudes of an introductory statistics course redesigned according to the Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) by examining the change in attitudes over the semester and, using supplementary data from an annual Student Feedback Survey, testing for a change in overall satisfaction following implementation of the redesigned course. We took an exploratory rather than confirmatory approach in both parts of this study using Bayesian networks and structural equation modelling. These results were triangulated with analysis of focus group discussions and the annual Student Feedback Survey. First published November 2017 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives


2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-59
Author(s):  
AUÐBJÖRG BJÖRNSDÓTTIR ◽  
JOAN GARFIELD ◽  
MICHELLE EVERSON

This study explored the use of two different types of collaborative tests in an online introductory statistics course. A study was designed and carried out to investigate three research questions: (1) What is the difference in students’ learning between using consensus and non-consensus collaborative tests in the online environment?, (2) What is the effect of using consensus and non-consensus collaborative tests on students’ attitudes towards statistics?, and (3) How does using a required consensus vs. a non-consensus approach on collaborative tests affect group discussions? Qualitative and quantitative methods were used for data analysis. While no significant difference was found between groups using the two collaborative testing formats, there was a noticeable increase in students’ attitudes across both formats towards learning statistics. This supports prior research on the benefits of using collaborative tests in face-to-face courses. First published May 2015 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives


2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
NATHAN TINTLE ◽  
KYLIE TOPLIFF ◽  
JILL VANDERSTOEP ◽  
VICKI-LYNN HOLMES ◽  
TODD SWANSON

Previous research suggests that a randomization-based introductory statistics course may improve student learning compared to the consensus curriculum. However, it is unclear whether these gains are retained by students post-course. We compared the conceptual understanding of a cohort of students who took a randomization-based curriculum (n = 76) to a cohort of students who used the consensus curriculum (n = 79). Overall, students taking the randomization-based curriculum showed higher conceptual retention in areas emphasized in the curriculum, with no significant decrease in conceptual retention in other areas. This study provides additional support for the use of randomization-methods in teaching introductory statistics courses. First published May 2012 at Statistics Education Research Journal: Archives


2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 6-25
Author(s):  
MARJORIE E. BOND ◽  
SUSAN N. PERKINS ◽  
CAROLINE RAMIREZ

Although statistics education research has focused on students’ learning and conceptual understanding of statistics, researchers have only recently begun investigating students’ perceptions of statistics. The term perception describes the overlap between cognitive and non-cognitive factors. In this mixed-methods study, undergraduate students provided their perceptions of statistics and completed the Survey of Students’ Attitudes Toward Statistics-36 (SATS-36). The qualitative data suggest students had basic knowledge of what the word statistics meant, but with varying depths of understanding and conceptualization of statistics. Quantitative analysis also examined the relationship between students’ perceptions of statistics and attitudes toward statistics. We found no significant difference in mean pre- or post-SATS scores across conceptualization and content knowledge categories. The implications of these findings for education and research are discussed. First published November 2012 at Statistics Education Research Journal: Archives


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-45
Author(s):  
KELLY FINDLEY ◽  
ALEXANDER LYFORD

Researchers have documented many misconceptions students hold about sampling variability. This study takes a different approach—instead of identifying shortcomings, we consider the productive reasoning pieces students construct as they reason about sampling distributions. We interviewed eight undergraduate students newly enrolled in an introductory statistics course. Taking a grounded theory style approach, we identified 10 resources that students used when reasoning about the sampling distribution for the average within two contexts: penny years and dice rolls. Students had varied success in their responses as they made choices about how to represent their resources in their constructions. Successful constructions exemplified careful blending of resources, while less  successful constructions reflected disjoint perceptions and tensions between seemingly conflicting resources. Our findings stress the importance of framing students as capable reasoning agents by describing student resources that were used while solving tasks related to sampling distributions. We also discuss the influence of context and problem setting in students’ reasoning and resource elicitation. First published May 2019 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-140
Author(s):  
EMMANUEL SONGSORE ◽  
BETHANY J. G. WHITE

Statistics educators have long recognized the importance of empowering students with statistical thinking skills that could be applied beyond the classroom. However, there is a dearth of research on how students deem statistical topics as having practical future relevance after they complete introductory courses. Focusing on student interest in and perceived value of statistics, this study reports findings from a qualitative study that examined students’ written reflections to explore the nature and extent of the perceived future relevance of statistics among undergraduate students who completed a first-year introductory statistics course online. Findings show that students deemed statistics topics as important if they could be applied to their everyday lives or their academic- and career-related interests. We conclude with recommendations for instructors of introductory statistics courses that enroll students with diverse interests and goals. First published November 2018 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
VALERIE NAZZARO ◽  
JENNIFER ROSE ◽  
LISA DIERKER

A central challenge of introductory statistics is the development of curricula that not only serve diverse students, but also leave them wanting more. To evaluate the potential impact of a multidisciplinary, project-based introductory statistics course, students’ future course decisions were compared against traditional statistics courses using administrative data from the fall 2009 through spring 2018 semesters. Results indicated that the project-based course helped promote continued interest in the field of statistics and data analysis based on subsequent selection of courses in the field. First published December 2020 at Statistics Education Research Journal: Archives


2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-71
Author(s):  
CAROLINE RAMIREZ ◽  
CANDACE SCHAU ◽  
ESMA EMMİOĞLU

People forget what they do not use. But attitudes “stick.” Our article emphasizes the importance of students’ attitudes toward statistics. We examine 15 surveys that purport to assess these attitudes and then describe the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics, a commonly used attitude survey. We present our conceptual model of Students’ Attitudes Toward Statistics (SATS-M), which is congruent with Eccles and colleagues’ Expectancy-Value Theory (Eccles’ EVT), as well as others. The SATS-M includes three broad constructs that impact Statistics Course Outcomes: Student Characteristics, Previous Achievement-Related Experiences, and Statistics Attitudes. We briefly describe Eccles’ EVT and other theories that support our SATS-M. We relate findings from research using the SATS to our model and end with implications for statistics education. First published November 2012 at Statistics Education Research Journal: Archives


2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-26
Author(s):  
FRANCESCA CHIESI ◽  
CATERINA PRIMI

The aim of this study was to investigate students’ achievement in introductory statistics courses taking into account the relationships between cognitive and non-cognitive factors. It was hypothesised that achievement was related to background in mathematics (a cognitive variable), as well as to attitudes toward statistics and anxiety (non-cognitive variables). Students were presented with measures assessing their attitudes, mathematical competence, and anxiety toward courses and examinations at the beginning and at the end of their statistics course. Achievement was assessed by tasks assigned during the course, as well as by students’ final grades and the number of exam failures. The results reveal the reationships between cognitive and non-cognitive factors, their changes during the course, and how both interact in predicting achievement. First published May 2010 at Statistics Education Research Journal: Archives


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-93
Author(s):  
INGER PERSSON ◽  
KATRIN KRAUS ◽  
LISBETH HANSSON ◽  
FAN YANG WALLENTIN

Research on students’ attitudes toward statistics has attracted many statistics instructors and statistics education researchers. In this study, we use confirmatory factor analysis to analyze data collected from an introductory statistics course using the Survey of Attitudes toward Statistics. The results suggest that the items and six factors are conceptually relevant, confirming the six-factor structure of the pretest version of SATS-36 on this sample of Swedish students, with a few suggested modifications of the original model structure. Two items are excluded from the Difficulty component, two items on the Affect component are allowed to correlate, and two items on the Cognitive competence component are also allowed to correlate. First published May 2019 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives


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