Contributed Paper C108
In session C4A (Tuesday 10th, 11:00-12:30, Level 3 - Conference Room B)Attitudes & Beliefs in Statistics Learning for Social Science Graduate students
Authors
Liuli Huang (Louisiana State University, United States)Erin Scott-Stewart (Louisiana State University, United States)
Presenter
Erin Scott-Stewart (United States)Abstract
This study is designed to explore social science graduate students’ attitudes toward statistics learning with a qualitative approach. Findings suggest that the graduate students have more positive attitudes and less anxiety toward statistics, high confidence in dealing with statistical challenges, and a strong willingness to learn statistics well. Four activities were generalized from the comments to reduce statistics anxiety and make statistics learning enjoyable. These four activities are 1) emphasizing the basic concepts to ensure mastery, 2) making more time for statistics learning, 3) focusing on fewer materials each time to increase learning, and 4) relating statistics learning to students’ research areas. These findings are important for institutions to consider in developing effective instructional and policy approaches to helping specific populations of students.