ERIC EJ876503: International Issues in Education

2008·0.07 MB·English

by  ERIC

International issues in education
Kai Ruggeri, Carmen Díaz, Karl Kelley, Ilona Papousek,
Martin Dempster & Donncha Hanna
Abstract
Anxiety, negative attitudes, and attrition are all issues presented in the teaching of statistics to undergraduates
in research-based degrees regardless of location. Previous works have looked at these obstacles, but none
have consolidated a multilingual, multinational effort using a consistent method. Over 400 Spanish-,
English-, and German-speaking undergraduate students enrolled in introductory psychology statistics
courses were given the Composite Survey of Statistics Anxiety and Attitudes to determine the precursors and
effects of existing problems. Results indicated that student background was heavily linked to attitudes and
anxieties. The measure was supported as a viable method for more than one class or university in address-
ing issues in statistics education, developing interventions to improve students’ experiences, and then deter-
mining the success of those changes.
W
ITH THE growing importance of tics. While the impression educators have
statistics education in various aca- taken from student sentiment may, in fact,
demic programs of all types (Ban- be accurate (Gal & Ginsburg, 1994), a spe-
dalos, Finney & Geske, 2003), it is necessary cific issue must be targeted for interventions
to examine the issues surrounding the teach- to work beyond a single classroom.
ing and learning of statistics (Batanero, Two commonly addressed issues in statis-
2004). Specifically at the post-secondary tics education are statistics anxiety and atti-
level, where universities now have the obliga- tudes toward statistics, noted as the most
tion both to educate students and prepare pertinent issues to address in teaching statis-
them for professional work (Bakker, Chance, tics (Blalock, 1987) These have been linked
Jun & Watson, 2004), obstacles preventing to negative outcomes, such as poor perform-
students from achieving statistical literacy, ance and avoidance of statistics (Zeidner,
obstacles like anxiety, cognitive deficits, poor 1991).
attitudes, should be addressed (Ben-Zvi & Statistics anxiety is a unique construct
Garfield, 2004). from mathematical anxiety (Balog˘lu, 1999).
While a range of anecdotal solutions to It has been linked with a variety of negative
obstacles have been presented by long-time outcomes in various degree programmes
statistics educators (i.e. Gelman & Nolan, (Onwuegbuzie & Wilson, 2003), particularly
2002; Wainer, 2005), they are generally pre- research-based areas such as psychology
sented based on beliefs of the teacher that (Tremblay et al., 2000). Though it may be
certain methods will better assist their stu- linked with other anxieties, it is specifically
dents and not on any empirical data the negative reaction to anything involving
(Bartsch, 2006). Other attempts have tar- statistical information, computation, or
geted overall appeal, by implementing pre- interpretation in both academic and practi-
sumptively engaging activities on the first day cal situations (Cruise et al., 1985; Onwueg-
of the course (Henslee et al., Burgess & buzie & Daly, 1999).
Buskist, 2006). Yet, all of these attempts have Attitudes toward statistics have generally
been based on impressions instructors have been noted by reactions of both students
taken from students and were not built to and educators in the subject (Garfield et al.,
address known problems in teaching statis- 2002). These attitudes are the response to
Psychology Teaching Review Vol 14 No 2 65
© The British Psychological Society 2008
Kai Ruggeri et al.
how individuals experience statistics (Gal et any intervention to be applicable beyond a
al., 1997). Like statistics anxiety, a variety of situational context, broad measurement
measures exist to gauge these feelings. must first take place. Given that much of
While tests for statistics anxiety exist, the the previous work in the area has been
Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale (STARS; Cruise undertaken in English- and Spanish-speak-
& Wilkins, 1980) was the first created solely to ing locations, American, British, and Spanish
address this particular phenomenon. Other universities might provide an appropriate
measures, such as the Revised Mathematics first sample. German-speaking universities
Anxiety Rating Scale (Plake & Parker, 1982) also highlight the importance of statistics in
and the Statistics Anxiety Inventory (Zeidner, the social sciences while providing diverse
1991), were developed either as a link to math- populations of students.
ematical anxiety or as single-use measures for Potential cultural differences were
a particular study. Furthermore, validity scores expected to vary the results somewhat, it is
of the STARS have shown the six subscales still important to compare these findings in
(worth of statistics, interpretation anxiety, test order to address the problem from a per-
and class anxiety, computation self-concept, spective that all may benefit. Due to diversity
fear of asking for help, fear of statistics teach- within and between universities of students
ers) are best suited to address the potential and educators alike, all research in the area
aspects of the problem (Balog˘lu, 2002). of statistics education will face the predica-
The Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics ment of lacking homogeneity (Ben-Zvi &
(SATS; Schau et al., 1997) has demonstrated Garfield, 2004). To address this, analyses will
that the multi-dimensional (four) model it take into account the specific items relating
provides (affect, cognitive competence, to student background when determining
value, difficulty) is the most reliable measure differences and similarities are presented.
available (Schau, 2003). While the Attitudes Based on the issues in teaching statistics
Toward Statistics Questionnaire and Statis- to undergraduate psychology students,
tics Attitude Survey do address similar topics, the lack of an internationally consistent
the lack of unique factors means they do not measure, and the need for changes to
cover all necessary variables in their assess- improve the course, the goals of this particu-
ment (Gal etal., 1997). This addresses more lar work were fourfold:
possible factors, whereas others only focus 1. Create an internationally reliable testing
on single or two-dimensional approaches. measure to address issues in statistics
Many previous studies have utilised both education.
STARS and SATS – some even concurrently 2. Identify similarities and differences in
(Nasser, 2004) – but few potential antecedents, statistics education between multiple
externalities, or personal characteristics (aside locations.
from gender and previous mathematics expe- 3. Find potential causes for the obstacles
rience) which may contribute to the issues in found in statistics education.
developing statistical literacy are addressed in 4. Encourage other research-based institu-
either. Many untested suggestions of likely tions to consider issues in their own
causes of negative attitudes and statistics anxi- curriculum in order to improvement the
ety exist (i.e. Haynes, Mullins & Stein, 2004), development of future researchers.
such as family background, previous statistics
experience, workload, and expectations. Method
Whilst statistics anxiety and attitude liter- Instrument
ature has been produced from all over the The Composite Survey of Statistics Anxiety
world, a joint effort of educators from differ- and Attitudes (COSSAA) is a combination of
ent universities, nationalities, and languages the previously developed Survey of Attitudes
in a single, extrapolatory study is lacking. For Toward Statistics (SATS) and Statistics Anxi-
66 Psychology Teaching Review Vol 14 No 2
International issues in education
ety Rating Scale along with questions to tap Austria, and a small private college in the
into a range of demographic factors, previ- United States were asked to complete the
ous experiences, and expectations of statis- Composite Study of Statistics Anxiety and
tics. It includes: Attitudes. In total, 463 participants (73.2 per
academic level; cent female) ranging in age from 17 to 52
age; (M(cid:2)20.9) from all undergraduate levels
gender; took part. All students were asked to take
first language; part during their statistics lectures or tutori-
awareness of statistics in degree pro- als. Of the entire sample, only five students
gramme; were not enrolled in courses taught in their
expectation of success; native language.
family background in degree subject;
non-traditional student (i.e. mature, Procedure
international); In order to assess if issues in teaching statis-
class size preference; tics were prevalent regardless of the location,
statistical relevance to subject; timing, and educator, students from each
secondary school mathematics; location completed the COSSAA at different
confidence in statistical thinking; points in their academic calendar. English-
expectations of statistics course; and speaking collections were done at the begin-
professor influence. ning of the term, before any statistics
The original language of both the STARS teaching was undertaken. German and Span-
and SATS is English, as was the completed ish versions were collected in the middle of
COSSAA. The composite tool was translated the academic year, immediately before and
by a bilingual native Spanish speaker and after winter vacation periods, respectively.
then checked for fidelity by the first author All students were instructed to answer every
(bilingual, English) and distributor (bilin- question honestly and were given no time
gual, Spanish). A similar process was used for constraints to do so, though most needed
the German version, using two bilingual between 15 and 20 minutes to complete the
(German-English, one native speaker of 103 questions.
each) academic interpreters.
Results
Participants Personal background
Undergraduate psychology students from a Family background in research did not heav-
medium public university in Spain, large uni- ily influence even with 15.4 per cent of par-
versities in both the United Kingdom and ticipants fitting that category, it was not a
Nationality (participants*) % Female Mean age
Spanish (85) 79.3 21.63
British (196) 71.9 20.66
American (42) 66.7 20.35
Austrian (104) 82.7 20.86
German (27) 51.9 21.15
Other** (5) 100.0 21.20
Table 1: Participant information: Sample size, nationality, gender and age. Note: *Some students did
not complete the demographic section. **One participant from each Italy, Romania, Pakistan,
Norway and Bosnia-Herzegovina
Psychology Teaching Review Vol 14 No 2 67
Kai Ruggeri et al.
significant predictor of any of the scales of
University Percent aware
statistics anxiety or attitudes. Age was an
Austria 71.4
equally insignificant factor, accounting for
no significant results in any of the ten sub- Spain 14.1
scales. USA 57.1
While academic level did was a predictor
UK/Ireland 46.4
four of the STARS subscales, it did not
account for even 4 per cent of the variation
Table 2: Student awareness of statistics in
in any, and was not a significant predictor in
psychology
any SATS factors.
Relevance N Mean Mean SD t df p(2-tailed)
difference
Daily statistics Yes 424 3.03 .804 .904 5.031 457 (cid:4).001
confidence
No 35 2.23 .973
Statistics are useful Yes 425 3.08 .835 .907 5.329 459 (cid:4).001
No 36 2.25 .841
Statistics are enjoyable Yes 425 2.40 .535 1.126 2.799 460 .005
No 37 1.86 .976
Statistics are difficult Yes 425 3.60 (cid:5).341 .941 (cid:5)2.110 460 .035
No 37 3.95 .970
Confidence in mastery Yes 419 4.75 .997 1.509 3.856 454 (cid:4).001
No 37 3.76 1.498
Worth of statistics Yes 425 37.49 (cid:5)12.533 11.391 (cid:5)6.456 460 (cid:4).001
No 37 50.03 10.516
Interpretation anxiety Yes 425 27.36 (cid:5)4.716 8.617 (cid:5)3.249 460 .001
No 37 32.08 6.487
Test and class anxiety Yes 425 24.70 (cid:5)4.655 6.961 (cid:5)3.977 460 (cid:4).001
No 37 29.35 5.023
Computation Yes 425 18.00 (cid:5)3.160 6.296 (cid:5)2.970 460 .003
self-concept
No 37 21.16 5.053
Fear of asking for help Yes 425 8.84 (cid:5)1.507 3.759 (cid:5)2.322 460 .021
No 37 10.35 4.098
Affect Yes 425 24.59 (cid:5)3.545 7.493 (cid:5)2.773 460 .006
No 37 28.14 7.020
Cognitive competence Yes 425 20.70 (cid:5)2.893 6.807 (cid:5)2.512 460 .012
No 37 23.59 5.595
Value Yes 425 29.38 (cid:5)11.567 8.894 (cid:5)7.504 460 (cid:4).001
No 37 40.95 10.088
Table 3: Impact of finding statistics relevant to psychology
68 Psychology Teaching Review Vol 14 No 2
International issues in education
Though 63.7 per cent of students did Statistics anxiety
indicate they would have preferred a smaller Aside from the fear of asking for help, sub-
class size for instruction, this was not a signif- scales varied heavily between countries. How-
icant factor in 8 of the ten subscales, and ever, post hoc tests showed these differences
accounted for less than 2 per cent of the vari- were typically between one extreme group
ation in fear of statistics teachers and diffi- per subscale, and not necessarily between the
culty. entire group.
Expectations Attitudes toward statistics
On the whole, many students did not antici- Much like the statistics anxiety subscales, all
pate doing statistics in their course, with only attitude subscales varied based on location.
49.1 per cent indicating an awareness of it. Similarly, these variations were consistently
However, 86.3 per cent expected to succeed traced back to a single extreme location.
at introductory statistics, which meant there
was an overlap of students who did not antic- Teacher influence
ipate statistics but did not see that as a barrier The amount of influence a teacher had on
to success. the experience of a course varied between
Though the overwhelming majority of universities; F(2,266)(cid:2)3.065, p(cid:2).05. Addi-
students did see the relevance of statistics to tionally, this was significantly associated with
their area, the 8.0 per cent who did not had six of the ten anxiety and attitude subscales,
equal or lower expectations and confidence, generally at a weak to moderate level.
higheranxiety levels, and more negative atti-
tudes toward statistics. Discussion
Confidence played a considerable role in The overall finding of the research indicates
both anxiety and attitudes, as it accounted that issues – statistics anxiety, negative atti-
for a significant amount of variance in all ten tudes, etc. – involving undergraduate stu-
of the subscales. dents’ learning of statistics can be found
R R-square Adjusted R-square
Statistics anxiety
Worth of statistics .614 .378 .375
Interpretation anxiety .519 .269 .266
Test and class anxiety .553 .306 .303
Computation self-concept .676 .456 .454
Fear of asking for help .290 .084 .080
Fear of statistics teachers .355 .126 .122
Attitudes toward statistics
Affect .656 .430 .427
Cognitive competence .675 .455 .453
Value .571 .326 .323
Difficulty .371 .138 .134
Table 4: Regressions: Confidence
Psychology Teaching Review Vol 14 No 2 69
Kai Ruggeri et al.
The factors related to statistics anxiety
F p
and attitudes show quite clearly that students
Worth of statistics 9.071 (cid:4).001
are, probably for a variety of reasons, having
Interpretation anxiety 49.917 (cid:4).001 quite difficulties and negative experiences in
Test and class anxiety 30.337 (cid:4).001 their statistics courses. Furthermore, the
Computation 19.234 (cid:4).001 background may be the reasons for those
issues which need to be addressed within a
self-concept
course. These are both incredibly relevant
Fear of asking for help 0.943 (cid:4).05
findings in the light of improving student
Fear of statistics 13.296 (cid:4).001
experiences in statistics education.
teachers
In order to address how to go about
developing such an intervention, the feed-
Table 5: ANOVA for statistics anxiety between
back of the students must be considered.
universities
First, unique attention should be paid to the
primary areas of concern produced. For
across universities and nationalities. While example, as many students simply did not
specific inferences may be made about sev- consider statistics of value, seeking ways to
eral of these aspects, the main purpose was provide students incentive and motivation to
not to determine where some areas were learn statistics may be necessary.
strong and others were weak, but to highlight Teacher influence was significantly
the importance of the issues at hand for all. correlated with the most important statistics
anxiety subscales (Onwuegbuzie, 1997) as
Mean Difference p
Worth UK/Ireland Austria 5.41 (cid:4).001
USA 6.35 (cid:4).01
Spain 5.61 (cid:4).001
Interpretation anxiety Austria USA (cid:5)6.78 (cid:4).001
Spain (cid:5)7.47 (cid:4).001
UK/Ireland (cid:5)9.97 (cid:4).001
Spain UK/Ireland (cid:5)2.49 0.05
Test and class anxiety Austria USA (cid:5)2.94 (cid:4).05
Spain (cid:5)6.49 (cid:4).001
UK/Ireland (cid:5)6.09 (cid:4).001
USA Spain (cid:5)3.55 (cid:4).05
UK/Ireland (cid:5)3.15 (cid:4).05
Computation UK/Ireland Austria 4.29 (cid:4).001
self-concept USA 5.38 (cid:4).001
Spain 2.95 (cid:4).01
Fear of statistics UK/Ireland Austria 1.33 (cid:4).01
teachers USA 2.44 (cid:4).001
Spain 2.42 (cid:4).001
Table 6: Post hoccomparisons of statistics anxiety between universities
70 Psychology Teaching Review Vol 14 No 2
International issues in education
then they automatically qualify as primary
F p
sources of providing that awareness. Further-
Affect 15.691 (cid:4).001
more, universities have an obligation to admit
Cognitive competence 15.52 (cid:4).001 students who are capable of succeeding in
Value 6.416 (cid:4).001 their course, thus they should also be expected
Difficulty 9.454 (cid:4).001 to make the statistics requirement known.
Anxiety and attitude improvements have
been attempted in the past. While many pub-
Table 7: ANOVA for attitudes toward statistics
lished interventions to improve statistics edu-
between universities
cation do exist, they primarily address
well as four other subscales. Thus, the teach- classroom-specific issues. This is a problem in
ing of the course is clearly something which that not all of these strategies are practical
must be addressed. However, a more focused for more than a very similar situation (i.e.
attempt to determine how teaching influ- small class size, social science-only students)
ences these constructs is necessary. Also, as which provides a comparable target group.
the expectations of students clearly played a Furthermore, almost none of these studies
role in their experience of the course, the provided control groups, before and after
role teaching may play in improving these results, nor standardised testing measures.
should also be investigated.
If students are actually affected by their Sample differences
awareness – or lack thereof – then this must be There was a lack of homogeneity between
addressed immediately. Whether the responsi- the groups tested. Each university had very
bility for this is upon the university or the sec- different sizes of students enrolled in the
ondary school likely depends on the location. course, thus varying heavily the number of
As this problem is generally found at the uni- participants from each. This clearly affects
versity level, it is likely the first step must come the extent to which results can be compared.
from there. However, if secondary school Three concepts which were not addressed
counsellors are responsible for guiding stu- specifically by the COSSAA were culture, tim-
dents as they select tertiary academic degrees, ing, and educators. The basics of these
Mean Difference p
Affect UK/Ireland Austria 4.90 (cid:4).001
USA 5.04 (cid:4).001
Spain 3.70 (cid:4).001
Cognitive competence UK/Ireland Austria 3.07 (cid:4).001
USA 5.31 (cid:4).001
Spain 4.58 (cid:4).001
Value UK/Ireland USA 5.79 (cid:4).01
Spain 3.69 (cid:4).01
Difficulty Austria USA 3.88 (cid:4).01
Spain 3.97 (cid:4).001
UK/Ireland USA 3.32 (cid:4).01
Spain 3.40 (cid:4).001
Table 8: Post hoccomparisons of attitudes toward statistics between universities
Psychology Teaching Review Vol 14 No 2 71
Kai Ruggeri et al.
Teacher influence
Worth of statistics Pearson correlation (cid:5).309
Sig. (2-tailed) (cid:4).001
N 267
Interpretation anxiety Pearson correlation (cid:5).128
Sig. (2-tailed) .037
N 267
Fear of statistics teachers Pearson correlation (cid:5).258
Sig. (2-tailed) (cid:4).001
N 267
Affect Pearson correlation (cid:5).152
Sig. (2-tailed) .013
N 267
Cognitive competence Pearson correlation (cid:5).188
Sig. (2-tailed) .002
N 267
Value Pearson correlation (cid:5).264
Sig. (2-tailed) (cid:4).001
N 267
Table 9: Relationship of perception of teacher’s influence on experi-
ence in statistics and statistics anxiety and attitudes toward statistics
aspects were known (i.e. nationality or time in one of multiple statistics courses required
in term), but specifics about exact influences of their degree, whereas English-speaking
in culture, subjects at the time of collection, students were tested at the onset of their first
and teaching style were not considered. In course. Any of these could clearly influence
that these may play as much of a role in the differences in the results.
experiences and responses to the teaching of Another possible issue was the question
this, or any, course, it is not sufficient to only of teacher influence. As the question was not
relate student backgrounds to the result. included in the British university edition,
For the universities tested, these were many of the possible differences in the way
three heavily different confounds. American the course was taught could not be exam-
participants each attended a small, private ined to determine how it impacted student
Midwestern college where the teacher was views of teachers.
very much involved with students’ interac- The major drawback of this sample prob-
tion with material (i.e. teaching all lectures lem is the possibility of new biases intro-
in a small classroom, responsible for all duced via the translated testing method. To
assessment). Students in the United King- correct this, future administrations or expan-
dom also took an English version of the sur- sions of this study must first address and test
vey, but did so in a very large university, potential biases before implementation.
where multiple lecturers handle the teach- While this issue may not apply to yes-no and
ing of statistics and rarely interact with stu- background questions, variations may indi-
dents. Spanish and Austrian students did cate biases, not culture or language, are in
take language-appropriate versions, but were fact the cause (Muñiz, 2004).
72 Psychology Teaching Review Vol 14 No 2
International issues in education
Determining the relevance research means that statistics education must
One of the main difficulties in understand- become a focal point of study. Institutions of
ing issues in statistics education is the lack of higher education must take note of this, as it
a standardised testing measure. While links is now their duty to both prepare students as
have been made to poor performance in a future researchers and develop skills beyond
course, it is yet to be determined if this is their immediate focus. Though students may
applicable to any type of assessment. In that not particularly desire learning the subject, it
curricular standards will vary even within a is something they must do.
discipline, producing a standardised test may Forthcoming work must address negative
be superfluous. For instance, whereas psy- attitudes, statistics anxiety, and expectations
chological statistics curricula will likely if it is to produce any meaningful effect. Fur-
address the same topics, different universi- thermore, it must do so using standardised
ties will vary in the implementation of this measures which others can use as a barome-
teaching. (i.e. handwritten formulae and cal- ter of success for students and educators in
culations versus using computerised statisti- all places. As there may be only one opportu-
cal programs). nity to provide this teaching, these improve-
Interdisciplinary standards potentially ments are urgently needed.
vary to an even greater degree. This may be
seen when comparing a sociological course Acknowledgements
focused on demographic and interpretative
Special thanks to Alexandra More for provid-
learning to a biological course, which would ing essential preliminary information to
focus heavily on sampling and distribution. begin the project and to Dr Carmen
In response, future work can identify what Batanero for facilitating communication
specific aspects of learning are affected by between the collaborators.
the issues presented by statistics anxiety and
negative attitudes.
Address for correspondence
Conclusion Kai Ruggeri, School of Psychology, Queen’s
The importance of understanding statistics University Belfast, BT7 1NN.
to produce appropriate methodologies for E-mail: [email protected]
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