Cook Kyle DeMeo, Catanzaro Brooke A
St. John's University, School of Education, 8000 Utopia Parkway, 11790 Jamaica, NY USA.
Innov High Educ. 2023;48(2):257-284. doi: 10.1007/s10755-022-09621-w. Epub 2022 Aug 16.
Doctoral students in education-related fields are required to take graduate level statistics courses and often face anxiety and negative attitudes about taking these courses. Using a mixed methods survey research design ( = 95), this study explored students' experiences with statistics anxiety and how course instructors can support them to mitigate statistics anxiety and improve attitudes. Analyses of quantitative survey data found that students who had never taken a statistics course before beginning their doctoral program, and students that had completed less doctoral coursework had higher negative attitudes towards learning statistics; and older students had higher statistics anxiety. Plans to use research in the future predicted more positive attitudes and lower statistics anxiety. Analysis of qualitative survey data found that students: (1) expressed that their attitude towards learning statistics was very important and played a big role in how they approached their coursework; (2) considered their plans to use research skills in the future as motivation to learn statistics; and (3) believed that their instructors' attitudes and instructional practices supported learning and decreased statistics anxiety. This study has implications for how statistics and research methods courses are taught in higher education, and how the experiences of graduate students in education may have lasting implications for research use in Prek-12 education settings.
教育相关领域的博士生需要修读研究生水平的统计学课程，并且在学习这些课程时常常会面临焦虑和消极态度。本研究采用混合方法调查研究设计（n = 95），探讨了学生在统计学焦虑方面的经历，以及课程教师如何支持他们减轻统计学焦虑并改善态度。对定量调查数据的分析发现，在开始博士课程之前从未修读过统计学课程的学生，以及完成的博士课程作业较少的学生，对学习统计学的消极态度更高；年龄较大的学生统计学焦虑程度更高。未来使用研究的计划预示着更积极的态度和更低的统计学焦虑。对定性调查数据的分析发现，学生们：（1）表示他们对学习统计学的态度非常重要，并且在他们对待课程作业的方式中起着很大的作用；（2）将他们未来使用研究技能的计划视为学习统计学的动力；（3）认为他们的教师的态度和教学实践有助于学习并降低统计学焦虑。本研究对高等教育中统计学和研究方法课程的教学方式具有启示意义，并且教育领域研究生的经历如何可能对学前至12年级教育环境中的研究应用产生持久影响。
