Async-02: What are the introductory statistics tasks that require the highest self-efficacy for community college students?

Abstract

The Current Statistics Self-Efficacy (CSSE) instrument was developed by Finney and Schraw (2003) and it is a popular tool to assess students' self-efficacy to learn statistics. However, community college students have rarely been studied in statistics education research. The study aims at deriving a hierarchy of tasks that students feel most confident on through the use of Rasch analysis. A survey was conducted on N = 161 community college students enrolled in an introductory statistics course. A Rasch rating scale model was applied to empirically examine the item hierarchy. The hardest item to endorse for the students was distinguishing between Type I and Type II error in hypothesis testing, while the easiest item to endorse was identifying the measure of central tendency. We will share how statistics instructors can use the item hierarchy to allocate time, materials, and resources when lesson planning for the topics rated hardest to endorse.