Students often enter an introductory statistics class with less than positive attitudes about the subject.<br>They tend to believe statistics is difficult and irrelevant to their lives. Observational evidence from<br>previous studies suggests including projects in a statistics course may enhance students' attitudes toward<br>statistics. This study examines the relationship between inclusion of a student-designed data collection<br>project in an introductory statistics course and 6 components comprising students' attitudes toward<br>statistics. The sample consisted of 42 college students enrolled in an introductory statistics course.<br>Comparisons of those who completed the student-designed data collection project (n = 24) and those who<br>did not complete the project (n = 18) suggest that inclusion of a project may not significantly impact<br>students' attitudes toward statistics. However, these findings must be viewed as only a preliminary step in<br>the study of the effect of projects on attitudes toward statistics.
The CAUSE Research Group is supported in part by a member initiative grant from the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and Data Science Education