Literature Index

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between instructor immediacy and statistics anxiety. It was predicted that students receiving immediacy would report lower levels of statistics anxiety. Using a pretest-posttest-control group design, immediacy was measured using the Instructor Immediacy scale. Statistics anxiety was measured using the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale (STARS).<br><br>Results indicated that instructor immediacy is significantly related to six factors of statistics anxiety, with immediacy explaining between 6% and 20% of the variance in students' anxiety levels. Instructors should attempt to increase their use of immediacy behaviors in order to decrease anxiety.

Most college students are required to enroll in statistics and quantitative research methodology courses as a necessary part of their degree programmes. Unfortunately, many students report high levels of statistics anxiety while enrolled in these classes. Recent years have seen an increase in the number of articles on statistics anxiety appearing in the literature, as researchers have recognised that statistics anxiety is a multidimensionality construct that has debilitative effects on academic performance. Thus, the purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive summary of the literature on statistics anxiety. In particular, the nature, etiology, and prevalence of statistics anxiety are described. Additionally, antecedents (i.e. dispositional, situational and environmental) of statistics anxiety are identified, as well as their effects on statistics achievement. Furthermore, existing measures of statistics anxiety are documented. Finally, based on the literature, successful interventions for reducing statistics anxiety are described. Implications for future research are provided.

"Critical thinking with data" is a new "University Breadth Subject" developed for first year<br>students under The University of Melbourne's "Melbourne Model". It aims to teach important<br>elements of statistical science, with minimal mathematics, and was taught in first semester 2008.<br>We present our approaches to assessment of the subject. This has required the use of approaches<br>that are quite distinct from mainstream statistical subjects, since students are not really being<br>taught to do statistical work. They are required to make astute judgments of material with<br>quantitative information, including such texts as a short article about some research in the<br>newspaper. We have used a variety of forms of assessment, including weekly quizzes, (very) short<br>assignments, and a larger project. The style of assessment is more consistent with that used in<br>humanities subjects, and therefore has some important challenges for staff involved in marking,<br>for example.

In 1993 the Statistics Department at Iowa State University entered into a collaborative agreement with General Motors to develop and deliver a new sequence of courses titled "Applied Statistics for Industry." This paper describes the development and content of these courses as well as their method of delivery. In order to accommodate on campus students as well as students at a distance, the course is presented live at Iowa State University and by videotape delay at General Motors Technical Education sites in Michigan, Ohio, Arizona and Mexico, and across the country at sites of other partner industries. Some of the differences between a statistics course taught in the traditional campus setting and a statistics course taught at a distance will be highlighted. Since there are two audiences (on campus and off campus), several compromises are made in how the course is conducted. These compromises, and their possible effects on students in both environments, are discussed. A summary of how on and off campus students did in these courses over the past five years is included.