STATISTICS LEARNING: MAKING IT EASY FOR NON-STATISTICIANS


Authors: 
Ayse Bilgin, Kehui Luo and Subramanyam Vemulpad
Pages: 
online
Year: 
2008
Publisher: 
Proceedings from the 6TH AUSTRALIAN CONFERENCE ON TEACHING STATISTICS (OZCOTS)
URL: 
http://silmaril.math.sci.qut.edu.au/ozcots2008/OZCOTS-08-Proceedings.pdf
Abstract: 

Nowadays, statistics is taught to university students in many non-statistics disciplines, such as<br>chiropractic and health. In this study we examined and compared chiropractic students'<br>experiences of using two statistical software programs, one web based and another Excel based,<br>to identify the strength and weakness of each program that might influence statistical learning.<br>Data were collected through a survey of students, and analysed using the chi-squared and the<br>McNemar tests. The web based program appeared to have a good potential due to its particular<br>features and functions, flexibility and easy accessibility. Although the web based program has<br>better graphical displays, broader range of analytic capabilities and remote access, students<br>found the Excel based program relatively easier to use than the web based one. This study<br>suggests that more online instructions and explanations are needed in the web based program for<br>non-statistics students, to aid their statistical learning.

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