We examined the attitudes of about 2200 students enrolled in 101 sections of post-secondary introductory statistics service courses located across the United States. Using the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics-36, we assessed students’ attitudes when they entered and left their courses, as well as changes in attitudes across their courses. Results showed that, on average, students entered these courses with neutral (Affect, Difficulty), positive (Cognitive Competence, Value, Interest), and very positive (Effort) attitudes. Their attitudes either stayed about the same (Affect, Cognitive Competence, Difficulty) or decreased (Value, Interest, Effort). These results help us understand the current impact of introductory statistics instruction in U.S. institutions.
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