Three experiments were conducted with college age beginning statistics students to assess the validity of six popular beliefs about factors related to statistics achievement. Mathematics background and ability, logical reasoning ability, attitude toward statistics, and anxiety were all found to have some relationship to statistics achievement. Differences between graduates and undergraduates, and men and women, were also explored. No significant differences were found between the groups on any single factor related to statistics achievement. There were, however, differences in how those factors combined to affect achievement for the different groups. It was concluded that no one variable explored here is singularly necessary for achievement in beginning 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