A Fallacy in Student Attitude Research: The Impact of the First Class

• Activity Number: 193
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, July 30, 2012 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education
• Author(s): Michael Posner*+
• Companies: Villanova University
• Keywords: Statistics Education ; Attitudes ; Statistics Education Research ; Learning

Abstract

Student attitudes have been shown to be an important measure in short-term learning and long-term retention of material. Many researchers, however, become frustrated when instruments like the Survey of Attitudes Towards Statistics (SATS) fail to show an increase in student attitudes over time. Most researchers give students the test after a week of classes have completed, which fails to recognize the impacts of the first class or first few classes on the students' attitudes. This study quantifies the impact of the first class on student attitudes. It involves 960 students across 27 sections of statistics in four major areas (business, nursing, STEM majors, and general education) at a mid-size, comprehensive university. The study design is a randomized trial where half of the students in each class take the SATS before the first class and half taking the SATS after the first class. Additional exploration of the relationship between attitudes and math aptitude and previous statistics course is examined, as well as the relationship between attitudes and course performance. A discussion on the impact of these findings on other published studies will be done as well.