Nursing Student Attitudes Toward Statistics

Abstract

Students often enter an introductory statistics class with less than positive attitudes about the subject. They tend to believe statistics is difficult and irrelevant to their lives. Observational evidence from previous studies suggests including projects in a statistics course may enhance students' attitudes toward statistics. This study examines the relationship between inclusion of a student-designed data collection project in an introductory statistics course and 6 components comprising students' attitudes toward statistics. The sample consisted of 42 college students enrolled in an introductory statistics course. Comparisons of those who completed the student-designed data collection project (n = 24) and those who did not complete the project (n = 18) suggest that inclusion of a project may not significantly impact students' attitudes toward statistics. However, these findings must be viewed as only a preliminary step in the study of the effect of projects on attitudes toward statistics.

Statistical Reporting in Nursing Research: Addressing a Common Error in Reporting of p Values (p = .000)

“…For example, Kim and Hayat (2015) identified several gaps between workplace demands and classroom statistical education among master's degree-prepared nurses. Furthermore, Mathew and Aktan (2014) reported that nursing students' attitudes toward statistics need to be improved, which is in line with the results identified by Kiekkas et al (2015), who reported that students have expressed anxiety regarding learning statistics. In addition, Staggs (2019) found several pervasive errors in the reporting of hypothesis testing in scientific nursing research and suggested that better statistical practices should be observed by nursing researchers.…”

“…Numerous studies have identified that nurses’ knowledge of and attitudes toward statistics are lower compared with personnel in other medical specialties (Kiekkas et al, 2015; Mathew & Aktan, 2014). Meanwhile, with the rapid development of nursing research in recent years, the amount of nursing scientific research has increased and the scope of applications of statistical methods has expanded (Grady & Gough, 2015; Morales Asencio, Hueso Montoro, de Pedro‐Gómez, & Bennasar‐Veny, 2017).…”

Attitudes to statistics in primary health care physicians, Qassim province

“…Thus, it is important to determine the attitudes of the target participants, before planning educational programs related to statistics. Various studies have been conducted to determine the attitudes of students to statistics in different fields including psychology and nursing (Zimprich, 2012; Baghi and Kornides, 2013; Mathew and Aktan, 2014). Some studies were also conducted to assess physicians’ attitudes to statistics (Ercan et al ., 2008; Rashid and Subramaniam, 2012; Zhang et al ., 2012; Kilic and Celik, 2013).…”

Pensamiento estadístico: herramienta para el desarrollo de la enfermería como ciencia

“…Esto se asocia a las malas experiencias previas con las matemá-ticas, pero se desconoce que, aunque los métodos estadísticos se basan en teorías matemáticas, no se requiere de ser experto en ellas para aprender a interpretar resultados de análisis estadísticos (36,49). Se ha documentado, incluso, que estas actitudes negativas son más recurrentes en estudiantes de posgrado que en los de pregrado (46).…”