Statistics Anxiety Among Female African American Graduate-Level Social Work Students

Abstract

Studies have found that statistics anxiety among female and minority graduate students is higher than that of their Caucasian counterparts. Both gender and culturally sensitive approaches to teaching statistics need to be developed to reduce student anxiety, especially in graduate programs that are dominated by women and minorities. The current study presents data on pre-and post-course statistics among female African American MSW students enrolled in a gender and culturally sensitive statistics course. A series of t-tests revealed that students had significantly lower levels of anxiety about statistics after the course. Implications for integrating gender and culturally sensitive approaches into the curriculum are discussed, and recommendations for future research are provided.

The state of the art of teaching research methods in the social sciences: towards a pedagogical culture

“…The remainder of the publications focus primarily on learning (rather than teaching) statistics and the accompanying anxiety. Exceptions are Calderwood (2002) who examines incorporating multiple epistemologies into teaching statistics and Davis (2004) who considers the effect of gender and culture in mediating statistics anxiety. Harrington (1999) and Royse (2000) compare the effectiveness of teaching statistics in web-based distance mode and in a traditional classroom; they find no appreciable difference.…”

The Peer Assisted Teaching Model for Undergraduate Research at a HBCU

“…Compared to Caucasian students, female African American social work students scored higher on a scale of statistics anxiety (Davis, 2003), and a sample of predominantly female African American Department of Education students scored higher levels of statistics-related anxiety and test anxiety compared to their Caucasian counterparts (Onwuegbuzie, 1999). Among many factors, statistics-related anxiety has been identified as an obstacle to academic success among African American BSW students.…”

“…Their rationale behind involving students to educate other students who were at risk for failing a course that was a prerequisite to other STEM courses was to decrease the feeling of intimidation experienced by the student-learner. This is important when teaching course material that provokes anxiety (Davis, 2003;Einbinder, 2014). A second benefit was to increase mastery of the subject by the students who acted as instructors.…”

“…BSW students are expected to become familiar with statistical software, conduct data analysis by applying statistical methods, develop proficiency in word processing programs, and create "PowerPoint" presentations. Despite this wide application of technological methods in BSW education, social work students reported more research and computer anxiety than their counterparts in psychology and business in a comparative study (Davis, 2003;Green, Bretzin, Leininger, & Stauffer, 2001;Maschi, Wells, Slater, MacMillan, & Ristow, 2013). Even though BSW students are typically at ease when expected to learn clinical information directly related to general practice with individuals, families, groups, and communities, they are less likely to associate learning research methods with their professional social work goals (Harder, 2010;Hudson, 1978a).…”

Teaching Statistics to MSW Students: Comparing Credit and Non-Credit Options

“…Junius and Sidell (2009) focused on dispositional factors, such as the need to help students increase their motivation and ownership of learning statistics. Davis (2003) is among the researchers who have explored personal factors, including the higher levels of statistics anxiety among female and minority social work graduate students.…”