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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 5
Publication Date: May 25, 2023
DOI:10.14738/assrj.105.14687.
Harris, J. D. (2023). Statistical Success: Three-Year Analysis of Student Performance and Student Insights from a First-Year College
Statistics Course. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(5).103-121.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Statistical Success: Three-Year Analysis of Student Performance
and Student Insights from a First-Year College Statistics Course
Jennifer D. Harris
DeVry University 1400 Crystal Drive,
Suite 120, Arlington, VA 22202
ABSTRACT
This study included quantitative and qualitative analysis of three years of students
in an introductory college-level statistics course. The quantitative analysis focused
on what aspects might be relevant to student success. The instructor and the
modality appear to be significantly related to student success. Somewhat
surprisingly, fully onsite courses had a lower success rate than online or partially
online courses. The qualitative analysis focused on the student comments on end
of course surveys for the same three years. These comments were categorized
based on topic and then rated from -3 reflecting a strong negative feeling, through
to +3 indicating a strong positive feeling. These comments highlighted the
importance students placed on live online lessons with the instructor. Students also
appeared to take responsibility for their learning, noting the importance of their
engagement to their success. This study provided unique insights to student success
in an introductory college-level statistics course. Instructor and student
engagement is key, along with opportunities for live connections.
Keywords: statistics, student success, college, quantitative, qualitative.
INTRODUCTION
Basic undergraduate statistics courses generally cover distributions, probabilities, confidence
intervals, hypothesis testing, and regressions, with problems, quizzes, and labs. Given the
consistency of the structure of these courses, they continue to stymie students, posing
challenges for course instructional designers and course instructors. This study builds on the
work of previous researchers in striving to find key elements or characteristics that can predict
success in this course. With those predictors identified, more focused strategies can be used to
improve the presentation, content, or design of the courses.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The literature around these courses considers different aspects of the course, the students,
and/or the instructors. While the administrative issues of the course, such as credit hours and
time of offering might also impact student success, the focus here is on other elements.
Student Characteristics
Student characteristics is one place to consider the potential reasons for challenges in statistics.
A number of students are unprepared to study statistics [1]. There may be a variety of opinions
on what is the best preparation for an introductory statistics course. If students are not
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 10, Issue 5, May-2023
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
prepared or do not apply themselves, then the content and the teaching are superfluous. It has
been shown that students that have higher grades in their previous math courses are more
likely to have success in their college statistics course [2]. While the Dupuis study considered
high school mathematics with college statistics grades, some students take the preparatory
classes for statistics after entering college. When looking at mathematics courses taken at
college, there have been mixed results. Johnson and Kuennen [3], found that achievement of
basic mathematic skills was a significant predictor of students’ statistics grades, while
completing calculus was not. In contrast, Green, Stone, Zegeye, and Charles [4] found that
students who had taken advanced mathematics courses were more likely to do well in statistics
class.
Attitudes can impact statistical achievement as well. Students in statistics might experience
high anxiety about taking the course or about math in general [5] [6]. Studies have been
consistent in showing that increased statistical concerns negatively impacted achievements in
the classroom [7]. Looking at various aspects of student anxiety, it has been found that
cognitive issues were of highest concern, such as language processing and attention [8].
Consistent with this, faculty identified student-related issues as the most common concern in a
study of college statistics faculty [9]. In that study, the most common student-related issues
noted by faculty were academic readiness, fear of math and statistics, and general student
characteristics. With a somewhat different outcome, Hedges [10], found that in the online
delivery mode, female students were more likely to experience anxiety. The study did not find
a difference in anxiety overall among males and females, nor between programs of study.
Presentation of Material
Another potential area of concern in basic statistics courses is how the material is presented.
Delucchi [11] noted that students’ knowledge of statistics increased during the course,
indicating that students learned through the content and presentation, more than their own
characteristics or test-taking ability. Some benefit has been found in using more videos to
present the material [12]. Alternatively, songs and mnemonics have found to be somewhat
successful as well [13]. Alternatively, including more real-world and practical examples such
as through a semester-long project has been shown to help students [14] [15].
It has been postulated that statistics needs to be presented with a more real-world perspective
in a practical approach [16]. Flipping the classroom where most of the preparation work and
readings are done prior to class, has also been suggested with some success [17]. In that study,
the flipped classroom had a variety of differences with the traditional lecture or control group.
To some degree, this was necessary in order to have the flipped versus traditional setting. One
key difference in the study design was in the flipped classroom, teaching assistants used
additional time to focus on the current week’s material, while the traditional classroom focused
on the previous week’s’ content. This makes the study results a bit more difficult to interpret.
Another modality would be online teaching, which may or may not be a flipped classroom.
Online teaching was found to improve students’ attitudes toward learning statistics [18].
In these previous studies, the impact of the various presentation methods considered was
somewhat impactful, helping a subset of students among all those taking the elementary
statistics course.
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Harris, J. D. (2023). Statistical Success: Three-Year Analysis of Student Performance and Student Insights from a First-Year College Statistics Course.
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(5).103-121.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.105.14687
Instructor
Finally, who presents the material during class periods can be key to student success. This
introduces the idea that some individuals more successful in their presentation, making the
“who” more important than the “what” or “how”. A 1990 study considered a professor who
introduced the use of cartoons in statistics class as a potential method for reducing student
stress and, therefore, increasing performance in the course [19]. One of the comments on the
course evaluations was, “I found that the use of cartoons along with a relaxed teaching style
made the class more enjoyable” (emphasis added). Such comments point to the importance of
the specific instructor to the course.
The importance of the instructor in the course was highlighted as well in a 2008 study focused
on the importance of first day activities, actively incorporating students throughout the course,
establishing common language, and monitoring students’ emotions [20]. These all point to the
role of the instructor in the classroom to create a successful environment. Similarly, an article
pointed to the importance of the instructor in reducing anxiety and producing a realistic
framework for the course, as students with those instructors were more likely to be successful
[21].
The key here is whether the success is partially based on the specific instructor, or whether
skills and strategies can be shared successfully across instructors.
CONCEPT OF STUDY
This study considers student characteristics, presentation of material, and specific instructors
over several years of a statistics course taught at a large, private university. This analysis
focused on an 8-week, 200-level statistics course that had an algebra prerequisite. In most
cases, students could take the statistics course anytime in their program of study. Most
students were business or computer majors, and none were mathematics nor statistics majors.
• Literature points to success in previous classes and anxiety as two key characteristics.
In the data available here, the score in previous math class will be tested as a potential
indicator of success in statistics. While anxiety is not measured within the database of
grades, this study will consider the age of students and when in a student’s program
statistics were taken as two potential indicators of success in statistics. Older students
might have more perspective and be less anxious. Students who take statistics later in
their degree program often do so, to avoid the class for as long as possible. Therefore,
to consider student characteristics, the success in statistics class will be considered
based on characteristics such as age, point in program when statistics was taken, and
grade in previous math class.
• To consider the presentation of material, pass rates will be considered between onsite
and online courses. The 2020 pandemic impacts these results as onsite classes needed
to meet virtually as well. The key difference was the length of the live sessions. If the
class was fully online, then class presentations could be for 60 to 90 minutes per week.
If the class was scheduled to be onsite, then the class presentation needed to meet
virtually for 210 to 240 minutes each week. Numerous course sections included both
onsite and online students. In these cases, the course met for the full onsite time.
• To consider the importance of specific instructors, pass rates were compared across
classes based on whether they were full time instructors or adjunct instructors.