Predicting Student Effort in Statistics: A Path Model of Student Attitudes and Effort Toward Statistics

• In Event: 66.059 - Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: 66.059-5 - Poster Session 1: Motivational Processes

Abstract

Attitudes towards statistics have been found to have a positive relationship with statistics course outcomes. The Model of Student Attitudes Towards Statistics (SATS-M; Ramirez, Shau and Emmioğlu, 2012) provides a theoretical framework for understanding the relationships between attitudes, effort in a statistics course, and learning outcomes. Using data from 310 undergraduate students who had completed a college statistics course, we provide evidence for an alternative model that illustrates the importance of associations between prior math achievement, affect, perceived difficulty and perceived competence for statistics, when trying to understand the effort students made for a statistics course. Findings showed that prior math achievement and college GPA explained effort through mediators, such as affect and perceived difficulty, above and beyond student characteristics.

Authors

• Tamarah Smith, Cabrini College

• Ting Dai, University of Illinois at Chicago