Non-mathematics majors doing statistics: Factors behind performance

International audienceMain objectives and theoretical foundation of the research study Nowadays, a large proportion of undergraduate university students are required to undertake at least one statistics or statistics-related course. The main consideration guiding my research study is the exploration of several cognitive and non-cognitive factors, the "other" outcomes of statistics education (Schau, 2003), and their relationship with the students' academic performance in introductory statistics courses offered at tertiary institutions. Cognitive, affective and motivatio na l factors under investigation include: students' feelings, attitudes and beliefs about statistics; students' anxiety feelings and perceived self-efficacy regarding statistics; motivational orientatio ns, achievement goals, students' interest in and engagement with statistics (such as effort, persistence, learning strategies); resilient behaviour characteristics when learning and studying statistics; and prior mathematics or/and statistics background and performance. A proposed theoretical causal model, including direct and indirect effect of these variables on achievement in statistics, will be tested. Moreover, the study focuses on exploring and documenting non-mathematicians' perceptions, behaviors, challenges and experiences when completing a statistics course. My theoretical foundation is supported by some key theories: Social-cognitive learning theory (Bandura, 1997) and Self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977), Expectancy-Value theory (Wigfield and Eccles, 2000) and Achievement Goal theory (Dweck, 1986). Some ideas behind these theories have been adapted to statistics learning experiences and they have been used as a guide for both the quantitative and qualitative strands of my research work. Research design and methodology, and data collection and analysis procedures In order to accomplish the research aims and goals, a mixed-methods research design (that is a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods) has been employed. A self-reported questionnaire, which was designed and developed specifically for the purposes of the doctoral study, has been administered to a larger sample of students in university classroom settings. It comprised of open-and closed-ended questions, and Likert-type questions on a 5-point scale. Individual (and pair) face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of participants who had completed the questionnaire and consented to be interviewed. The data collection procedure can be summarized in three many stages (not in chronological order): quantitative data-gathering (executed in two phases-at the beginning and at the end of the period of instruction of various statistics courses); qualitative data-gathering; and participants' final grades obtained at the end of a statistics course from each of the instructors. The data collection was carried out over a period spanning two academic semesters, the fall semester 2015 and the spring semester Thematic Working Group 05 Proceedings of CERME10 87