Notes on Attitudes to Statistics among Swedish Psychology and Education Science Students: The Effects of Self-perception and Anxiety

A number of studies have pointed out the resistance to statistics courses and the anxiety it induces among social science students. The attitudes to statistics among psychology and education science students in a new university in Sweden were studied. Seven students were from a higher level course eight were from a course at a second year level. The students were asked voluntarily to respond to a questionnaire. The higher level students were given the questionnaire both before and after the course and they were also interviewed for about one hour each. Although all students experienced anxiety about statistics, some of them had become more positive to statistics after the course. This shows that feelings of interest and anxiety can exist at the same time. The anxiety might often be a result of low self perception of one’s own mathematical abilities. This self-perception must be made more positive. Teaching statistics at the same time to both distance and campus students is not to be recommended. The students expressed a wish for a more continuous teaching of statistics, repetitions, more practical examples and practice in using statistical packages