TEACHERS' ATTITUDES TOWARD STATISTICS '

Szrtnmay.-Wise's 1985 Attitude Toward Statistics scale was used to obtain normative data for 222 teachers enrolled in graduate classes in statistics and research methods. Comparisons with norms from other studies in which the scale was used indicated that these teachers had less positive attitudes toward the field of statistics and the course than did graduare students in psychology. In addition, the teachers had less positive attitudes toward the field of statistics than did undergraduate students from a variety of disciplines. These ddferences in attitudes ranged from .55 to .87 standard deviations, indicating moderate to large effect sizes. Recommendations for research include replicating the study. As many fields require the use of at least basic statistical reasoning, increasing n~~mbers of students are required to undertake statistics courses. Unfortunately, many students have reponed negative attitudes toward statistics (Douphinee, Schau, & Stevens, 1997). Thar researchers consistently have reported a positive relationship benveen attitudes toward statistics and statistical competence (Zimmer & Fuller, 1996) justifies the importance of identifying students with negative attitudes. One scale which appears to have been utilized most often is Wise's (1985) Attitude Toward Statistics. The purpose was to utilize the Attitude Toward Statistics scale to provide normative data for teachers enrolled in introducrory graduate courses in statistics and research methods. Surprisingly, no study appears to have examined teachers' attitudes toward statistics, although educators argue that teachers who undertake research in their classrooms tend to improve their teaching and learning (McClean, 1995). Method.-Participants were 222 public school teachers (198 women and 24 men) enroUed in introductory graduate courses in statistics and research methods, who were administered the Attitude Toward Statistics scale on the first day of class. It was decided to compare attitudes toward statistics of employed re.lchers wich those of the graduate srudents in psychology used in Shultz and Koshino's 11'198) study at the beginning of the academic term, it., before instruction took place, to mlnlrnlze [he potentially confounding effects of differential instruction. In any case, studies have shown that these attitudes remain fairly stable for the duration of statistics courses (Shultz & Koshino, 1998). The Attitudes Toward Statistics is a scale of 29 items to be rated on 5 points and summated for two subscales which measure students' attitudes toward the field of statistics (Field) and toward the statistics course in which they are enrolled (Course). The Field subscale has 20 items, e.g., "A good researcher must have training in statistics." The Course subscale contains 9 items, e.g., "I wish that I could have avoided taking my statistics course." On both subscales a response of "1" denotes strong agreement with the statenlent, whereas a response of "5" denotes strong disagreement. High scores indicate positive attitudes. The internal consistencies of the Field and Course subscales, as measured by coefficient alpha, were .92 and .90, respec