The Association Between Utility of Learning Resources, Class Attendance, Statistical Self-Efficacy, Mathematics Competence and Statistics Anxiety Among Undergraduate Students

Statistics anxiety is recognized as a major challenge facing students at all academic levels. It particularly affects their performance in statistics and research methods courses. This study investigates changes in students’ statistics anxiety based on the perceived utility of learning resources and class attendance within an introductory statistics course. Through the application of social cognition theory, we also examine the role of previous performance in mathematics, perceived competence in mathematics, and statistical self-efficacy as contributors to statistics anxiety. A quasi-experimental approach was used with undergraduate students completing a survey at the start and end of an introductory statistics course. Paired sample t-tests indicated a significant reduction in statistics anxiety. Additionally, Pearson correlation points to negative correlations between posttest statistics anxiety scores, perceived competence in mathematics, and statistical self-efficacy. Using hierarchical regression, class attendance was found to predict posttest statistics anxiety, with the smaller classes having a greater impact on statistics anxiety. These findings highlight the need for further interrogation of the role of class size and classroom activities with explorations of how these may reduce students’ statistics anxieties.