Statistics Anxiety in an Online Course: Is There a Difference Between Traditional and Nontraditional Students?

The purpose of this study was to determine if there were a difference in statistics anxiety for asynchronous online introductory statistics students who were traditional (those under age 25) and nontraditional (aged 25 and older). The pre-course and post-course Statistical Anxiety Rating Scale scores were collected from 69 students taking the same online statistics course. When traditional and nontradtional students were compared, the dimensions of worth of statistics and interpretation anxiety showed a difference of medium effect size in the pre-course scores, with traditional students exhibiting higher anxiety, while worth of statistics, computational self-concept, and fear of statistics teachers showed a difference of medium effect size in the post-course scores, with traditional students exhibiting higher anxiety. The experience of taking a semester course in statistics seemed to level the differences, with traditional students lower than nontraditional students only in computational self-concept, with a medium effect size in the post-course scores when controlling for the pre-course scores. Cronbach’s alpha for the sample was also calculated, with the instrument exhibiting strong internal consistency.