Statistics Anxiety and Course Performance Among UK Social Science Undergraduates, 2015-2017

Ralston, Kevin and Gorton, Victoria and Gayle, Vernon (2024). Statistics Anxiety and Course Performance Among UK Social Science Undergraduates, 2015-2017. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-857017

This project was part of the National Centre for Research Methods 2014-19 funding phase. It was led by Professor John MacInnes, University of Edinburgh. The project collected data from social science undergraduate students studying on general introductory courses in social statistics from a dozen UK universities. This was linked to information on course performance. The survey data collection tool was based on a previous survey by Payne, G., Hodgkinson, L., Williams, M. (2009). SN 6137. This was adapted to include a validated measure of statistics anxiety, the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale.

Data description (abstract)

The sample comprises of undergraduate social science students who were studying on introductory statistics courses at twelve UK universities (n=677). The data were collected anonymously between 2015 and 2017. The main mode of data collection was via a survey questionnaire that was completed in class during teaching. Where it was not possible to administer a physical questionnaire in a class setting there was an online version of the survey questionnaire available. Survey results were linked with final course grade via the student number. The research received ethical approval from the University of Edinburgh. The survey data collection tool was based on a previous survey by Payne, G., Hodgkinson, L., Williams, M. (2009). SN 6137. This survey tool was adapted to include a validated measure of statistics anxiety, the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale, along with a number of other variables of interest.

Data creators:

Creator Name	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Ralston Kevin	University of Edinburgh	https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4344-7120
Gorton Victoria	University of Edinburgh	https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6106-5674
Gayle Vernon	University of Edinburgh	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1929-5983

Sponsors:

NCRM core grant

Grant reference:

National Centre for Research Methods Core Grant 2014-19

Topic classification:

Education

Keywords:

TEACHING METHODS, STATISTICS ANXIETY, QUANTITATIVE METHODS, STUDENT ATTITUDES

Project title:

Statistics anxiety and course performance among UK social science undergraduates

Grant holders:

John MacInnes, University of Edinburgh, Vernon Gayle, University of Edinburgh, Graham Crow, University of Edinburgh, Kevin Ralston, University of Edinburgh (researcher, not grant holder), Victoria Gorton, University of Edinburgh (researcher, not grant holder)

Project dates:

From	To
5 May 2015	4 May 2020

Date published:

08 Mar 2024 13:37

Last modified:

08 Mar 2024 13:37

Coverage and Methodology

Access and Administration

Data sourcing, processing and preparation:

The data were collected anonymously between 2015 and 2017 via a questionnaire completed in class, where this was not possible an online version of the survey was available. Survey results were linked with final course grade via the student number. The names of the universities involved in the data collection have been removed. The universities included were from across the university rankings and types. The survey questionnaire involved a pilot stage and there was also a number of iterations of the survey questionnaire. The pilot data along with the alternative iterations are combined in the final dataset. Information on which version of the survey the data are from is available in the Codebook file. Related resources: The survey data collection tool was based on a previous survey by Payne, G., Hodgkinson, L., Williams, M. (2009). SN 6137. This survey tool was adapted to include a validated measure of statistics anxiety, the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale.

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