Assessing the Statistical Anxiety Rating Scale as applied to prospective teachers in an Israeli Teacher-Training College

Abstract

Statistics literacy is a growing part of our lives. However, around 75% of social science undergraduate students experience moderate to high levels of statistics anxiety, characterized by troubling thoughts, stress and an aversion to statistical content or to learning situations using statistics. The aims of the study were to examine the psychometric properties of the Hebrew version of the Statistical Anxiety Rating Scale, and to unfold the underlying structure of the construct as perceived by 163 pre-service teachers in an Israeli college of education. Multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS) confirms the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) findings but highlights the importance of identifying the context of anxiety (statistics course vs. statistics as a distinct discipline) and the locus of anxiety (internal vs. external). The findings can help teacher educators better monitor their students’ statistics anxiety and assist them in implementing appropriate ways of reducing it.