Replicating a National Survey on Statistical Training in Undergraduate Psychology Programs

Abstract

This study describes a close replication of Friedrich, Buday, and Kerr’s late 1990s survey of statistics instruction in undergraduate psychology programs. Disciplinary reform efforts at that time such as the report of the APA Task Force on Statistical Inference, together with recent progress in the new statistics movement, raise important questions about whether undergraduate instruction has kept pace. Other than increases in effect size coverage, instructors’ estimates of class time devoted to critical reform topics have changed relatively little over nearly two decades, with significant attention often reserved for a rarely offered second-level, advanced class. We consider the importance of addressing the statistics curriculum in ways that meet the reading access, critical thinking, and research skill needs of current majors.