Undergraduate statistics in psychology: A survey of Canadian institutions.

Abstract

Abstract Questionnaires examining the content of undergraduate statistics courses were sent to Canadian post-secondary institutes offering major degrees in psychology. Responses received from 59% of the institutions suggest that several basic statistical procedures constitute a small core content covered in almost all undergraduate statistics courses and that the incorporation of computer applications is relatively common. Most undergraduate students with a major in psychology have had at least one or two courses in basic statistics. A course in statistics is the single most preferred course in terms of admittance into graduate school (Norcross, Hanych, & Terranova, 1996; Purdy, Reinehr, & Swartz, 1989; Smith, 1985). Thus, most psychology undergraduates are expected to have been exposed to certain core statistical concepts. This expectation can influence the content of graduate statistics courses and the expectations that supervisors have about the statistical sophistication of new graduate students. Aiken, West, Sechrest, and Reno (1990) recently assessed the statistical training of psychology graduate students; however, no similar in-depth investigation has been undertaken for undergraduates. Giesbrecht, Yell, Scialfa, Sandals, and Ehlers (1997) surveyed 17 instructors of statistics and research methods courses from a variety of disciplines. Their results indicated considerable agreement across disciplines about the relative importance of statistical topics in a hypothetical introductory statistics course. However, these results have limited applicability for the present study since they were based on a cross-disciplinary sample obtained from a single post-secondary institution and they dealt with the relative importance of topics in a hypothetical course. The focus of the present study is on the actual curriculum in the statistics courses required by undergraduate psychology departments in Canada. In April 1999, questionnaires' were mailed out to the chairs of the 51 Canadian post-secondary institutions that offered undergraduate degrees with a major in psychology.2 A cover letter requested that the survey be completed by the person (s) responsible for instructing the statistic courses offered by the department. Respondents had the option of completing and submitting the actual questionnaire they had been mailed, or they could respond to an online version of the same questionnaire. Within three months, 30 (59%) of the surveys had been returned with only a small percentage of these (viz., 20%) being submitted online. Survey Findings Ninety-seven percent of the responding departments offered undergraduate courses in statistics. The single department that did not offer statistics courses did, however, require undergraduate students majoring in psychology to take two statistics courses offered by the mathematics department. Departments required varying amounts of mandatory statistical instruction to obtain a major degree in psychology. Thirty percent of the institutes required a one-- semester course, 60% required two semesters of statistics courses, and 7% required three semesters of statistics instruction. Class sizes varied dramatically across institutions, ranging from 18 to 178 students per class with a median of 60 students per class. Incidental responses indicated that in the larger classes there was typically some kind of additional instructional support (e.g., teaching assistants); however, this question was not included in the questionnaire. There was also a fair degree of variation across departments in terms of the text book used in the mandatory statistics courses. The only texts that were used at more than two institutions were editions of David Howell's two texts (e.g., Howell, 1998, 1999) which, combined, were used in 20% of the institutions. Ninety percent of respondents included questions that involved calculations in their in-class exams, whereas just 53% of respondents used multiple-choice questions in their in-class exams. …