Attitudes Toward Statistics Studies Among Students with Learning Disabilities

• Main Authors: Orly Lipka, Itay Hess
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: National Numeracy Network 2016-07-01
• Series: Numeracy
• Subjects: post-secondary education; support; diversity; perception; pre-service teachers; mixed methods; statistics
• Online Access: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/numeracy/vol9/iss2/art7/

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of a support course to change attitudes toward statistics studies of post-secondary students who were diagnosed with learning disabilities (LD) and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The participants were 22 students in a support course that was provided over a single academic term on a weekly basis. The design of the study was according to 'Pre-Post' comparison. The effects on attitudes toward statistics were examined quantitatively and qualitatively to provide a comprehensive methodology for the research purposes. Results suggest that the weekly support course model that was taught simultaneously to the on-line course may improve the attitudes toward statistics of at-risk students in three dimensions: affect, cognitive competence, and value. There was no measured improvement in the perception of difficulty. Analysis of the qualitative data provides complementary details on the roots of students’ attitudes and the reasons for the changes. General implications for teaching statistics at the post-secondary level are presented and discussed as well as specific implications for students with LD and/or ADHD at the post-secondary level.