It is important to understand whether maths anxiety, statistics anxiety, and other related constructs are distinct to prevent siloed research literatures that can impede scientific progress. Maths anxiety and statistics anxiety are currently treated as separate constructs in the research literature, yet no informative studies have been conducted that examine their distinctiveness. The present study tested the distinctiveness of the two constructs using exploratory factor analysis, latent profile analysis, and experimental work in a sample of 465 psychology undergraduates. Results indicated that the two constructs mostly likely share an underlying construct.
Teaching staff at a UK university who had recently undertaken introductory R/RStudio training took part in group interviews that explored their experiences of learning R/RStudio and how they thought their students would fare. Analysis indicated that motivation was crucial to overcoming the learning curve and that self-efficacy, perceived value, accountability, and managed anxiety were important to maintaining motivation.
Can embedding statistical teaching within a fictional narrative help to reduce anxiety and increase comprehension? This pilot study looked at the feasibility and plausible effects of using a fictional narrative to teach 11 statistical concepts and concluded that there are plausible benefits to using narratives to teach statistics that are feasible to test with further development.