Factors Related to Undergraduate Psychology Majors Learning Statistics Tamarah Faye Smith Doctor of Philosophy: Educational Psychology Major Advisor: Dr. Frank Farley The American Psychological Association (APA) has outlined goals for psychology undergraduates. These goals are aimed at several objectives including the need to build skills for interpreting and conducting psychological research (APA, 2007). These skills allow psychologists to conduct research that is covered in the media (Farley

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... t al. 2009) and influences policy and law (Fischer, Stein & Heikkinen, 2009; Steinberg, Cauffman, Woolard, Graham & Banich, 2009a; Steinberg, Cauffman, Woolard, Graham & Banich, 2009b). One of the fundamental courses required for building these skills is statistics, a course that begins at the undergraduate level. Research has suggested that performance after completing statistics courses is weak for many students (Garfield, 2003; Hirsch & O'Donnell, 2001; Konold et al. 1993; Mulhern & Wylie, 2005; Schau & Mattern, 1997). The current study examined factors that may be related to performance on a statistical test. A sample of 231 students enrolled in or having already completed a statistics course for psychology majors completed a statistical skill questionnaire, built by the author, to measure performance with four APA outlined goals. To measure student attitudes the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics (SATS-36; Schau, 2003) was completed with adapted questions to measure perceived attitudes of peers and faculty toward statistics. Finally, questions pertaining to classroom techniques and content areas covered were assessed. Building off of social cognitive theory (SCT; Bandura, 1986) and expectancy-value theory (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002), it was expected that lower attitudes, such as low value and low interest, among the students and those perceived to be held by faculty and peers would be related to lower performance on the statistical test. A series of linear regressions were conducted and re [...]