Anxious women or complacent men? Anxiety of statistics in a sample of UK sociology undergraduates

ABSTRACT

One of the most commonly identified obstacles in the learning-teaching of quantitative material is statistics anxiety. Of the factors analysed in relation to statistics anxiety, age and gender have received a substantial proportion of the research focus. Yet there is limited work that systematically examines the possibility of an interrelationship, or interaction, between age and gender and reported statistics anxiety. This article aims to directly address this gap in the research by examining this interaction. A secondary analysis of data gathered from across 34 institutions in the UK is undertaken. The research presented is the first to examine this issue using a multivariate-modelling framework in a UK context. Although the international literature tends to indicate that women disproportionately experience statistics anxiety, the findings here show women have a moderate likelihood of reporting anxiety. There is a group of unworried young men who are likely to require pedagogical attention. Indeed, it may be that the existence a group of complacent young men have women seem anxious by comparison.

KEYWORDS:

• Pedagogy
• statistics anxiety
• quantitative methods
• sociology
• gender
• age

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. These are the data also analysed here. Although these data are freely available they have only been used to report base line attitudes of sociology students to quantitative methods. In this respect they represent an untapped resource.

2. UK data archive study – SN 6173.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Centre for Research Methods core grant, undertaken as part of work package six

Notes on contributors

Kevin Ralston

Kevin Ralston is a lecturer in Sociology and Quantitative Methods at the University of Edinburgh . His research has focused on examining inequalities in health, occupational, and family outcomes. Alongside this, he has undertaken research into statistics anxiety, mathematics anxiety and quantitative methods pedagogy.

Victoria Gorton

Victoria Gorton is an early career researcher with an interest in the learning-teaching of quantitative methods. Her current research focuses on the impact of statistics anxiety and its antecedents. Her PhD explored how quantitative methods are conceptualised and performed in Higher Education social science contexts.

John MacInnes

John MacInnes is Professor of Sociology, and Associate Dean of Quantitative Methods at the University of Edinburgh. His research explores themes including social demography, sociology of gender, and sociology of nationalism and identity. He is keen to promote the use of quantitative methods and evidence in social science, previously serving as the Strategic Advisor to the ESRC on QM training.

Vernon Gayle

Vernon Gayle is Professor of Sociology and Social Statistics at the University of Edinburgh. His research examines areas such as social stratification, migration studies and sociology of youth. His work involves the statistical analysis of large-scale and complex datasets.

Graham Crow

Graham Crow is Professor of Sociology and Methodology at the University of Edinburgh. He is an advocate of methodological innovation, with research interests in sociology of families, communities, and domestic life.