Teaching Research and Statistics at Undergraduate Level: The RDA Tutorial Programme

Abstract

Students enter university with huge variances in terms of research and mathematical background, resulting in difficulty in levels at which a research and statistics module can be taught. This is further compounded by the fact that most students registering for the psychology course in research design and analysis (RDA) at the University of the Witwatersrand have little or no mathematical background and quite often experience a high level of anxiety in relation to statistics. It is within this context that the RDA tutorial programme was conceptualised and developed. Since its inception in 1994, the programme has been used effectively to support students on the RDA course. This short report presents the rationale and structure of the programme as well as data evaluating its effectiveness.

Keywords

deep learning peer tutoring research design statistics teaching research

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