Appreciation of the importance of statistics literacy for citizens of a democracy has resulted in an increasing number of degree programs making statistics courses mandatory for university students. Unfortunately, empirical evidence suggests that students in nonmathematical disciplines (e.g., social sciences) regard statistics courses as the most anxiety-inducing course in their degree programs. Although a literature review exists for statistics anxiety, it was done more than a decade ago, and newer studies have since added findings for consideration. In this article, we provide a current review of the statistics anxiety literature. Specifically, related variables, definitions, and measures of statistics anxiety are reviewed with the goal of refining the statistics anxiety construct. Antecedents, effects, and interventions of statistics anxiety are also reviewed to provide recommendations for statistics instructors and for a new research agenda.
BaloğluM. (2002). Psychometric properties of the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale. Psychological Reports, 90, 315–325.
4.
BaloğluM. (2003). Individual differences in statistics anxiety among college students. Personality and Individual Differences, 34, 855–865. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00076-4
5.
BaloğluM. (2004). Statistics anxiety and mathematics anxiety: Some interesting differences I. Educational Research Quarterly, 27(3), 38–48.
6.
BaloğluM.DenizM. E.KesiciŞ. (2011). A descriptive study of individual and cross-cultural differences in statistics anxiety. Learning and Individual Differences, 21, 387–391. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2011.03.003
7.
Bar-HaimY. (2010). Research review: Attention bias modification (ABM): A novel treatment for anxiety disorders. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51, 859–870.
8.
BeckA. T. (1976). Cognitive therapy and the emotional disorders. New York, NY: International Universities Press.
9.
BeckA. T.ClarkD. A. (1997). An information processing model of anxiety: Automatic and strategic processes. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35, 49–58. doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(96)00069-1
10.
BeckA. T.SteerR. A. (1993). Beck Anxiety Inventory manual. San Antonio, TX: Harcourt Brace.
11.
BeilockS. L.GundersonE. A.RamirezG.LevineS. C. (2010). Female teachers’ math anxiety affects girls’ math achievement. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 107, 1860–1863. doi:10.1073/pnas.0910967107
12.
BellJ. A. (2001). Length of course and levels of statistics anxiety. Education, 121, 713–716.
13.
BellJ. A. (2003). Statistics anxiety: The nontraditional student. Education, 124, 157–162.
14.
BellJ. A. (2005). Length of term and levels of statistics anxiety: A comparison of types of offerings. Academy of Information and Management Sciences Journal, 8(1), 103–108.
15.
BellJ. A. (2008). Statistics anxiety and business statistics: The international student. Education, 129, 282–286.
16.
BetzN. E. (1978). Prevalence, distribution, and correlates of math anxiety in college students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 25, 441–448.
17.
BowerG. H. (1981). Mood and memory. American Psychologist, 36, 129–148.
18.
BradleyD. R.WygantC. R. (1998). Male and female differences in anxiety about statistics are not reflected in performance. Psychological Reports, 82, 245–246. doi:10.2466/pr0.1998.82.1.245
19.
BrowningM.HolmesE. A.HarmerC. J. (2010). The modification of attentional bias to emotional information: A review of the techniques, mechanisms, and relevance to emotional disorders. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 10, 8–20.
20.
BuiN. H.AlfaroM. A. (2011). Statistics anxiety and science attitudes: Age, gender, and ethnicity factors. College Student Journal, 45, 573–585.
21.
BurnsM. (1998). Math: Facing an American phobia. Sausalito, CA: Math Solutions Publications.
22.
CampbellD. T.StanleyJ. (1963). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally.
ChewP. K. H.DillonD. B. (2012, May). Statistics anxiety fluctuates over a semester and decreases with experience. Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, Chicago, IL.
25.
ChiesiF.PrimiC. (2009). Assessing statistics attitudes among college students: Psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics (SATS). Learning and Individual Differences, 19, 309–313. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2008.10.008
26.
ChiesiF.PrimiC. (2010). Cognitive and non-cognitive factors related to students’ statistics achievement. Statistics Education Research Journal, 9(1), 6–26.
27.
ChiesiF.PrimiC.CarmonaJ. (2011). Measuring statistics anxiety: Cross-country validity of the Statistical Anxiety Scale (SAS). Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 29, 559–569. doi:10.1177/0734282911404985
28.
CollinsK. M. T.OnwuegbuzieA. J. (2007). I cannot read my statistics textbook: The relationship between reading ability and statistics anxiety. The Journal of Negro Education, 76, 118–129.
29.
CruiseR. J.CashR. W.BoltonD. L. (1985, August). Development and validation of an instrument to measure statistical anxiety. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Statistical Education Section, Chicago, IL.
30.
DaleyC. E.OnwuegbuzieA. J. (1997, November). The role of multiple intelligences in statistics anxiety. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Mid-South Educational Research Association, Memphis, TN.
31.
D’AndreaL.WatersC. (2002, July). Teaching statistics using short stories: Reducing anxiety and changing attitudes. Paper presented at the Sixth International Conference on Teaching Statistics, Cape Town, South Africa.
32.
DavisS. (2003). Statistics anxiety among female African American graduate-level social work students. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 23, 143–158. doi:10.1300/J067v23n03_12
EarpM. S. (2007). Development and validation of the Statistics Anxiety Measure (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Denver, CO.
35.
EvansB. (2007). Student attitudes, conceptions, and achievement in introductory undergraduate college statistics. Mathematics Educator, 17(2), 24–30.
36.
FurnhamA.Chamorro-PremuzicT. (2004). Personality and intelligence as predictors of statistics examination grades. Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 943–955. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2003.10.016
37.
GalI. (2002). Adults’ statistical literacy: Meanings, components, responsibilities. International Statistical Review/Revue Internationale de Statistique, 70, 1–25. doi:10.2307/1403713
38.
GalI.GinsburgL. (1994). The role of beliefs and attitudes in learning statistics: Towards an assessment framework. Journal of Statistics Education, 2(2). Retrieved from http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v2n2/gal.html
39.
GalliS.CiancaleoniM.ChiesiF.PrimiC. (2008, July). Who failed the introductory statistics examination? A study on a sample of psychology students. Paper presented at the 11th International Congress on Mathematical Education, Monterrey, Mexico.
40.
GorhamJ. (1988). The relationship between verbal teacher immediacy behaviors and student learning. Communication Education, 37, 40–53. doi:10.1080/03634528809378702
41.
GouldR. (2010). Statistics and the modern student. International Statistical Review, 78, 297–315. doi:10.1111/j.1751-5823.2010.00117.x
42.
GravetterF. J.WallnauL. B. (2007). Statistics for the behavioral sciences. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
43.
HannaD.DempsterM. (2009). The effect of statistics anxiety on students’ predicted and actual test scores. The Irish Journal of Psychology, 30, 201–209. doi:10.1080/03033910.2009.10446310
44.
HannaD.ShevlinM.DempsterM. (2008). The structure of the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale: A confirmatory factor analysis using UK psychology students. Personality and Individual Differences, 45, 68–74. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2008.02.021
45.
HsiaoT.ChiangS. (2011). Gender differences in statistics anxiety among graduate students learning English as a foreign language. Social Behavior and Personality, 39, 41–42. doi:10.2224/sbp.2011.9.1.41
46.
KazelskisR. (1998). Some dimensions of mathematics anxiety: A factor analysis across instruments. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 58, 623–633.
47.
KeeleyJ.ZayacR.CorreiaC. (2008). Curvilinear relationships between statistics anxiety and performance among undergraduate students: Evidence for optimal anxiety. Statistics Education Research Journal, 7(1), 4–15.
48.
KesiciŞ.BaloğluM.DenizM. E. (2011). Self-regulated learning strategies in relation with statistics anxiety. Learning and Individual Differences, 21, 472–477. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2011.02.006
49.
KogelmanS.WarrenJ. (1978). Mind over math: Put yourself on the road to success by freeing yourself from math anxiety. New York, NY: Dial Press.
50.
LalondeR. N.GardnerR. C. (1993). Statistics as a second language? A model for predicting performance in psychology students. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 25, 108–125.
51.
LesserL. M.PearlD. K. (2008). Functional fun in statistics teaching: Resources, research and recommendations. Journal of Statistics Education, 16(3). Retrieved from www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v16n3/lesser.html
52.
LiuS.OnwuegbuzieA. J.MengL. (2011). Examination of the score reliability and validity of the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale in a Chinese population: Comparisons of statistics anxiety between Chinese college students and their Western counterparts. Journal of Educational Enquiry, 11, 29–42.
53.
MacLeodC.MathewsA.TataP. (1986). Attentional bias in emotional disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 15–20.
54.
MacLeodC.SoongL. Y.RutherfordE.CampbellL. (2007). Internet-delivered assessment and manipulation of anxiety-linked attentional bias: Validation of a free-access attentional probe software package. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 533–538.
55.
McCroskeyJ. C.RichmondV. P.SallinenA.FayerJ. M.BarracloughR. A. (1995). A cross-cultural and multi-behavioral analysis of the relationship between nonverbal immediacy and teacher evaluation. Communication Education, 44, 281–291.
56.
MillsJ. D. (2004). Students’ attitudes toward statistics: Implications for the future. College Student Journal, 38, 349–361.
57.
MjiA.OnwuegbuzieA. J. (2004). Evidence of score reliability and validity of the Statistical Anxiety Rating Scale among Technikon students in South Africa. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 36, 238–251.
58.
MoggK.BradleyB. P.DixonC.FisherS.TwelftreeH.McWilliamsA. (2000). Trait anxiety, defensiveness and selective processing of threat: An investigation using two measures of attentional bias. Personality and Individual Differences, 28, 1063–1077. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(99)00157-9
59.
NasserF. M. (2004). Structural model of the effects of cognitive and affective factors on the achievement of Arabic-speaking pre-service teachers in introductory statistics. Journal of Statistics Education, 12(1). Retrieved from http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v12n1/nasser.html
60.
OlsonJ. M.ZannaM. P. (1993). Attitudes and attitude change. Annual Review of Psychology, 44, 117–154. doi:10.1146/annurev.ps.44.020193.001001
61.
OnwuegbuzieA. J. (1995). Statistics test anxiety and female students. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 19, 413–418. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.1995.tb00083.x
62.
OnwuegbuzieA. J. (1999). Statistics anxiety among African American graduate students: An affective filter?Journal of Black Psychology, 25, 189–209. doi:10.1177/0095798499025002004
63.
OnwuegbuzieA. J. (2000). Attitudes toward statistics assessments. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 25, 321–339. doi:10.1080/713611437
64.
OnwuegbuzieA. J. (2003). Modeling statistics achievement among graduate students. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 63, 1020–1038. doi:10.1177/0013164402250989
65.
OnwuegbuzieA. J. (2004). Academic procrastination and statistics anxiety. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 29, 1–19. doi:10.1080/0260293042000160384
66.
OnwuegbuzieA. J.Da RosD.RyanJ. M. (1997). The components of statistics anxiety: A phenomenological study. Focus on Learning Problems in Mathematics, 19(4), 11–35.
67.
OnwuegbuzieA. J.SeamanM. A. (1995). The effect of time constraints and statistics test anxiety on test performance in a statistics course. Journal of Experimental Education, 63, 115–124.
68.
OnwuegbuzieA. J.WilsonV. A. (2003). Statistics anxiety: Nature, etiology, antecedents, effects, and treatments—A comprehensive review of the literature. Teaching in Higher Education, 8, 195–209. doi:10.1080/1356251032000052447
69.
PanW.TangM. (2004). Examining the effectiveness of innovative instructional methods on reducing statistics anxiety for graduate students in the social sciences. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 31, 149–159.
70.
PapousekI.RuggeriK.MacherD.PaechterM.HeeneM.WeissE. M.. . . FreudenthalerH. H. (2012). Psychometric evaluation and experimental validation of the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 94, 82–91. doi:10.1080/00223891.2011.627959
71.
PerepiczkaM.ChandlerN.BecerraM. (2011). Relationship between graduate students’ statistics self-efficacy, statistics anxiety, attitude toward statistics, and social support. The Professional Counselor, 1, 99–108.
72.
PretoriusT. B.NormanA. M. (1992). Psychometric data on the Statistics Anxiety Scale for a sample of South African students. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 52, 933–937. doi:10.1177/0013164492052004015
73.
RhoadsT. R.HubeleN. F. (2000). Student attitudes toward statistics before and after a computer-integrated introductory statistics course. IEEE Transactions on Education, 43, 182–187. doi:10.1109/13.848071
74.
RichardsonF. C.SuinnR. M. (1972). The Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale: Psychometric data. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 19, 551–554. doi:10.1037/h0033456
75.
RichardsonF. C.WoolfolkR. (1980). Mathematics anxiety. In SarasonI. G. (Ed.), Test anxiety: Theory, research, and applications (pp. 271–288). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
76.
RobertsD. M.BilderbackE. W. (1980). Reliability and validity of a statistics attitude survey. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 40, 235–238. doi:10.1177/001316448004000138
77.
Rodarte-LunaB.SherryA. (2008). Sex differences in the relation between statistics anxiety and cognitive/learning strategies. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 33, 327–344. doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2007.03.002
78.
RuggeriK.DempsterM.HannaD.ClearyC. (2008). Experiences and expectations: The real reason nobody likes stats. Psychology Teaching Review, 14(2), 74–83.
SchactS. P. (1990). Statistics textbooks: Pedagogical tools or impediments to learning?Teaching Sociology, 18, 390–396.
81.
SchactS. P.StewartB. J. (1990). What’s funny about statistics? A technique for reducing student anxiety. Teaching Sociology, 18(1), 52–56.
82.
SchauC. (2003, August). Students’ attitudes: The “other” important outcome in statistics education. Paper presented at the Joint Statistics Meetings, San Francisco, CA.
83.
SchauC.StevensJ. J.DauphineeT. L.VecchioA. D. (1995). The development and validation of the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 55, 868–875. doi:10.1177/0013164495055005022
84.
SchoenmakersT. M.de BruinM.LuxI. F. M.GoertzA. G.Van KerkhofD. H. A. T.WiersR. W. (2010). Clinical effectiveness of attentional bias modification training in abstinent alcoholic patients. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 109, 30–36. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2009.11.022
85.
StoloffM.McCarthyM.KellerL.VarfolomeevaV.LynchJ.MakaraK.. . . SmileyW. (2009). The undergraduate psychology major: An examination of structure and sequence. Teaching of Psychology, 37, 4–15.
86.
TobiasS. (1978). Overcoming math anxiety. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
87.
TremblayP. F.GardnerR. C.HeipelG. (2000). A model of the relationships among measures of affect, aptitude, and performance in introductory statistics. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement, 32, 40–48. doi:10.1037/h0087099
88.
UttsJ. (2003). What educated citizens should know about statistics and probability. The American Statistician, 57, 74–79. doi:10.2307/30037236
89.
Van BreukelenG. J. (2006). ANCOVA versus change from baseline had more power in randomized studies and more bias in nonrandomized studies. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 59, 920–925.
90.
Vigil-ColetA.Lorenzo-SevaU.CondonL. (2008). Development and validation of the Statistical Anxiety Scale. Psicothema, 20(1), 174–180.
91.
WallmanK. K. (1993). Enhancing statistical literacy: Enriching our society. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 88(421), 1–8. doi:10.2307/2290686
92.
WatsonF. S.KromreyJ. D.HessM. R. (2003, February). Toward a conceptual model for statistics anxiety intervention. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Educational Research Association, Hilton Head, SC.
93.
WatsonF. S.LangT. R.KromreyJ. D. (2002, November). Breaking ground for EncStat: A statistics anxiety intervention program. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Florida Educational Research Association, Gainesville.
94.
WatsonF. S.LangT. R.KromreyJ. D.FerronJ. M.HessM. R.HogartyK. Y. (2003, April). An assessment blueprint for EncStat: A statistics anxiety intervention program. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
95.
WillcoxW. F. (1936). Definitions of statistics. Revue de l’Institut International de Statistique/Review of the International Statistical Institute, 3, 388–399.
WilliamsA. S. (2013). Worry, intolerance of uncertainty, and statistics anxiety. Statistics Education Research Journal, 12(1), 48–59.
98.
WilsonE. B. (1927). What is statistics?Science, 65, 581–587. doi:10.1126/science.65.1694.581
99.
ZanakisS. H.ValenziE. R. (1997). Student anxiety and attitudes in business statistics. Journal of Education for Business, 73, 10–16. doi:10.1080/08832329709601608
100.
ZeidnerM. (1991). Statistics and mathematics anxiety in social science students: Some interesting parallels. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 61, 319–328.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
