Examining Initial Expectations, Preferences, and Concerns of Diverse Students in an Introductory Statistics Course to Inform Course Improvements

Abstract

A survey conducted at Cornell University explored the expectations, preferences, and concerns of students entering a large introductory statistics course. They were asked the first week of the term what they anticipated being similar or different from their high school statistics (or comparable math) class. Most expected the college class would be more difficult and they would have to do more independent learning. They expressed a preference to spend 66% of class time in a lecture and 34% in active learning. Students were overall very concerned about the course being too fast paced and too difficult and that they would receive too few in-depth explanations. Presentiments were also compared within demographic subgroups. Female students consistently showed higher rates of concern than male students. Asian students were most concerned about knowing what to study, while underrepresented students were primarily concerned about the difficulty of the subject. International students worried most about receiving too few in-depth explanations, while first-generation students were apprehensive about being expected to do too much independent learning. Resources to address specific delineated issues are included.

Keywords

• Demographic Differences
• Statistical Education
• Student Expectations
• Student Concerns