Examining Problem-Based Learning in Graduate Statistics for the Social Sciences
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Research Conference
April 7- 9, 2014
New Orleans, Louisiana
Carla J. Thompson, Ed. D. and Giang-Nguyen Nguyen, Ph. D.
University of West Florida

Examining Problem-Based Learning in Graduate Statistics for the Social Sciences
ABSTRACT
Graduate students in the social sciences often postpone their statistics courses to the end of their degree program because of their expressed fears of statistics. These indicators serve as preliminary alert messages for university graduate programs interested in developing high quality professionals. The need for engaging graduate students in high quality research and statistics efforts and decreasing anxiety was the impetus for the current study. The study focused on the use of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) for engaging graduate students in action based research. The theoretical framework has underpinnings based in social and cognitive constructivist theory framed within a PBL Model. The overriding research question was: “What is the impact of implementing a PBL approach in the teaching and learning efforts within graduate statistics in the social sciences?” The study examined mean differences in statistics anxiety levels and project management skills between graduate statistics students who participated in a PBL approach to teaching and learning statistics as compared with average statistics anxiety levels and project management skills of graduate students who participated in a non-PBL approach. Graduate statistics class sections were randomly assigned to PBL and non-
PBL approaches producing a two-group research design. Pre and post assessments focused on statistics anxiety and project management skills were conducted for both PBL and non-PBL statistics sections. Analysis of Covariance was utilized to analyze the data. Results of the data analyses revealed lower levels of average statistics anxiety and higher average levels of project management skills for graduate students who experienced the PBL approach as compared with outcomes of graduate students who experienced a non-PBL approach to statistics. Study

findings hold strong implications for graduate statistics education and for preparing professional researchers in the social sciences.
Introduction
Two or more graduate statistics courses are core requirements of all students enrolled in graduate programs in the social sciences in the United States (education, sociology, psychology, humanities, health sciences, and others). Anxiety surrounding graduate students’ lack of knowledge in statistics, and their feelings of uncertainty regarding the use of statistics propels students to avoid taking statistics courses until the end of their programs (Onwuegbuzie, 2004).
Based on a conceptual model founded within social and cognitive constructivist theory, Problembased Learning (PBL) was selected to explore the impact of PBL on potential benefits for engaging students in graduate statistics necessary for their preparation as researchers. Sections of graduate students enrolled in statistics for the social sciences were randomly assigned to a PBL or a non-PBL teaching and learning environment. The non-PBL sections utilized a traditional lecture-based and textbook-focused experience for graduate statistics. PBL sections included the following experiences: (a) PBL teams participated in real world research applications in community field-site locations arranged by the faculty facilitator; (b) PBL teams posited research questions and hypotheses based on their interactions with community agencies; (c) PBL teams designed community-based research projects specifically aligned to agency needs; (d) PBL teams collected, analyzed, and delivered data-driven research results to the community agencies by writing/presenting original research reports; (e ) PBL teams submitted manuscripts for publications, and conferences. This brief research report highlights the study, PBL-Projects, and results. The interactive PPT presentation/discussion includes: (a) theoretical framework with

related literature; (b) methodology; (c) data sources and analyses; (d) results and conclusions; and (e) educational importance of the findings.
Theoretical Framework and Related Literature
Problem-Based Learning (PBL) has underpinnings from the work of social and cognitive constructivist efforts of Piaget (1957) and Vygotsky (1978). Blake and Pope (2008) discuss the contributions of Piaget and Vygotsky as common characteristics relevant to PBL Theory: Piaget focused on the mind for cognition reorganization, student autonomy, personal experiences, and questioning and Vygotsky corroborated the use of the mind within a social context, authentic problem solving, team learning, and multiple viewpoints in solving problems. Thomas (2000) reviewed ten years of PBL research, summarized five key criteria: (1) “PBL projects are central not peripheral to the curriculum; (2) PBL projects are focused on questions that drive students to encounter the central concepts/principles of a discipline; (3) PBL projects involve students in a constructive investigation; (4) PBL projects are student-driven to some significant degree; and
(5) PBL projects are realistic, not textbook like.” (pp. 2-3). Related research efforts focused on incorporating PBL in postsecondary education emphasize empirical evidence supporting motivational, theoretical, and beneficial characteristics of the PBL approach (Jones, Epler,
Mokri, Bryant, & Paretti, 2013; Savory & Duffy, 1995).
Methodology
A quasi-experimental, pre-post assessment, two-group research design was utilized in the study. The PBL treatment was randomly assigned to sections of graduate statistics students and the textbook traditional approach assigned to control sections. The overriding research question investigated was: “What is the impact of integrating a PBL approach into graduate statistics in the social sciences?” Two research hypotheses were generated from the theoretical framework:

(1) Graduate students who experience a PBL approach to learning statistics will report significantly lower average statistics anxiety scores than graduate students who experience a non-PBL approach to learning statistics and (2) Graduate students who experience a PBL approach to learning statistics will report significantly higher average project management skills than graduate students who experience a non-PBL approach to learning statistics. Pre and post assessments of statistics anxiety and project management skills were provided for both the control and treatment groups of graduate students. A total of 237 graduate statistics students participated in the study with N=124 students in the treatment group and N=113 students in the control group. The Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) statistical procedure was utilized to analyze the data.
Data Sources and Analyses
Pre and post measures included the Statistics Anxiety Measure (Earp, 2007) and a selfreport measure depicting project management skills (Mind Tools, 2008). Pre-assessment measures served as covariates. The ANCOVA procedure with dependent variables of statistics anxiety and project management skills was utilized for data analyses. The independent variable was group affiliation (PBL versus non-PBL). Chi Square analyses were performed on demographic characteristics to exonerate possible confounding variables.
Results and Conclusion
Results are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1: Results of the ANCOVA for Graduate Students’ Statistics Anxiety Scores and Project
Management Skills for Control and Treatment Groups (N=234)
Hypotheses
Hypothesis 1
(Statistics
Anxiety Levels)
Results of the ANCOVA: N(experimental) = 124 and N(control) = 113
After adjustment for pretest statistics anxiety scores as the covariate, graduate students who experienced PBL statistics learning environments scored significantly lower average statistics anxiety scores than graduate students who experienced non-PBL statistics learning environments with
M(exp) = 65.4 and M(con) = 72.3 (p< .05)

Hypothesis 2
(Project
Management
Skills)
After adjustment for pretest project management skills scores as the covariate, graduate students who experienced PBL statistics learning environments scored significantly higher average project management skills scores than graduate students who experienced non-PBL statistics learning environments with M(exp) = 81.9 and M(con) = 67.2 (p< .01)
Conclusion: Each of the two hypotheses was empirically supported by the data analyses.
Educational Importance of the Study
Implications of the study for statistics education and postsecondary workforce preparation efforts are two-fold: (a) The need for high quality statistics education programs in the United States for graduate school social science programs is advocated in the literature
(Zeidner, 1991; Thomas, 2000) and (b) Empowering graduate students with learning skills of collaboration, reflection, self-directed learning, exploration, investigation, production, interpretation, integration, evaluation, socialization, adaptation, and real world problem solving aligns with the skills advocated for developing a highly qualified workforce of professionals and future higher education faculty and researchers (Lombardi and Oblinger, 2007). Current study results corroborate this goal.

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