Distance Learning Support Kit: Welcome

Why do so many students find courses in statistics much harder than their other courses? A clue can be found by comparing the following two passages, one from a management text, the other from a statistics text.

Example 1

Group decision making has several advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are that more information and knowledge can be focused on the issue, an increased range of alternatives can be developed, greater understanding and acceptance of the final decision are likely, and members develop knowledge and skills for future use. Disadvantages include group decisions taking more time, disagreement delaying decision making and causing hard feelings, discussion being dominated by one or a few group members and groupthink which causes members to overemphasise agreement.

Example 2

At first glance it may not be obvious that testing variances will help us analyse means, but that turns out to be exactly what is required. Let us assume a null hypothesis that states µ₁ = µ₂ = µ₃ = µ₄, with all the differences in sample means being due to chance alone. We obtain two estimates of the common variance by utilizing two ideas we have used before: the central limit theorem and pooling sample variances to estimate a common population variance.

The major difference is that while the management text is not very far removed from everyday experience, the statistics text contains many ideas and words that are not a part of most people's everyday experience. This makes the statistics material harder to understand and pick up.

So how can you cope with this?

Example

Have you ever had the experience of reading the instructions for how to program a new VCR or other piece of high-tech equipment and felt on a first reading that the instructions were completely impossible to understand? How did you cope then?

Chances are, what you did was a combination of trying things out and reading the instructions over and over again. After several readings, the new terms started to become more familiar and by trying things out, you started to make connections between the new terms and procedures and what you had to do to program the VCR. Trying things out also gave you feedback as to what you really understood and what you didn't. If things worked as planned, you had achieved understanding, and if they didn't, you tried something else and/or read the instructions again. A similar strategy works for statistics, as well.

In a nutshell, statistics texts need to be worked through more than read, and need to be worked through more times than a lot of other topics before the ideas become familiar and easier to work with.

Another idea for coping comes from the analogy that learning statistics is like learning a foreign language, where it has been found that immersion in the language is a more effective learning strategy than sporadic practise. It's also a bit like exercise: occasional exercise doesn't lead to any significant improvements in fitness; one needs to exercise at least three times a week for at least 30 minutes a time to see benefits. Likewise, studying statistics at least three times per week for about two hours at a time is needed for success; sporadic study rarely achieves much because you forget too much between study sessions to make consistent progress.