Making statistics meaningful for psychologists: the merits of a competence-based approach

В статье рассматриваются вопросы, посвященные использованию методов математической статистики при подготовке студентов-психологов. Отмечается, что традиционный подход, согласно которому студентам даются различные «отрывочные», иногда не связанные между собой сведения о математической статистике (часто не специалистами не имеющими отношения к психологии) зачастую не приносит должных результатов: необходимые знания усваиваются недостаточно хорошо, а у самих студентов снижается мотивация освоения данных курсов, что сказывается на недостаточности общей профессиональной компетенции... Вашему вниманию представлен оригинал статьи на английском языке!

Ключевые слова: статистическая гипотеза, студент, психологическое образование

Рубрика: Междисциплинарные исследования

... To stop this devastating process and to enhance students’ attitudes (in doing research and valuing it) and to motivate students to behave like a scientist-practitioner, we have decided to shift the helm in training research skills (including quantitative skills). Students will be trained in doing research from the very beginning of their study. With this ‘whole-task approach’ (Van Merriënboer, 1997) the training focuses on the complete complex cognitive skill of doing research (from simple to complex versions). This approach emphasizes the coordination and integration of the constituent skills from the very beginning, and stresses that students should quickly develop a holistic view of the whole task that is gradually embellished and detailed during instruction. The holistic view implies that students have to grasp the necessity to align the successive steps systematically. Students should be stimulated to develop awareness of the inextricable connectedness of the subsequent steps. So within the teaching design emphasis must be put on general methodological principles and theories, and students have to be stimulated to experience and learn the complete research process with all relations and connections between the theoretical, methodological, and statistical levels.

Constructivism holds that the acquisition of complex skills is context-dependent and occurs most effectively in relevant contexts (Lovett & Greenhouse, 2000). The learning environment must provide realistic situations where learning through meaningful practices takes place. By doing research in a great variety of situations, students are more likely assured of a better transfer of the academic subject (Van Merriënboer, 1997). Computer technology and timesaving computer programs make such an approach feasible. ...

1. Barab S.A., Squire K.D., & Dueber W. (2000). A co-evolutionary model for supporting the emergence of authenticity. The Journal of Education Technology, Research, and Development, 48(2), 37–62.
2. Bijker M.M., Wynants G., & Van Buuren J.A. (2006). A comparative study of the effects of motivational and affective factors on studying statistics. Paper presented at ICOTS7, Salvador, Brazil.
3. Biggs J.B., & Collis K.F. (1982). Evaluating the Quality of Learning: the SOLO taxonomy. New York: Academic Press.
4. Bijker M.M. (2006). Methodological issues: the paradigm change from Likert scales to Rasch scales:  Measuring the effects of a new teaching and learning design in statistics. Unpublished thesis. Heerlen, Open Universiteit.
5. Covington M.C. (1993). Making the Grade. A self-worth perspective on motivation and school reform (2 ed.). Cambridge: University Press.
6. Czikszentmihalyi M. (1990). Flow: the classic work on how to achieve happiness. London: Random House Group Ltd.
7. Donald J.G. (2002). Learning to think. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
8. Eagly A.H., & Chaiken S. (1993). The Psychology of Attitudes. Orlando: Harbourt Brace College Pubishers.
9. Eccles J.S., & Wigfield A. (2002). Motivational beliefs, values, and goals. Annual Review of Psychology, 109-132.
10. Garfield J., & Ben-Zvi D. (2007). How Students Learn Statistics Revisited:A Current Review of Research on Teaching and Learning Statistics. International Statistical Review, 75(3), 372-396.
11. Gelso C.J. (2006). On the Making of a Scientist–Practitioner: A Theory of Research Training in Professional Psychology. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, S(1), 3-16.
12. Goldberg L.R. (1990). An alternative description of personality: the Big Five Factor Structure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(10), 1216-1229.
13. Lewalter D., & Krapp A. (2004). The role of contextual conditions of vocational education for motivational orientations and emotional experiences. European Psychologist, 9(4), 210-221.
14. Lovett M.C., & Greenhouse J.B. (2000). Applying cognitive theory to statistics instruction. The American Statistician, 54(3), 196-206.
15. Pintrich P.R., Smith D.A.F., Garcia T., & McKeachie W.J. (1991). A Manual for the Use of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ).Unpublished manuscript, Ann Arbor - Michigan: University of Michigan.
16. Pintrich P.R., Smith D.A.F., Garcia T., & McKeachie W.J. (1993). Reliability and predictive validity of the motivated strategies for learning questionnaire (MSLQ). Educational and Psychological Measurement, 53, 801-813.
17. Pintrich P.R., & Schunk D.H. (2002). Motivation in Education (2 ed.). New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall.
18. Renninger K.A., Hidi S., & Krapp A. (1992). The Role of Interest in Learning and Development. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
19. Schau C.G., Stevens J., Dauphinee T.L., & Del Vecchio A. (1995). The development and validation of the survey of attitudes toward statistics. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 55(5), 868-875.
20. Smith E.R., & Mackie D.M. (2000). Social Psychology (2 ed.). Philadelphia: Psychology Press.
21. Van Buuren J.A. (2006). Teaching statistics and research methods: an integrated approach. Paper presented at ICOTS7, Salvador, Brazil.
22. Van Buuren J.A. (2008). From subject-oriented to competence-based statistics education. An intervention study in a school of psychology. Heerlen: Open Universiteit Nederland
23. Van Merriënboer J.J.G. (Ed.). (1997). Training Complex Cognitive Skills: a Four-Component Instructional Design Model for Technical Training. New Jersey: Englewood Cliffs.
24. Watson J. M., & Callingham R.A. (2003). Statistical literacy: a complex hierarchical construct. Statistics Education Journal, 2(2), 3-46.
25. Zeidner M. (1998). Test anxiety: The state of the art. New York: Plenum
26. Zusho A., & Pintrich P.R. (2003). Skill and will: the role of motivation and cognition in the learning of college chemistry. International Journal of Science Education, 25(9), 1081 - 1094.