I’m bad at math! A study of statistical anxiety and attitudes across majors

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to assess statistical anxiety and attitudes of students. This includes gender differences within specific majors, as well as differences across majors. Past research has shown significantly higher math anxiety scores and emotional negativity in females in comparison to males. However, when examined by major, there were no significant gender differences for psychology majors. In contrast, for business majors, females had higher emotional negativity. This study attempts to replicate those results and also extend to the math section of statistics, which includes many STEM majors, such as chemistry and biology. Questionnaires measuring anxiety and attitudes towards statistics were given out to the math, business, and psychology section of statistics classes. Business male students had higher fear of asking for help and put more effort into their statistics courses. There were no gender differences found for psychology students. STEM majors had less anxiety and more positive attitudes towards their statistics classes in comparison to business and psychology majors.