Differences in university students' attitudes and anxiety about statistics

The Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale and the Attitudes Toward Statistics questionnaire were administered to 226 university of technology students. The former scale measures anxiety about learning statistics in terms of Worth of Statistics, Interpretation Anxiety, Test and Class Anxiety, Computational Self-concept, Fear of Asking for Help, and Fear of Statistics Teachers. The latter measures attitudes toward use of statistics and statistics course for which a student was registered. These African students were enrolled in Taxation, Marketing, or Accounting. Participants took a required course in statistics intended to improve statistical skills. There were 150 women and 57 men, chosen because they had no previous mathematics learning. Students' ages ranged between 16 and 26 years (M = 20.1, SD = 2.0). There were no statistically significant sex differences on attitudes and anxiety toward statistics, but there were significant differences among areas of study programs.