Assessing Students’ Attitudesand Perceptions towardsStatistical Literacy in aUniversity System in aDeveloping African Country

Abstract

Statistical literacy is important in the curriculum of every higher educationinstitution and the sustainable development of countries. Nonetheless, lowperformances and student enrolment recorded in statistical education warrantinvestigation into plausible factors. This case study used the Students’ Attitudetowards Statistics (SATS) 36-item instrument to investigate the attitudes andperceptions of 185 students, enrolled in different disciplines, towards statisticseducation at Chinhoyi University of Technology in Zimbabwe. Descriptive,factor reduction, and multiple regression techniques were used to summariseand extract critical covariates, and relate variables in each construct in order toexplain the attitudes of students towards statistics. Thematic analysis wasdone for an in-depth qualitative explanation of the drivers and barriers to theteaching and learning of statistics education. The main factors which inducefear, stress, anxiety, and antipathy towards statistics include: the perceiveddifficulty and numerical complexity of statistics, a natural low statistics self-efficacy and self-perception, and the extremely varying statistics cognitivecapabilities of students. Inadequate supporting and facilitating conditionssuch as modern Information Communication Technology infrastructure, and aconducive teaching and learning environment lead to low performances.Regardless, students still perceive statistics as imperative for futureprofessions and are willing to exert enough effort provided they are motivatedin statistics education. It entails a diametric paradigm repositioning of theteaching and learning of statistics, emphasising collaborative learning, theintense use of electronic learning and the assessment of statistics, andsmaller-sized classes giving individualised attention to benefit weakerstudents. Future research needs to explore statistics curriculum development,which is lagging and may be silently responsible for the low development ratein poor African countries.