24th Annual Student Research Conference
Statistics Skills Preferred by Psychology Graduate Programs
Audra M. Schickler*, Jennifer Brown, Peter M. Ruberton, Jordan M. Constance, Nicholas C. Jacobson, Jennifer Pearlstein, and Kelsey N. Spalding
Dr. David B. Conner and Dr. Jeffrey Vittengl, Faculty Mentors
Adequate knowledge of statistical analyses and software obtained during undergraduate education is essential for students to succeed in psychology graduate programs. The current study surveyed North American psychology graduate programs to assess desired statistical skills, familiarity of statistical software packages, and current preparedness of incoming graduate students. Preliminary analyses of 167 programs indicate that students are only partially prepared (mean=2.94, 5-point scale) to meet the statistical demands of their programs. With this marked room for improvement, it is possible for undergraduate educators to improve statistical preparedness of students through adjusting curriculum based on knowledge of graduate level expectations. Students familiarity of statistical software is vital in achieving this readiness. Graduate students in most programs use SPSS (93%), followed by Excel (50%), SAS (33%), R (16%), and other programs (e.g., Stata, Systat , Minitab) infrequently (< 10%). Further data analyses will address use of specific statistical procedures and skills.
Keywords: statistics software, graduate school preparation, statistical skills, undergraduate statistics , psychology graduate programs
Topic(s):Psychology
Statistics
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: 11-5
Location: Georgian Room - SUB
Time: 4:30