2010 - Public Relations Society of America

The third hypothesis asked whether the students will be more likely to perceive
themselves as capable of performing duties of the investor relations professionals if their
math anxiety was minimized. Based on the results of the experiment, the likelihood to
feel capable about the investor relations profession was higher for students who were
exposed to the experimental treatment (M = 6.33; N = 24) than for students who were in
the control group and thus were not exposed to the experimental manipulation (M = 4.96;
N = 24). To analyze if the difference in the means between these two groups was
statistically significant, the independent samples t-test was conducted. The results of the
t-test indicated, however, that the difference between the groups was not statistically
significant (t(46) = 2.14; p > .001). Thus, although the means for the experimental group
are higher than the means for the control group as the hypothesis was predicting, this
difference could occur simply by chance. As a result, Hypothesis 3, after math anxiety is
minimized, students will be more likely to perceive themselves as more capable of
succeeding in a profession perceived to be math intensive, was not supported.
The last hypothesis asked whether students will be more likely to perceive the
investor relations profession as a good choice for them, if their math anxiety was
minimized. Based on the results of the experiment, the likelihood to perceive investor
relations as a good choice was higher for students who were exposed to the experimental
treatment (M = 5.46; N = 24) than for students who were in the control group and thus
were not exposed to the experimental manipulation (M = 3.67; N = 24). To analyze if the
difference in the means between these two groups was statistically significant, the
independent samples t-test was conducted. The results of the t-test indicated that the
difference between the groups was statistically significant (t(46) = 2.99; p ≤ .001). As a
result, Hypothesis 4, after math anxiety is minimized, students will be more likely to
consider a profession perceived to be math intensive as a good choice for them, was
supported.
Conclusions
The results of the experiment lead to the conclusion that math apprehension does
influence students in choosing their classes. In fact, students became more likely to enroll
in the investor relations class once they knew that no math was involved and the
difference was statistically and meaningfully significant as it represented more than a
quarter of the scale used for the measurement.
The same was true for the selection of the profession. Once students learned that
no math skills were required to work in the investor relations profession, all other
variables held equal, they became more likely to pursue a career in investor relations and
more likely to view investor relations profession as a good choice for them.
These findings suggest an important implication for educators. Students should
not limit themselves in their potential career choices. It becomes an important task for
educators to help students cope with their math anxiety and choose their classes and
career paths based on their interests rather than based on a fear of math. Investor
relations, for example, is the highest paid specialization in public relations and corporate
communications with vacancies available even during the toughest job market
environments (Iacono, 2006). Thus, it represents a lucrative career opportunity for current
public relations and communication students.
Minimizing math anxiety, however, did not cause subjects in the experimental
group to view themselves as more capable to carry out duties of an investor relations
263