WINTER 2012 - National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and ...

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Amy E. Smith and Ignacio J. Martinez-Moyano Pre-Course Training In addition to specific teaching techniques and modifications of course content, some instructors suggest that student anxiety and frustration could be reduced with changes in pre-course training. Anxiety experienced by students and frustration experienced by instructors is in part related to the students’ lack of specific computing skills (Strasser & Ozgur, 1995; Zanakis & Valenzi, 1997). Some instructors advocate requiring that students take a microcomputer technology and computer literacy course before they can take a statistics course. Others suggest that students be required to take more than one statistics course (Strasser & Ozgur, 1995), allowing instructors more time to cover complicated topics. This approach would help ensure that by the time students begin the second statistics course, their anxiety will have decreased, and their skill set will have increased. One other recommendation is that statistics be part of a twocourse sequence: students would start by taking a course covering the basics of research design and then would move on to a statistics course (Forte, 1995). The valuable recommendations provided in the literature are generally based on the individual personal experiences of instructors. Thus, these recommendations have the advantage of being authentic in that they are based on personal anecdotes and actual experiences. One way to build on this literature is to base recommendations for teaching statistics on what can be gleaned from an aggregation of personal experiences from several, or even many, individuals. Continuing the work of Strasser and Ozgur (1995), who surveyed statistics instructors about what they “wish” for in a statistics course; Davis (2003), who undertook a case study to measure student statistics anxiety before and after taking a specially designed statistics course; and Mandell (2008), who surveyed a group of academic instructors in public policy analysis and management programs, we employ a systematic approach using a Delphi technique to identify a set of tools and techniques to teach statistics to practitioners based on the aggregation of the experiences and wisdom of several individuals. The Delphi Method As suggested earlier, teaching statistics to nonspecialists poses many challenges (Yilmaz, 1996). While a variety of methods have been suggested for addressing these challenges, the list of recommendations is lengthy and relies primarily on individual experiences and opinions. One way to further the valuable contributions garnered from these experiences is to use a Delphi technique to identify a set of tools and techniques that experienced instructors use to teach statistics to individuals enrolled in practitioner-oriented master’s degree programs. By using a Delphi technique, we can discern which practices are suggested by one and which practices are suggested by many. In other words, we can identify a set of tools and techniques that is based on an aggregation of personal experiences from several statistics instructors. 114 Journal of Public Affairs Education
Techniques in Teaching Statistics The Delphi method is particularly suited for this study. This technique will help identify the common tools and techniques instructors use to teach statistics in practitioner-oriented master’s degree programs. The Delphi technique allows participants to respond to questions in two or more rounds. After each round, the facilitator provides an anonymous summary of the participants’ answers to the round of questions and allows each participant to revise his or her original answers based on the other answers provided by the rest of the respondents (Alder & Ziglio, 1996; Linstone & Turoff, 1975). The Delphi technique has allowed researchers to produce insights in an area where direct observation was not possible (Dalkey & Helmer, 1963), has been more effective in producing a large number of ideas than other group processes (Van de Ven & Delbecq, 1974), reduced respondent bias because of the anonymity provided during data collection (Williams & Webb, 1994), and helped scholars distinguish between what is essential versus what is simply important (Smith & Simpson, 1995). This technique has been used by a number of scholars to gain consensus on things such as teaching competencies in higher education (Smith & Simpson, 1995; Tigelaar, Dolmans, Wolfhagen, & Vleuten, 2004; Williams & Webb, 1994) and management competencies in local government (Lazenby, 2010). This paper addresses three primary opportunities not specifically addressed in the literature. First, when considering the link between research and practice, most existing research addresses antecedents to the production of useful research, primarily doctoral education. This paper addresses one of the antecedents to effective consumption of this research. Second, in uncovering the tools and techniques most appropriate for addressing the challenges of teaching statistics, most recommendations are based on anecdotal evidence or case studies. For this project, we systematically collected data from a group of statistics instructors, identifying areas of agreement and disagreement about such tools and techniques. Third, in identifying tools and techniques to address challenges facing statistics instructors, the electronic Delphi technique has been left largely unexplored; this paper employs this approach. DATA AND METHOD As suggested earlier, the general goal of this paper is to identify and describe practices used by experienced statistics instructors to address the challenges inherent in teaching statistics in a practitioner-oriented master’s degree program. Thus, our research was conducted in four phases. First, we identified common challenges faced by statistics instructors. Second, we established a sample of experienced statistics instructors. Third, we collected data from our sample respondents through a Web-based discussion tool using an electronic Delphi technique (Turoff & Hiltz, 1982). Finally, we analyzed the data collected and used the findings to develop a model. The details associated with each phase are described here. Journal of Public Affairs Education 115
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JPAE VOLUME 18 NUMBER 1 JOURNAL OF
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Journal of Public Affairs Education
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FROM THE EDITOR In the symposium in
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NASPAA Presidential Address Annual
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Leading by Example: Modeling Global
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FROM THE GUEST EDITOR FROM THE GUES
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FROM THE GUEST EDITOR A SYMPOSIUM I
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on other fronts, certainly it can h
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Picasso, P. (1937). Guernica. Pictu
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Reflections of a Working-Class Acad
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Class Rooms Kenneth Oldfield Univer
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Page 111 and 112: REFERENCES Ashwander v. Tennessee V
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Analysts also determined the number
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Review of Moral Controversies in Am
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Information for Contributors The Jo
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