IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socres/v25y2020i2p219-235.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

‘Sociologists Shouldn’t Have to Study Statistics’: Epistemology and Anxiety of Statistics in Sociology Students

Author

Listed:
  • Kevin Ralston

Abstract

Worry about learning maths and statistics has been widely researched internationally but very little of this work has focussed on sociology. It is well documented that sociology students can be reluctant to engage with statistical methods. This article provides an exploration of the relationship between anxiety of statistics and its antecedents in sociology students. The analyses presented are based upon data collected from over 30 universities in the UK and is the most comprehensive sample of its type. The primary aim of this article is to analyse whether the perceived epistemological legitimacy of statistics, among sociology students, is associated with reported statistics anxiety. The results show that epistemological legitimacy is highly associated with reported statistics anxiety. Confidence in maths is also strongly associated with statistics anxiety. The implications of acknowledging these and other pedagogical issues in teaching quantitative research methods are complex and layered. Measures capturing whether students accept the epistemological legitimacy of statistical methods should be routinely incorporated in research examining statistics anxiety.

Suggested Citation

  • Kevin Ralston, 2020. "‘Sociologists Shouldn’t Have to Study Statistics’: Epistemology and Anxiety of Statistics in Sociology Students," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 25(2), pages 219-235, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:25:y:2020:i:2:p:219-235
    DOI: 10.1177/1360780419888927
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1360780419888927
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1360780419888927?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Matt Dickson & Paul Gregg & Harriet Robinson, 2016. "Early, Late or Never? When Does Parental Education Impact Child Outcomes?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(596), pages 184-231, October.
    2. Matt Dickson & Paul Gregg & Harriet Robinson, 2016. "Early, Late or Never? When Does Parental Education Impact Child Outcomes?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(596), pages 184-231.
    3. Malcolm Williams & Luke Sloan & Charlotte Brookfield, 2017. "A Tale of Two Sociologies: Analyzing Versus Critique in UK Sociology," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 22(4), pages 132-151, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lindsey Macmillan & Emma Tominey, 2023. "Parental inputs and socio-economic gaps in early child development," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1513-1543, July.
    2. Thang Dang, 2018. "Do the more educated utilize more health care services? Evidence from Vietnam using a regression discontinuity design," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 277-299, September.
    3. Dan Anderberg & Jesper Bagger & V. Bhaskar & Tanya Wilson, 2019. "Marriage market equilibrium, qualifications, and ability," CESifo Working Paper Series 7570, CESifo.
    4. Mathias Huebener, 2017. "Intergenerational Effects of Education on Risky Health Behaviours and Long-Term Health," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1709, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    5. Dong, Xiaoqi & Liang, Yinhe & Yu, Shuang, 2023. "Middle-achieving students are also my peers: The impact of peer effort on academic performance," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Cummins, Neil, 2022. "The Causal Effects of Education on Age at Marriage and Marital Fertility," CEPR Discussion Papers 17398, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Kishwar, Shabana & Alam, Khorshed, 2021. "Educational mobility across generations of formally and informally employed: Evidence from Pakistan," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    8. Gorman, Emma, 2017. "Schooling, occupation and cognitive function: Evidence from compulsory schooling laws," SocArXiv t647a, Center for Open Science.
    9. Marco Francesconi & James J. Heckman, 2016. "Child Development and Parental Investment: Introduction," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(596), pages 1-27, October.
    10. Emilia Del Bono & Marco Francesconi & Yvonne Kelly & Amanda Sacker, 2016. "Early Maternal Time Investment and Early Child Outcomes," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(596), pages 96-135, October.
    11. Surabhi Garg & Srijit Mishra, 2024. "Effect of demand and supply side factors on school education outcomes in India," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2024-013, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    12. Arendt, Jacob Nielsen & Christensen, Mads Lybech & Hjorth-Trolle, Anders, 2021. "Maternal education and child health: Causal evidence from Denmark," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    13. Yusuf Emre Akgunduz & Pelin Akyol & Abdurrahman B. Aydemir & Murat Demirci & Murat G. Kirdar, 2023. "Maternal Education and Early Child Development: The Roles of Parental Support for Learning, Learning Materials, and Father Characteristics," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 2305, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
    14. Akgündüz, Yusuf Emre & Akyol, Pelin & Aydemir, Abdurrahman B. & Demirci, Murat & Kirdar, Murat Güray, 2024. "Intergenerational Effects of Compulsory Schooling Reform on Early Childhood Development in a Middle-Income Country," IZA Discussion Papers 17249, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Stephanie von Hinke, 2022. "Education, Dietary Intakes and Exercise," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 84(1), pages 214-240, February.
    16. Correa, Juan A. & Parro, Francisco & Sánchez, Rafael, 2021. "The Effect of School Voucher Spending on Initial Earnings," IZA Discussion Papers 14552, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Pugno, Maurizio, 2021. "Italy’s parabolas of GDP and subjective well-being: the role of education," MPRA Paper 107948, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Hasan,Amer & Nakajima,Nozomi & Rangel,Marcos A., 2020. "Mama Knows (and Does) Best : Maternal Schooling Opportunities and Child Development in Indonesia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9355, The World Bank.
    19. Anne Zühlke & Philipp Kugler & Tim Ruhberg, 2022. "Hetreogeneity in Log-Term Returns to Education - An Inconvenient Truth," IAW Discussion Papers 140, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW).
    20. Zotti, Roberto, 2020. "Parental Education and Sons’ Earnings: A “Beyond the Mean†Approach along the Sons’ Earnings Distributions," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 202013, University of Turin.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:25:y:2020:i:2:p:219-235. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.