How deep is your approach to learn? A study with undergraduate psychology students.

Purpose. Statistical skills are considered important for psychology students because they need to know fundamental research concepts and to use and understand the technique of measurements in psychology (i.e., psychometrics). For these reasons, most undergraduate psychology majors require to take a sequence of courses. Usually an introductory statistics course is followed by a psychometrics course since some introductory statistics topics are deemed necessary for understanding psychometric tools and techniques. Starting from this premise, the aim of the current study was twofold. First, to identify the learning approach that is more likely to result in better retention of the statistics prerequisites to learn psychometrics. Second, to point out the individual characteristics of students who adopt it. Methodology. Data were collected from 200 psychology students enrolled in a psychometrics course. At the very beginning of the course they were administered a scale to measure the learning approaches they had adopted for the previous statistic exam, a brief test about the basics of statistics they were supposed to know before starting the course (e.g., descriptive indices, correlation and regression). Self-confidence and attitudes were also measured. Results. Results showed that students’ knowledge of statistics was associated to a deep approach to learning. Students who adopted this approach showed high self-confidence and positive attitudes. Implications for theory & practice. These findings contribute to current state of knowledge on factors that impact on statistics education and they suggest areas of intervention to further a deep approach identifying the characteristics of those students who spontaneously adopt it. Originality & Value. To the best of our knowledge, the retention of statistical concepts have not been investigated before taking into account the learning approach and the individual characteristics that prompt it. Additionally, these findings can help statistics teachers in defining intervention strategies to promote consolidated learning.