Who failed the introductory statistics examination? A study on a sample of psychology students

The purpose of the present study was to explore factors linked to the difficulties encountered by psychology students in introductory statistics courses. Data were collected over a two-year period and a between-subjects design was conducted in order to stress differences between students who failed one or more times at the final examination and students who did not fail. Differences concerning background in mathematics, math competences, attitudes and anxiety toward statistics, performance in statistics final examination were found. From the present results we obtain indications to identify students who are likely to encounter learning difficulties when enrolled in statistics courses, and suggestions to provide teaching intervention.