The State of Statistics Education Research in Client Disciplines: Themes and Trends Across the University

Abstract

The reform movement in statistics education has led to a revitalization of the undergraduate introductory statistics course. However, many students satisfy their degree requirements by taking statistics courses in “client departments” such as business, the social sciences, and the lab sciences, typically taught by non-statisticians. This article presents the findings of a metasynthesis of the existing literature on teaching statistics in these client disciplines to learn (1) what is currently being taught and how, and (2) the most important challenges for statistics teachers in other departments. Articles were reviewed using qualitative axial coding and quantitative text analysis to identify common research themes and ideas in the literature for each discipline. Research themes, attitudes toward statistics instruction, and pedagogical techniques were found to vary from discipline to discipline. Collaboration with instructors in other disciplines may be a welcome step toward improving statistics instruction across the university.