Introductory statistics, college student attitudes and knowledge – a qualitative analysis of the impact of technology-based instruction

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study that compared the learning experiences of a group of students from a technology-based college-level introductory statistics course with the learning experiences of a group of students with non-technology-based instruction. Findings from the study indicate differences with regards to classroom experiences, student enjoyment of statistics, and student understanding of the many roles that technology plays in statistics. However, no significant differences were found between technology-based and non-technology-based instruction on students’ grasp of fundamental statistical concepts. In particular, these findings agree with the findings of several other studies, which indicate that incorporation of statistical software in the introductory statistics classroom might not always be very effective in building student intuitions about important statistical ideas related to statistical inference.