Teaching Statistics and Quantitative Methods in the 21st Century

This work, which provides a guide for revising and expanding statistical and quantitative methods pedagogy, is useful for novice and seasoned instructors at both undergraduate and graduate levels, inspiring them to use transformative approaches to train students as future researchers. Is it time for a radical revision in our pedagogical orientation? How are we currently teaching introductory statistics and quantitative methods, and how should we teach them? What innovations are used, what is in development? This ground-breaking edited volume addresses these questions and more, providing cutting-edge guidance from highly accomplished teachers. Many current textbooks and syllabi differ in only superficial ways from those used 50 years ago, yet the field of quantitative methods-and its relationship to the research enterprise-has expanded in many important ways. A philosophical axiom underlying this book is that introductory teaching should prepare students to potentially enter more advanced quantitative methods training and ultimately to become accomplished researchers. The reader is introduced to classroom innovation, and to both pragmatic and philosophical challenges to the status quo, motivating a broad revolution in how introductory statistics and quantitative methods are taught. Designed to update and renovate statistical pedagogy, this material will stimulate students, new instructors, and experienced teachers.

Joseph Lee Rodgers earned his PhD. in quantitative psychology, with a minor in biostatistics, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1981. He worked at the University of Oklahoma from 1981-2012, where he is George Lynn Cross Research Professor Emeritus. He joined the Quantitative Methods program at Vanderbilt in 2012. He has published two co-authored books, two edited books, and over 150 journal articles/book chapters in the professional literature. He has also had a career commitment to classroom teaching and has written many articles in the statistics and quantitative methods literature that are didactic teaching-oriented articles.

Author Biographies Preface Foreword Chapter 1. Teaching Statistics and Research Methods in the 21st Century: An Introduction to 17 Chapters on Statistical Pedagogy, Curriculum, Philosophy, and Administration Chapter 2. The role of philosophy of science when teaching statistics to social scientists: Two constructivists walk into a bar (or do they?) Chapter 3. Optimizing Student Learning in Quantitative Courses Chapter 4. Not the What of Quantitative Training But the Who Chapter 5. Is methodological research moving into practice?: The critical role of formal methodological training Chapter 6. Singletons: Re-evaluating course objectives when an introductory statistics course is a student's only statistics course Chapter 7. When Statistical Assumptions are Interesting Outcomes Instead of Nuisances: Looking Beyond the Mean Chapter 8. Teaching Introductory Statistics to Applied Researchers in the 21st Century: A Dialectic Examination Chapter 9. Teaching Quantitative Skills across the Psychology Curriculum Chapter 10. The Eyes Have It: Emphasizing Data Visualization When Teaching Students Meeting a Quantitative Literacy Requirement Chapter 11. Low- and Medium-Tech Complements to High-Tech Tools for Teaching Statistics: The case for using appropriate technology to implement cognitive principles for teaching Chapter 12. Hands-On Experience in the Classroom: Why, How, and Outcomes Chapter 13. Who benefits from the flipped classroom?: Quasi-experimental findings on student learning, engagement, course perceptions and interest in statistics Chapter 14. Teaching research methods using simulation Chapter 15. Teaching Statistics with a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) Student Response System Chapter 16. Personally Relevant Project-Based Learning in Graduate Statistics Curriculum in Psychology Chapter 17. Using Projects to Teach Statistics in Social Sciences Chapter 18. Teaching Statistical Concepts through a Scale Development Project