Running head: Critical Review 1

Critical Review of Article:

Worry, Intolerance of Uncertainity, and Statistics Anxiety

By Amanda S. Williams

[NAME]
[COURSE]
[DATE]
[PROFESSOR NAME]
[CITY]
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Summary of Article

The article titled Worry, Intolerance of Uncertainity and Statistics Anxiety by Amanda S.
Williams studies how students who are pursuing a graduate degree look to delay and
procrastinate on taking statistics classes as late as possible. The article stipulates the fact
that it is seen that students have worry and have an intolerance to uncertainity which are
seen to be the major factors why students are anxious in terms of their studying experience
around statistics related studies. The goal of the study was to identify the relationship that
existed between the factors of intolerance of uncertainity, worry and the anxiety related to
statistics related studies. This relationship was seen to be significant in its nature and there
was a chain seen between the fact that students had an intolerance to the uncertainity
which led to worry being exhibited by the students which contributed to leading to statistics
related anxiety in the students. In order to carry out the study, there were six different
dimensions which were identified which were used in order to measure the statistics related
anxiety being seen in the students. These six factors were categorized as fear of asking for
help, fear of the statistics teacher, computation self-concept, test and class anxiety, worth
of statistics in graduate degree and interpretation anxiety. The study was carried out with
the formulation of three hypotheses which assumed that the tests taken by the students to
qualify as participants for the study showed that there was an intolerance of uncertainity
which was significantltly correlated to worry being seen in the students and this worry was
correlated to the six measures of statistic anxiety classified by Williams. Once it was seen
that these six dimensions were being fulfilled, it was also seen that levels of intolerance of
uncertainty had an impact on the worry and statistic related anxiety of the students. Once
the tests were carried out, it was seen that the participants who took the test saw reduced
level of anxiety and stress after the tests were carried out.

The particiapnts who had been chosen as particiapnts for the study were studying at a

large public university who were currently enrolled in an introductory statistics course. There

were a totl of 97 students who were made part of the study and the students were given a test

before and after their completed their statistics course. In order to survey the students, a

questionnaire was designed and a statistical analysis was carried out on the data collected

through these questionnaires. The results of the questionnaires were kept anonymous when

the questionnaires were administered before and after the statistics course. In order to present

the data, descriptive statistics were used to give mean, standard deviation and other measures

on worry, statistical anxiety and intolerance of uncertainity and the six dimensions that the

data was collected on. In addition to that Pearson’s R coefficients were calculated for the two
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hypothesis, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and ANOVA as a follow up were

carried out for the third hypothesis that was developed.

Based on the tests carried out, it was seen that the intolerance of uncertainity was

significantly correlated to worry and statistical anxiety being exhibited by the students. The

second hypothesis formulated that the six dimensions of statistical anxiety were partially

supported in the data analysis that was carried out. Lastly, it was seen that there was partial

support in the fact that the students showed lower levels of intolerance of uncertainity, worry

and anxiety related to statistics once the test was carried out before and after the statistics

course was taken. The discussion carried out in the paper shows that two of the hypotheses

are partially supported as social fears like asking for help or approaching a teacher are more

social in nature rather than being related to statistics related anxiety. The results of the study

cannot be generalized over a large population as this study was limited in scope but with

development of better variables and untested aspects of anxiety and worry, a more holistic

reseaech can be carried out as other variabels can have an impact on statistics anxiety as well.

Critical Review of Article

Purpose

The purpose of the study that was carried out was stated as part of the introduction to

the article and defines what the study is going to investigate. The article by Williams

described the problem which was being studied by failed to define a set purpose of the study

after the introduction had been made and the literature review was being defined. The

research question posed by the research is stated as a separate part of the article in Section 3.

Once the purpose has been stated, the article progresses fromt hat to then discuss the

methodology, instruments used for study, processes, results of the study, discussion of the

paper and final conclusions of the study.

Literature Review
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The literature review that is carried out should look to develop the research question
that has already been posed in the introduction and then study past researches to see how
other authors have collected the data and analysed the data for their researches. The literature
review defined in the article by Williams is clear and concise in terms of its literature review
as it gives a context for the research being carried out under the topic of statistics related
anxiety. The selection of the students is defined as being the students who were chosen from
the fall and spring semester of the university for 2010. As the research was carried out for
data related to 2010, most of the literature that was from 1980s and 1990s. The majority of
the researches that were studied were empirical in nature and carried out most of the
researches themselves. The literature review did not go into depth of the different strengths
and weaknesses of the different types of researches that were reviewed and did not address
any key words that could be used to retrieve these articles. The literature review was able to
define themes that were similar to the current research and the ones that contrasted with the
research in order to provide some context and relevance to the research being carried out.

Hypotheses

The hypotheses that were formulated by the research look to create a link between the
past researches that had been carried out and the procedrues which were followed to carry out
the current research. The purpose of the hypothesis is to align the past researches that have
been discussed in the literature review and then align the current research in context of past
literature. This research looked to develop three different hypothesis which were consistent
with the literature review that was carried and were developed like the sections of literature
review for alignment and better understanding.

Ethical Standards

In terms of the ethical standards being followed, the researchers have to make sure
that the safety, anonymity and confidentiality of the participants is kept. These issues have
been addressed by Williams as part of Section 4.1 and Section 4.3. The data collection from
participants and the nature of research and the participants is provided by Williams and
defines that the data that will be collected will be anonymous and will be kept safe and
confiendential. It is also stated that all the participants of the study will be treated equally
which shows that ethical standards were adhered to.

Operational Definitions

In order to better explain the research, researchers can develop definitions for their
audience to understand and grasp the research. Williams disucsses different concepts and
terms to allow the information to be presented in terms that others can understand.
Definitions and understandings of many of the concepts were also provided in the literature
review, methology and discussion sections of the research.

Methodology
The methodology being followed by the research was well defined in Section 4 of the
paper with supplementatry data presented in results and discussion section of the paper.
Williams described the instruments being used which had been used in the past as well
whichi measured intolerance of uncertainty, statistical anxiety and worry. Previous data
collected and research carried out was used in the current research as insturments to link the
past researches to the current one. The validity and reliability of the analysis carried out were
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also discussed as the reliability and validity of each instrument was considered. No pilot
study had been carried out before the final study was carried out and past tests and researches
were used in order to use the same insturments in this research.

Data Analysis and Results

The analysis and results of a study should define all the statistical tests that have been
carried out in the research and then present the results of the tests. Descriptive statistics were
used by Williams in collaboration with Pearson’s R correlation. In addition to that,
Benferroni adjustment was used in order to create a control group for the family wise error
rate. Multivariate analysis of variance and ANOVA as a follow up were alos carried out. The
results were presented in the form of charts and graphs for a visual understanding of the
results.
The percentage of participants who take part in the study help define the applicability

of the research and it was seen that all the participants of the research bore results for the

article. Based on the lowest level of significance being used and adjusting it for error, it was

seen that one hypothesis was supported while two other hypotheses were partially supported.

Discussion

The discussion section of the article should relate the study’s findings back to the

literature review (Coughlan, Cronin, & Ryan, 2007). Williams used findings from the

literature review of the article to provide context and create a link between the previous

research and the study being discussed. Williams restated the goal of the study and used

previous research to compare the findings of the study. From the tests conducted, the

hypothesis that intolerance of uncertainty is significantly correlated with worry in statistics

students is supported by the data analysis. The hypothesis that worry is significantly

correlated with six types of statistics anxiety was only partially supported. The reduction of

levels of intolerance of uncertainty, worry, and statistics anxiety from pretest to posttest was

also only partially supported. Limitations of the study and generalizability were briefly

discussed. Recommendations for further research were stated after the conclusion that there

may be other factors that impact statistics anxiety.

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References

The books, journals, articles, reports, and other media cited in Williams’ article seem

to be accurately presented and cited both within the article and in the list of references.

However, Williams does not always include the source page number on which certain

citations were found within the in-text citation.

Conclusion

The inclusion of more recent studies and the discussion of strengths and limitations of

the literature in the literature review, as well as the explicit statement of reasoning for all

statistical analysis could improve the article. However, based on the strength of the other

evaluation categories, Williams’ research and article are generally well researched.