By Greg Ellison (University of Georgia)
Information
Statistics is a collaborative field by nature, and writing is a critical tool for communicating statistical analyses. However, many undergraduate students see statistics largely as a primarily technical field, and writing is not often taught in undergraduate statistics courses. The American Statistical Association (ASA) recommends emphasizing communication skills by including writing as a component of undergraduate statistics curricula. We surveyed students enrolled in the University of Georgia’s Capstone in Statistics -- a writing-intensive two course sequence for statistics majors -- to explore their perceptions of the usefulness of writing their education and future work. In the Capstone course, student teams conduct statistical analyses and produce consulting-style report for clients from other University departments, local businesses, etc. who bring real-world datasets. To prepare for this work, students, through take-home writing assignments and in-class active learning exercises, address topics such as the p-value debate, assessing variability through simulation, and parameter inference when model assumptions are violated. The ability to write with clarity for the intended audience is emphasized in writing assignments and assessment. We find that students consider writing instruction to be a useful component of their education, and most report that the writing tasks help them gain content knowledge. Additionally, we find that students are open to more writing instruction throughout the undergraduate statistics curriculum, and that students report higher confidence in writing skills after exposure to writing in the Capstone course.