MASDER: Developing a instruments to measure attitudes in statistics and data science

Last updated on Jun 12, 2024
Project Site

I am a member of the Motivational Attitudes in Statistics and Data Science Education Research (MASDER) group. While there are many interconnected projects undertaken by members of MASDER, the primary focus now is the development of families of instruments to measure student and instructor attitudes and characteristics of the learning environment in the context: the Surveys of Motivational Attitudes toward Statistics (SOMAS) or Data Science (SOMADS) and the Environment, Pedagogy, Institution, and Course (EPIC) inventories. The project homepage is SDSattitudes.com and associated code and data are on GitHub.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DUE-2013392. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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stat-ed attitudes survey S-SOMAS instrument development NSF validity current
Douglas Whitaker
Douglas Whitaker
Associate Professor of Statistics

Publications

A Family of Instruments to Measure Data Science Attitudes
Attitudes play an important role in students’ academic achievement and retention, yet quality tools to measure them are not readily …
April Kerby-Helm, Michael A. Posner, Douglas Whitaker, Alana Unfried, Marjorie E. Bond, Leyla Batakci
PDF Project DOI
A Family of Instruments to Measure Data Science Attitudes
MASDERing Attitude Research in Statistics and Data Science Education: Instruments for Measuring Students, Instructors, and the Learning Environment
Research about students’ affective outcomes (such as attitudes) in statistics courses has proliferated over the past three decades, but …
Douglas Whitaker, Alana Unfried, Leyla Batakci, Wendine Bolon, Marjorie E. Bond, April Kerby-Helm, Michael A. Posner
PDF Project Full Text (within larger proceedings file)
MASDERing Attitude Research in Statistics and Data Science Education: Instruments for Measuring Students, Instructors, and the Learning Environment
A New Survey of Student Attitudes toward Statistics: The S-SOMAS
The Student Survey of Motivational Attitudes toward Statistics is a new instrument designed to measure affective outcomes in statistics …
Douglas Whitaker, Alana Unfried, Leyla Batakci, Wendine Bolon, Marjorie E. Bond, April Kerby-Helm, Michael A. Posner
Project DOI Full Text
A New Survey of Student Attitudes toward Statistics: The S-SOMAS
The Big Picture: A Family of Instruments for Understanding University-Level Statistics and Data Science Attitudes
Attitudes matter in statistics and data science education, but previous instruments have been limited in scope, resulting in many …
Alana Unfried, Douglas Whitaker, Leyla Batakci, Wendine Bolon, Marjorie E. Bond, April Kerby-Helm, Michael A. Posner
Project DOI Full Text
The Big Picture: A Family of Instruments for Understanding University-Level Statistics and Data Science Attitudes
S-SOMADS: A new survey to measure student attitudes toward data science
Attitudes play an important role in students’ academic achievement and retention, yet we lack quality attitude measurement instruments …
April Kerby-Helm, Michael A. Posner, Alana Unfried, Douglas Whitaker, Marjorie E. Bond, Leyla Batakci, Wendine Bolon
Project DOI Full Text
S-SOMADS: A new survey to measure student attitudes toward data science
A model for the classroom environment
The Motivational Attitudes in Statistics and Data Science Education Research group is developing a family of validated instruments: two …
Marjorie E. Bond, Leyla Batakci, Douglas Whitaker, Wendine Bolon, April Kerby-Helm, Alana Unfried, Michael A. Posner
Project DOI Full Text
A model for the classroom environment
MASDERtools: Functions for Analyzing SOMAS/SOMADS Data
Douglas Whitaker
Project Project GitHub v0.1.0
MASDERtools: Functions for Analyzing SOMAS/SOMADS Data
Design and validation arguments for the Student Survey of Motivational Attitudes toward Statistics (S-SOMAS) instrument
This chapter describes the development plan for a new survey designed to measure students’ attitudes toward statistics aligned with …
Douglas Whitaker, Alana Unfried, Marjorie Bond
PDF Cite Project Project DOI
Design and validation arguments for the Student Survey of Motivational Attitudes toward Statistics (S-SOMAS) instrument
A framework and survey for measuring students’ motivational attitudes toward statistics
The Survey of Motivational Attitudes toward Statistics (SOMAS) for Students is part of a family of instruments designed to assess …
Douglas Whitaker, Alana Unfried, Leyla Batakci
PDF Project
A framework and survey for measuring students’ motivational attitudes toward statistics

Events

Moving Forward to Using the MASDER Team’s Instruments
Learn about the family of instruments created by the MASDER team (Motivational Attitudes toward Statistics and Data Science Education …
Jun 11, 2024 — Virtual (eCOTS 2024)
Marjorie Bond, Leyla Batakci, Alana Unfried, Michael A. Posner, Douglas Whitaker, April Kerby-Helm
Project
Moving Forward to Using the MASDER Team’s Instruments
A Cross-disciplinary Review of Introductory Undergraduate Data Science Course Content
Data Science is one of the fastest growing fields with unmet demand from employers. Many academic institutions have taken on the task …
Mar 23, 2024 — Portland, Oregon (SIGCSE 2024)
Michael Posner, April Kerby-Helm, Alana Unfried, Douglas Whitaker, Marjorie Bond, Leyla Batakci
Project
A Cross-disciplinary Review of Introductory Undergraduate Data Science Course Content
A Family of Instruments to Measure Data Science Attitudes
Attitudes play an important role in students’ academic achievement and retention, yet quality tools to measure them are not readily …
Mar 21, 2024 — Portland, Oregon (SIGCSE 2024)
April Kerby-Helm, Michael Posner, Alana Unfried, Douglas Whitaker, Marjorie Bond, Leyla Batakci
Project
A Family of Instruments to Measure Data Science Attitudes
New Instruments for Measuring Statistics and Data Science Attitudes
The Student and Instructor Surveys of Motivational Attitudes toward Statistics or Data Science are a family of instruments that enable …
Nov 10, 2023 — Omaha, Nebraska (AMATYC 2023)
April Kerby-Helm, Marjorie Bond, Michael A. Posner, Alana Unfried, Douglas Whitaker, Leyla Batakci
Project
New Instruments for Measuring Statistics and Data Science Attitudes
What Skills Are Taught in an Introductory Data Science Course?
Data scientists are masters at creating dashboards, employing machine learning models, data wrangling, and creating visualizations to …
Nov 9, 2023 — Omaha, Nebraska (AMATYC 2023)
April Kerby-Helm, Michael A. Posner, Marjorie Bond, Alana Unfried, Douglas Whitaker, Leyla Batakci
Project
What Skills Are Taught in an Introductory Data Science Course?
Measuring Student Attitudes Toward Statistics using S-SOMAS: National Data and Individualized Report
We will share for the first time pre- and post- data on students' attitudes toward statistics from the new S-SOMAS instrument. At this …
Aug 6, 2023 — Toronto, Ontario (JSM 2023)
Michael Posner, April Kerby-Helm, Alana Unfried, Douglas Whitaker, Marjorie Bond, Leyla Batakci
Project
Measuring Student Attitudes Toward Statistics using S-SOMAS: National Data and Individualized Report
MASDERing Attitude Research in Statistics and Data Science Education: Instruments for Measuring Students, Instructors, and the Learning Environment
Research about students’ affective outcomes (such as attitudes) in statistics courses has proliferated over the past three decades, but …
Jul 13, 2023 — Toronto, Ontario/Virtual Hybrid (IASE Satellite 2023)
Douglas Whitaker, Alana Unfried, Leyla Batakci, Marjorie E. Bond, April Kerby-Helm, Michael A. Posner
Project
MASDERing Attitude Research in Statistics and Data Science Education: Instruments for Measuring Students, Instructors, and the Learning Environment
MASDER your educational research: how to cohesively study students, instructors, and the learning environment
How do you know if your teaching is effective in introductory statistics and data science courses? Is it grades? Is it anecdotes from …
Jun 3, 2023 — State College, Pennsylvania (USCOTS 2023)
Alana Unfried, Leyla Batakci, Marjorie E. Bond, April Kerby-Helm, Michael A. Posner, Douglas Whitaker
Project
MASDER your educational research: how to cohesively study students, instructors, and the learning environment
Measuring student enjoyment and effective teaching practices: what works?
Knowledge is not the only important outcome from statistics courses: students’ attitudes and beliefs about statistics have been widely …
May 29, 2023 — Ottawa, Ontario (SSC 2023)
Douglas Whitaker, Alana Unfried, Leyla Batakci, Marjorie E. Bond, April Kerby-Helm, Michael A. Posner
Project Slides
Measuring student enjoyment and effective teaching practices: what works?
A new survey of student attitudes toward statistics: the S-SOMAS
The Student Survey of Motivational Attitudes toward Statistics (S-SOMAS) is a new instrument designed to measure affective outcomes in …
Sep 13, 2022 — Rosario, Argentina/Virtual Hybrid (ICOTS 11)
Douglas Whitaker, Alana Unfried, Leyla Batakci, Wendine Bolon, Marjorie E. Bond, April Kerby-Helm, Michael A. Posner
Project Slides
A new survey of student attitudes toward statistics: the S-SOMAS
A model for the classroom environment
The Motivational Attitudes in Statistics and Data Science Education Research group are developing a family of validated instruments: …
Sep 12, 2022 — Rosario, Argentina/Virtual Hybrid (ICOTS 11)
Marjorie E. Bond, Leyla Batakci, Alana Unfried, Douglas Whitaker, April Kerby-Helm, Michael A. Posner
Project
A model for the classroom environment
S-SOMADS: A new survey to measure student attitudes toward data science
Attitudes play an important role in students’ academic achievement and retention, yet we lack quality attitude measurement instruments …
Sep 12, 2022 — Rosario, Argentina/Virtual Hybrid (ICOTS 11)
Michael A. Posner, April Kerby-Helm, Marjorie Bond, Leyla Batakci, Alana Unfried, Douglas Whitaker
Project
S-SOMADS: A new survey to measure student attitudes toward data science
The big picture: a family of instruments for understanding university-level statistics and data science attitudes
Attitudes matter in statistics and data science education, but previous instruments have been limited in scope, resulting in many …
Sep 12, 2022 — Rosario, Argentina/Virtual Hybrid (ICOTS 11)
Alana Unfried, Douglas Whitaker, Leyla Batakci, Wendine Bolon, Marjorie E. Bond, April Kerby-Helm, Michael A. Posner
Project
The big picture: a family of instruments for understanding university-level statistics and data science attitudes
I Love Data Science! Do My Students? Let’s Measure It!
Data science courses are in high demand, and statisticians are often tapped to teach them. Efforts are lacking in data science …
Aug 9, 2022 — Washington, DC
Michael Posner, April Kerby-Helm, Alana Unfried, Douglas Whitaker, Marjorie Bond, Leyla Batakci
Project
I Love Data Science! Do My Students? Let’s Measure It!
Measuring Student Attitudes – a Modern Approach, and Why You Should Get Involved
Statistics educators have been studying undergraduate student attitudes toward statistics for decades, but with lack of modern …
Aug 9, 2022 — Washington, DC (JSM 2022)
Alana Unfried, Douglas Whitaker, Marjorie Bond, Leyla Batakci, April Kerby-Helm, Michael Posner
Project
Measuring Student Attitudes – a Modern Approach, and Why You Should Get Involved
What Do Instructors Think About Teaching Statistics?
Through an NSF IUSE grant (Developing Validated Instruments to Measure Student/Faculty Attitudes in Undergraduate Statistics and Data …
Aug 9, 2022 — Washington, DC
Marjorie Bond, Leyla Batakci, Michael Posner, Douglas Whitaker, April Kerby-Helm, Alana Unfried
Project
What Do Instructors Think About Teaching Statistics?
Attitudes Matter! A New Instrument in Motivational Attitudes Toward Statistics / Data Science
Attitudes matter in mathematics education, especially in fields like statistics, which sometimes suffer from a poor reputation, and …
Aug 5, 2022 — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Michael Posner, April Kerby-Helm, Alana Unfried, Douglas Whitaker
Project
Attitudes Matter! A New Instrument in Motivational Attitudes Toward Statistics / Data Science
The SOMAS/DS Family of Instruments to Measure Students, Instructors and Learning Environment
Jun 1, 2022 — Jun 3, 2022 Washington, DC
Marjorie E. Bond, Alana Unfried, Douglas Whitaker, April Kerby-Helm, Michael Posner, Leyla Batakci, Wendine Bolon
Project
The SOMAS/DS Family of Instruments to Measure Students, Instructors and Learning Environment
Pilot 2: Further Development and Psychometric Analysis of the Student Survey of Motivational Attitudes Towards Statistics
Student attitudes towards statistics are connected with numerous important educational outcomes in statistics. Previously developed …
May 24, 2022 — Virtual (eCOTS 2022)
Matthew Dunham, Alana Unfried, Douglas Whitaker
Project
Pilot 2: Further Development and Psychometric Analysis of the Student Survey of Motivational Attitudes Towards Statistics
Pilot 2: Further Development and Psychometric Analysis of the Student Survey of Motivational Attitudes Towards Statistics
Apr 22, 2022 — Seaside, California
Matthew Dunham, Alana Unfried, Douglas Whitaker
Project
Pilot 2: Further Development and Psychometric Analysis of the Student Survey of Motivational Attitudes Towards Statistics
Motivational Attitudes in Statistics and Data Science
Attitudes matter in mathematics education, especially in fields like statistics which sometimes suffer from a poor reputation; …
Apr 6, 2022 — Virtual (JMM 2022)
Alana Jane Unfried, Douglas Whitaker, Leyla Batakci, Michael Posner
Project
Motivational Attitudes in Statistics and Data Science
Why Do We Need Yet ANOTHER Instrument Measuring Student Attitudes?
Attitudes matter in statistics education, and it is crucial for statistics educators to gain a better understanding of student …
Aug 12, 2021 — Virtual (JSM 2021)
Alana Unfried, Michael Posner, April Kerby-Helm, Marjorie Bond, Douglas Whitaker, Leyla Batakci
Project Slides
Why Do We Need Yet ANOTHER Instrument Measuring Student Attitudes?
SOMAS/DS: Measuring the learning environment, the instructor, and the student
In order to model and understand best practices in Statistics and Data Science education, we need instruments that begin in theory and …
Jul 1, 2021 — Virtual (USCOTS 2021)
Marjorie Bond, Leyla Batakci, April Kerby-Helm, Alana Unfried, Douglas Whitaker
Project
SOMAS/DS: Measuring the learning environment, the instructor, and the student
Students’ Motivational Attitudes about Statistics: Results from the S-SOMAS Pilot
The Student Survey of Motivational Attitudes toward Statistics (S-SOMAS) is a new instrument being developed to provide teachers and …
Jun 30, 2021 — Virtual (USCOTS 2021)
Douglas Whitaker, Leyla Batakci, Wendine Bolon, Marjorie Bond, April Kerby-Helm, Alana Unfried
Project
Students’ Motivational Attitudes about Statistics: Results from the S-SOMAS Pilot
Developing and revising the Student Survey of Motivational Attitudes Toward Statistics: Results from a pilot study
Students’ attitudes toward statistics are widely recognized as an important outcome for introductory statistics courses. To facilitate …
Jun 9, 2021 — Virtual (SSC 2021)
Douglas Whitaker
Project Slides
Developing and revising the Student Survey of Motivational Attitudes Toward Statistics: Results from a pilot study
Environment Matters: Institution and Course Characteristics and Pedagogy
A new survey, E-SOMAS (Environmental Survey of Motivational Attitudes towards Statistics), is a part of a family of instruments, that …
May 18, 2019 — State College, Pennsylvania (USCOTS 2019)
Marjorie Bond, Leyla Batakci, Wendine Bolon, Douglas Whitaker
Project
Environment Matters: Institution and Course Characteristics and Pedagogy
Evaluating validity evidence for instruments in statistics education

This Breakout Session will focus on evaluating validity evidence supporting the interpretation of scores from instruments. While …
May 17, 2019 — May 18, 2019 State College, Pennsylvania (USCOTS 2019)
Leigh Harrell-Williams, Douglas Whitaker
Project
Evaluating validity evidence for instruments in statistics education
A framework and survey for measuring students’ motivational attitudes toward statistics
The Survey of Motivational Attitudes toward Statistics (SOMAS) for Students is part of a family of instruments designed to assess …
Jul 11, 2018 — Kyoto, Japan (ICOTS 10)
Douglas Whitaker, Alana Unfried, Leyla Batakci
Project
A framework and survey for measuring students’ motivational attitudes toward statistics
Validity Evidence Claims and Plan for the SOMAS Instruments
The Surveys Of Motivational Attitudes towards Statistics (SOMAS) is a family of instruments being developed to measure what has …
Jul 9, 2018 — Kyoto, Japan (ICOTS 10)
Douglas Whitaker
Project
Validity Evidence Claims and Plan for the SOMAS Instruments
Pre-service mathematics teachers’ attitudes about statistics: Pilot study of a new instrument
This poster reports on a pilot study of a new instrument for assessing preservice and inservice teachers’ attitudes toward statistics, …
Feb 9, 2018 — Houston, Texas (AMTE 2018)
Douglas Whitaker
Project
Pre-service mathematics teachers’ attitudes about statistics: Pilot study of a new instrument