What do responses to Likert-type scales tell us about students concerns about learning and using statistics?
35 There has been a long tradition of using Likert-type items in questionnaires measuring attitudes towards mathematics and science (Helgeson 1993). Instruments such as the SAS or ATS, which build on this tradition, yield scores that are easily reportable and are convenient to use for a broad description of the outcomes of statistics education. Such instruments have not been designed to provide diagnostic information that can point to particular issues of concern to individual students; therefore, we argue that present measures of attitudes towards statistics have very limited capability to inform teachers interested in improving the process or content of (statistics) education through either remedial interventions or preventive measures. 36 A key deficiency discussed earlier is that responses to Likert-type scales reveal little about the causes for answers. Especially when it comes to mathematics or statistics anxiety, which may negatively influence students’ interest, motivation, and
