Increasing Academic Self-Efficacy in Statistics With a Live Vicarious Experience Presentation

This study investigated the effect of a vicarious experience on the academic self-efficacy of graduate students enrolled in a statistics and research methods course. Participants (N = 39) completed a self-efficacy scale during the first two meetings of the course. Two weeks later, a portion of these students participated in a randomly assigned intervention to increase statistics self-efficacy. In the experimental condition, a former statistics student came to the class and explained her own math anxieties and outlined the behaviors that led to her personal success in the same course. Comparison students wrote about the characteristics of a successful student in the course without the experience of a peer model presentation. Analysis of pre- and postintervention academic self-efficacy indicated students in the peer model group showed a significant increase compared to the writing group. We discuss the potential of using live vicarious experience presentations to increase self-efficacy in psychology statistics courses.