Teaching Introductory Statistical Classes in Medical Schools Using RStudio and R Statistical Language: Evaluating Technology Acceptance and Change in Attitude Toward Statistics

Abstract

Biostatistics is a critical skill to physicians in an evidence-based medicine era, but teaching basic statistical concepts is challenging. Students often experience anxiety caused by the complexity of statistics and might express negative attitudes toward the subject. We aimed to analyze the effect of an introductory biostatistics course using RStudio on attitude toward statistics and assess its acceptance among medical students. Forty-three 1st-year medical students were included. Pre-and post-course attitudes toward statistics were assessed using the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics (SATS-28) scale and technology acceptance was assessed by a Technology Acceptance Model scale at the end of the course. There was a statistically discernible (significant) gain in the scores of three of the four SATS dimensions: affection (p = 0.006, Cohen's d = 0.442), cognitive competence (p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.605), and difficulty (p = 0.008, Cohen's d = 0.421). Acceptance of RStudio was moderate to high in 93% of the participants, without statistical differences between genders. RStudio can be useful in the teaching of statistics to medical students, being well accepted and positively associated with students'attitude toward statistics. Supplementary files for this article are available online.

Attitudes and demands on medical statistical education during the COVID-19 pandemic among undergraduates-postgraduates-teachers: A cross-sectional study in eastern China

“…It is thus necessary for medical schools to keep up with students and teachers demands on medical statistical software, which has been overlooked in existing studies. [14,[16][17][18] To meet demands on medical statistical software among students and teachers, in addition to providing the offline class of medical statistical software, many other important factors should be considered. For instance, teaching mode such as theory teaching and practice in software plays a pivotal role in helping students smoothly use the software.…”

“…[2][3][4][5] However, less attention by far has been paid to adapting medical statistical curriculum accordingly, such as adopting advanced and flexible statistical software (e.g., R package and Python) out of the traditional and most frequently one (i.e., Statistical Package for the Social Sciences: SPSS). [14][15][16][17][18] Existing limited studies suggest that the most commonly used statistical tool is SPSS, and other statistical software such as R and Python are also highly welcomed and used when teaching statistical classes in universities. [14,[16][17][18] Nevertheless, no study to date has investigated how students and teachers felt and thought about the statistical curriculum, which is of great importance when adjusting statistical software education to meet learners and users needs during the COVID-19 pandemic period.…”

Building Physician-Scientist Skills in R Programming: A Short Workshop Report

“…Our finding of a statistically significant improvement in the level of confidence in understanding and performing statistical tests is consistent with the notion that statistical software (such as R) is valuable in teaching statistics in medical education and can be appreciated by persons without a priori knowledge of programming. 5 …”

“…7 , 8 The steep learning curve associated with the use of R has been lessened by the advent of development environments such as RStudio, which have decreased the difficulty faced by learners without programming experience. 5 …”

Kill The Math and Let the Introductory Course Be Born

“…For introductory classes, R (R Core Team ( 2019)) is the best choice. See Çetinkaya-Rundel and Bray (2012), Carson and Basiliko (2016), Silva and Moura (2020) and Long and Turner (2020) and for discussion. Python can also work, especially if some prior programming experience is a prerequisite for the class.…”