Some psychology students are surprised (maybe even dismayed) to realize that they must take a statistics course.
At a Glance
Statistics enable us to organize, describe, and understand large amounts of data.
Understanding statistics in psychology can help you excel both in your classes and in this field.
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Many college programs have different statistics class requirements.
How many hours did you sleep?
How many students in your class ate breakfast this morning?
How many people live within a one-mile radius of your home?
By using statistics, we can organize and interpret all this information in a meaningful way.
In psychology, we are also confronted with enormous amounts of data.
How do changes in one variable impact other variables?
Is there a way to demonstrate arelationship between variables?
What is the overall strength of this relationship and what does this mean?
Statistics allow us to answer these kinds of questions.
Having an understanding of statistical methods can also help us excel in other classes.
Plus, think about all the claims about psychology that we encounter outside of class on a daily basis.
Understanding statistics in psychology even enables us to make better decisions about our own health and well-being.
Statistics Requirements for Psychology Majors
Academic institutions have specific graduation requirements.
Completing a certain number of math classes helps fulfill the school’s general education requirements.
For students majoring in psychology, statistics is a mathematics-based class that is also typically required.
Because every school is different, it’s important to check the requirements for your specific institution.
Look at both the school’s general education requirements and the class requirements related to your desiredpsychology degree.
This will tell you whether a statistics class is needed and, if so, which one or ones.
That said, we do recognize that this subject isn’t always easy to learn.
Some extra effort might be needed, but help is available.
Start with the class instructor.
Ask about books, online tools, and on-campus resources that can helpmake your studies easier.
Joining a study group is another option.
If a statistics study group isn’t available, you may even decide to create one.
This can help not only you but others who may be struggling with the subject as well.
Tessler J.On the importance of learning statistics for psychology students.
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Olsson-Collentine A, van Assen MALM, Hartgerink CHJ.The prevalence of marginally significant results in psychology over time.Psychol Sci.
2019;30(4):576-586. doi:10.1177/0956797619830326
Gaertner S.How is the public being misled about research?Wiley.
2017;12(3):e0172792.
