Does Lynda.com’s ‘Introduction to SPSS’ Course Provide a Positive Learning Experience Relating to Data Analysis within a Research Methods Module? the Beginnings of an Exploratory Study

When embarking on a clinical degree, students imagine themselves in a clinical environment treating patients as well as learning a plethora of medical conditions to help inform practice. The modules met with the most resistance are the two research methods modules they must complete to successfully graduate. Students at the beginning of their second year cannot comprehend how a module that is very different to the general stream of clinical modules fits onto their learning curve. However, over the past academic year, I have been able to identify the reason for the resistance, which lies solely in the students’ fear of statistics. In this article I discuss the implementation of screencasts as an adjunct to standard methods of teaching statistics in higher education. This particular project served as part of the completion for my Postgraduate Certificate in Education.