Engaging Reluctant Public Service Students in the Learning and Real World Application of Introductory Statistics
by
Josephine M. LaPlante
Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine

The combination of a rapid descent of the prices of personal computers with the explosive growth of the world wide web has placed an abundance of social, economic, demographic, and scientific data within easy reach. During the past decade, an unparalleled interest has developed in the public sector in measuring societal conditions and benchmarking the performance of programs. As a consequence of the increased demand for data in accessible formats, people who never expected to find themselves responsible for data analysis and reporting are being thrust into the role of information producers. Today professional staff in government and not-for-profit organizations routinely are asked to procure, analyze, and report statistics. Yet research suggests that students preparing for public service tend to dread quantitative and analytical coursework, and to isolate these topics from other learning. As a consequence, students leave graduate public service programs ill-prepared to utilize these important tools. This paper describes strategies the author uses to engage reluctant students in the learning of essential statistical approaches.

Date received: September 10, 2003