Question about statistics

dgh1973 · Dec 7, 2001

My husband attends an online university and had to take Business Statistics I & II. I normally have very good math skills but I must admit I could barely help him with these classes. I read the material, re-read it and still could not make rhyme or reason out of it. The beginning chapters in course I were quite basic but as the course advanced we were both lost. We finally had to hire a private tutor to come help him in our home and he ended up with B's in both courses. I'm not trying to discourage you, dont get me wrong but it may just be that Statistics is one of those courses that is better understood in a classroom situation. I love online studies and my husband will be finishing up his BSN through hiis online university soon but I think some courses really do require an instructors personal time and attention to be helpful. HTH! Good luck with your decision.

Cindy_A · Dec 8, 2001

I have taken 2 statistics courses, and it's definitely NOT a class I would take online!!! It can be very confusing, and I think you would benefit from taking it in a classroom setting. Good Luck!

KristaB · Dec 8, 2001

Yeah, that's a bummer because I definitely *cannot* work it into my schedule around nursing classes. I still have to take statistics, sociology and nutrition before the BSN program, all of which I'll be doing by correspondence or online.

They do offer it on a telecourse, but it is a writing course. I don't know; I guess I have a few weeks to think about it.

Krista

dgh1973 · Dec 8, 2001

Krista-

If you were just dead set on taking an extra class online I would definitely recommend either nutrition or sociology. I took nutrition via a telecourse and it was awesome. I still have to take sociology and plan on taking that via distance ed. as well. I think either of those would be great courses to take online and still allow you enough real estate in your brain to make it through your nursing courses! HTH...

prmenrs, RN · Dec 8, 2001

A lot of statistics is NOT understanding it, but putting your mind in neutral and following the directions, i.e., the formulae.

I've taken it a couple of times, and can still do a mean, median and mode, but don't [thank God] usually need to. If I had to do more than that, I'd know who to ask for help.

I think they make you take statistics so that you know what a p-value means, and so that you don't believe everything you read without recognizing the significance of the research upon which the article is based.

Maybe there's a "Statistics for Dummies"?

lalajenn · Dec 8, 2001

I took statistics in a classroom and we took a test everyday that we was in there so we wouldn't forget what we learn which was quite easy from what the teacher said. I would only recommend taking it online if you had easy access to a teacher and even to someone who has taken it before could help you out. Good luck!! :) I did really good in the class and I am really bad at math but I did have a good teacher.

KristaB · Dec 8, 2001

Dgh: I'm taking all of them online. This is my last "easy" quarter of nursing (not full time), so I wanted to get statistics in this quarter and I'll work the other two in around my hard quarters, knowing that they're both easier classes than the statistics. Since I have a full day clinical at the hospital, I can't fit in a classroom class, only online courses or nursing electives that are made to fit into the nursing schedule.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I may go talk to the instructor before I leave next week to see what he has to say. :)

Krista