Assessment of the Effectiveness of the Graduate Student Statistics Mentorship Program

Presented by JoElllen Pederson

This evaluation examines several outcomes from the first semester of a pilot statistic tutoring/mentoring program using mixed methods analysis.  The statistics mentoring program at Longwood was created with the intent of helping undergraduate students better understand statistics while also giving graduate students experience tutoring and mentoring undergraduate students. Data comes from student surveys and qualitative interviews conducted during the Spring of 2014.  This was a pilot program, therefore, data is limited to one semester.  Initial findings, however, show that undergraduate students ranked the time they spent with graduate mentors as very useful, 100 percent of undergraduates who filled out a survey stated that they would use statistics mentors again. Interviews with graduate students showed that they increased their own statistical abilities and gained valuable experience working with others.

Dr. JoEllen Pederson is an assistant professor of Sociology at Longwood University.  Her research interest include cross-national welfare state comparison, social policy analysis, and aging and the life course. She received her PhD from Florida State University in 2013.