Turking Statistics: Student-generated Surveys Increase Student Engagement and Performance

Thirty years ago, Hubert M. Blalock Jr. published an article in Teaching Sociology about the importance of teaching statistics. We honor Blalock’s legacy by assessing how using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) in statistics classes can enhance student learning and increase statistical literacy among social science gradaute students. In addition, we assess whether using MTurk has an impact on student ability to make professional progress. We find that, compared to traditional teaching methods, using MTurk increased student performance, perceptions, and outcomes. In addition, using MTurk resulted in a measurable increase in statistical literacy. We recommend that instructors teaching statistics consider how MTurk or similar technologies can be used in their classrooms.

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