Statistical Reasoning in Journalism Education

Abstract

Surveys of journalism department heads in 1997 and 2008 showed general support for the need for journalism students to reason with statistical information. Stronger support was associated, in particular, with the perception that this cognitive skill would give students an advantage in the journalism job market. However, many chairs also perceived constraints to learning, such as student inability and/or unwillingness to focus on this material and the difficulty most of their faculty would have teaching it. Some of these concerns may be more perceptual than actual.