About MASDER

The Motivational Attitudes in Statistics and Data Science Education Research (MASDER) team develops and validates instruments that measure student and instructor attitudes toward statistics and data science.

MASDER Leadership Team

MASDER is led by an interdisciplinary team of statistics and data science education researchers with extensive experience in instrument development, teaching, and educational research.

Alana Unfried

Alana Unfried

Principal Investigator

Associate Professor of Statistics at CSU Monterey Bay. Research focused on statistics and data science attitudes, equitable teaching practices, and teaching statistics and data science with generative AI.

Douglas Whitaker

Douglas Whitaker

Co-Principal Investigator

Associate Professor at Mount Saint Vincent University specializing in instrument development and validity evidence in statistics education.

Michael Posner

Michael A. Posner

Co-Principal Investigator

Professor at Villanova University and founding Director of the Center for Statistics and Data Science Education.

April Kerby-Helm

April Kerby-Helm

Co-Principal Investigator

Professor of Statistics and Data Science at Winona State University with a career-long focus on student attitudes.

Marjorie Bond

Marjorie Bond

Co-Principal Investigator

Professor of Teaching at Penn State and Professor Emerita from Monmouth College.

Leyla Batakci

Leyla Batakci

Research Associate

Professor of Mathematics at Elizabethtown College with research in statistics education and instrument development.

Project History

The MASDER grew out of earlier work from the Research on Statistics Attitudes (ROSA) project (2016-2017). Initial work on the S-SOMAS began in 2017, and initial pilot data collection occurred in 2017-2018. Funding from the National Science Foundation (DUE-2013392) supported the development and validation of the entire family of instruments (2020-2026). The current phase of the project is focused on broad dissemination, data collection, and expanding the use of the instruments.

Acknowledgments

MASDER was supported by the National Science Foundation and strengthened by the guidance of an external evaluator and an interdisciplinary advisory board.

  • External Evaluator: Jenny Green (Michigan State University)
  • Advisory Board: Bob delMas, Brian Dorn, Jacque Eccles, Nick Horton, Eric Wiebe, Mark Wilson
  • Development Team: Kathleen Malone, Christopher Galgano
  • Student Researchers: Amira Colón and numerous past contributors