Descriptive and inferential statistics are taught to students in many disciplines. More classroom time is often spent on the theory behind different statistical methods that investigate relationships between variables rather than on how to interpret the results obtained to answer the research question that started the process.
While statistical software (such as R, Stata, and SPSS) has made it easier to undertake regression with any dataset, the output produced remains challenging to understand and explain to intended audiences. To address this issue, the author created a 90-minute workshop that teaches students how to read tables of descriptive statistics and linear regression results produced by statistical software. The workshop has been taught each semester at the author’s institution since its creation in the Fall 2022 term, attracting a predominantly graduate student audience. Feedback has been positive thus far, with student requests for additional workshops on reading the results of different statistical models, such as logistic and count regression.
Through an explanation of the process and the resources used, this presentation will provide a practical overview of how librarians can teach others how to read descriptive statistics and regression results using a research question and their own experiences working with data to guide them. It will include steps to prepare for designing a statistical literacy workshop. The aim of this presentation is to provide ideas that will help librarians move towards teaching a statistical literacy workshop at their own institutions or help them expand their teaching activities in this area.
