GIS not SPSS!

My undergraduate dissertation students seem to run in the opposite direction if I suggest they use a GIS to explore their data. Why is this?

On discussion, it seems they consider GIS to equal numbers and statistics which they are afraid of. This is also a theme identified in the analysis of the user interviews I have been conducting. My interviewees, in the main, are not quantitative researchers with a little knowledge of GIS but think it could be potentially useful for their subject area. They are much more comfortable with using data that are non numerical in nature. This has got me thinking...

• Do you have to a high degree of statistical literacy to “do GIS” ?
  
  
• Does the idea that to "do GIS" you need to be good at mathematics act as a barrier to entry?
  
  
• Is the idea true, to "do GIS" do you need to be good at mathematics?