ERIC Number: EJ1412909
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1570-1824
EISSN: EISSN-1570-1824
Available Date: N/A
Resources and Tensions in Student Thinking about Statistical Design
Kelly Findley; Brein Mosely; Aaron Ludkowski
Statistics Education Research Journal, v22 n3 Article 8 2023
Reform efforts in statistics education emphasize the need for students to develop statistical thinking. Critical to this goal is a solid understanding of design in the process of collecting data, evaluating evidence, and drawing conclusions. We collected survey responses from over 700 college students at the start of an introductory statistics course to determine how they evaluated the validity of different designs. Despite preferring different designs, students offered a variety of productive arguments supporting their choices. For example, some students viewed intervention as a weakness that disrupted the ability to generalize results, whereas others viewed intervention as critical for identifying causality. Our results highlight that instruction should frame design as the balancing of different priorities: namely causality, generalizability, and power.
Descriptors: Thinking Skills, Statistics Education, Attribution Theory, Generalization, Educational Change, Data Collection, College Students, Student Attitudes, Introductory Courses, Validity, Research Design, Decision Making, Intervention, Preferences, Sampling
International Association for Statistical Education and the International Statistical Institute. PO Box 24070, 2490 AB The Hague, The Netherlands. Tel: +31-70-3375737; Fax: +31-70-3860025; e-mail: isi@cbs.nl; Web site: https://iase-web.org/ojs/SERJ
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A