A structural equation model analyzing the relationship students' statistical reasoning abilities, their attitudes toward statistics, and learning approaches.

Recent research in statistical reasoning has focused on the developmental process in students when learning statistical reasoning skills. This study investigates statistical reasoning from the perspective of individual differences. As manifestation of heterogeneity, students' prior attitudes toward statistics, measured by the extended Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics (SATS: Schau, Stevens, Dauphinee and DeVecchio, 1995), and students' learning approaches, measured by the Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS; Vermunt, 2005) are used. Students' statistical reasoning abilities are identified by the Statistical Reasoning Assessment instrument (SRA; Garfield 1998, 2003). The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between both attitudes and learning approaches versus reasoning abilities by estimating full structural equation models. Instructional implications of the models for the teaching of statistical reasoning are discussed.