Factors Considered by Secondary Students When Judging the Validity of a Given Statistical Generalization

This study investigated the factors that 12th grade students in the United Arab Emirates take<br>into consideration when judging the validity of a given statistical generalization, particularly, in terms of<br>the sample size and sample selection bias. The sample consisted of 360 students who had not studied<br>sampling yet. Results show that a small percentage of the students take the sample size and selection bias<br>into consideration properly. Many students based their judgment on their personal beliefs regardless of the<br>properties of the selected sample. This study identified some pre-teaching misconceptions that students<br>have with regard to sampling. Such misconceptions include 'any sample represents the population', and,<br>'any sample does not represent the population'.