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


Authors: 
Hanan Ayoub Innabi
Editors: 
Carmen Batanero
Volume: 
2 (3)
Pages: 
online
Year: 
2007
Publisher: 
International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education
URL: 
http://www.iejme.com/032007/d4.pdf
Abstract: 

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'.

The CAUSE Research Group is supported in part by a member initiative grant from the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and Data Science Education