Literature Index

Displaying 1631 - 1640 of 3326
  • Author(s):
    Peter Petocz & Anna Reid
    Year:
    2010
    Abstract:
    In this paper, we highlight some qualitative facets of the discipline of statistics and argue that a qualitative approach, in particular a qualitative methodology known as phenomenography, allows us to research important aspects of statistics pedagogy. We summarize several components of our recent research into students' conceptions of statistics, their learning of statistics, our teaching of statistics, and their perceptions of their future professional work. We have obtained this information on the basis of analyses of several series of interviews with students studying statistics, both as statistics majors and as service students. In each of these cases, the broadest views relate in some way to personal connection, growth, and change. In other words, they contain a strong ontological component - focusing on being or becoming a statistician - above and beyond the standard epistemological component - focusing on the knowledge required to do statistics. We discuss the importance of personal change in becoming a statistician, or an informed professional user of statistics, and investigate the pedagogical conditions under which such change is likely to occur.
  • Author(s):
    David J. Finney
    Year:
    2007
    Abstract:
    This article expresses concern for the sloppy language that is often used by the media to describe numerical comparisons and suggests guidelines for how such comparisons should be described such that the meanings are unambiguous<br>This article expresses concern for the sloppy language that is often used by the media to describe numerical comparisons and suggests guidelines for how such comparisons should be described such that the meanings are unambiguous.<br><br>This article expresses concern for the sloppy language that is often used by the media to describe numerical comparisons and suggests guidelines for how such comparisons should be described such that the meanings are unambiguous.<br><br>This article expresses concern for the sloppy language that is often used by the media to describe numerical comparisons and suggests guidelines for how such comparisons should be described such that the meanings are unambiguous.<br><br>This article expresses concern for the sloppy language that is often used by the media to describe numerical comparisons and suggests guidelines for how such comparisons should be described such that the meanings are unambiguous.<br><br>This article expresses concern for the sloppy language that is often used by the media to describe numerical comparisons and suggests guidelines for how such comparisons should be described such that the meanings are unambiguous.<br><br>This article expresses concern for the sloppy language that is often used by the media to describe numerical comparisons and suggests guidelines for how such comparisons should be described such that the meanings are unambiguous.
  • Author(s):
    Agnes Petocz and Glenn Newbery
    Year:
    2010
    Abstract:
    Statistics education in psychology often falls disappointingly short of its goals. The<br><br>increasing use of qualitative approaches in statistics education research has extended<br><br>and enriched our understanding of statistical cognition processes, and thus facilitated<br><br>improvements in statistical education and practices. Yet conceptual analysis, a<br><br>fundamental part of the scientific method and arguably the primary qualitative<br><br>method insofar as it is logically prior and equally applicable to all other empirical<br><br>research methods - quantitative, qualitative, and mixed - has been largely overlooked.<br><br>In this paper we present the case for this approach, and then report results from a<br><br>conceptual analysis of statistics education in psychology. The results highlight a<br><br>number of major problems that have received little attention in standard statistics<br><br>education research
  • Author(s):
    M. Pedro Huerta
    Year:
    2009
    Abstract:
    In this paper we summarize the research we have recently carried out on classifying problems<br>of conditional probability. We investigate a particular world of school word problems we call ternary<br>problems of conditional probability. With the help of a mathematical object, the trinomial graph, and the<br>analysis and synthesis method, we propose a framework for a structural, didactical and phenomenological<br>analysis of the ternary problems of conditional probability. Consequently, we have organized this world into<br>several types of problems. With respect to students' behaviour, we identify four types of thinking processes<br>related to data format and the use of data. We also illustrate our approach by use of the diagnostic test<br>situation, and in the particular context of health.<br>The main purpose of our work is to improve secondary school students' understanding of conditional<br>probability and their probability literacy by proposing a teaching approach based on problem solving within<br>appropriate contexts. We believe that the framework we present in this paper could help teachers and<br>researchers in this purpose.
  • Author(s):
    Wild, C.
    Editors:
    Rossman, A., &amp; Chance, B.
    Year:
    2006
    Abstract:
    We explore the tensions between cooperation and competition in the context of improving the content, delivery and penetration of statistics education. We explore models for increasing the numbers of students studying statistics and how working in teams can increase the quality of the teaching that students experience.
  • Author(s):
    Wild, C. J.
    Year:
    1994
    Abstract:
    The interconnected themes of quality and the marketing of the discipline of statistics are explored. An understanding of statistics as the study of the process of scientific enquiry is advocated as a consciously targeted market position. Because it reaches such a high proportion of the managers and decision makers of the future, the introductory university or college statistics course is highlighted as a potent marketing opportunity for enhancing the long term health of statistics. Attention is given to teaching students to think "statistically", to become educated consumers of statistical expertise and to communicate well with non-statisticians.
  • Author(s):
    William Finzer, Tim Erickson, Kirk Swenson, and Matthew Litwin
    Editors:
    Robert Gould
    Year:
    2007
    Abstract:
    The authors' work to develop capabilities for getting data into the data analysis software Fathom&trade; is described. Heuristics of detecting data on a web page allow drag and drop of a URL into a document. A collaboration with the Minnesota Population Center makes possible sampling from census microdata from 1850 through 2000. With direct support for Vernier sensors, students can build a model during the process of realtime data collection. Finally, a survey capability makes it easy for teachers and students to create simple data entry forms hosted on a web site such that the collated data is instantly downloadable for data analysis in Fathom. By taking some of the drudgery out of gathering data, these capabilities carry implications for teaching and curriculum development; namely that students should have experience throughout their learning with data that they individually have chosen to explore. It is argued that the skills they gain by engaging in exploratory data analysis with self-chosen and self-generated data are critically important in our data-driven society and not yet adequately supported in K-14 learning.<br><br>KEYWORDS:
  • Author(s):
    Moore, J. L., &amp; Schwartz, D.
    Year:
    1998
    Abstract:
    Many students do not understand what representational problems a particular notation solves, thus limiting their ability to use the notation, as well as their understanding of the problem situation it applies to. Forty-six undergraduates completed a lesson designed to help them understand variance and its notation. Students in the invention group were asked to create a procedure for calculating the variance of contrasting distributions of numbers; students in the procedural group were presented with a procedure for calculating variance and asked to practice it on the numbers. Results indicate that invention students learned to reflect on the quantitative properties of distributions, and to evaluate statistical procedures in terms of their ability to differentiate those properties. Students in the procedural condition tended to evaluate a procedure simply in terms of whether or not it was like the "correct" procedure. We plan to extend this instructional method to facilitate classroom conversations and as a platform for a complementary intelligent instructional system.
  • Author(s):
    Gigerenzer, G.
    Year:
    1996
    Abstract:
    This reply clarifies what G. Gigerenzer's (e.g., 1991, 1994; Gigerenzer &amp; Murray, 1987) critique of the heuristics-and-biases approach to statistcial reasoning is and is not about. At issue is the imposition of unnecessarily narrow norms of sound reasoning that are used to diagnose so-called cognitive illusions and the continuing reliance on vague heuristics that explain everything and nothing. D. Kahneman and A. Tversky (1996) incorrectly asserted that Gigerenzer simply claimed that frequency formats make all cognitive illusions disappear. In contrast, Gigerenzer has proposed and tested models that actually predict when frequency judgements are valide and when they are not. The issue is not whether or not, or how often, cognitive illusion disappear. The focus should be rather the construction of detailed models of cognitive processes that explain when and why they disappear. A postscript of responds to Kahneman Tversky's (1996) postscript.
  • Author(s):
    Romeu, J. L.
    Year:
    1997
    Abstract:
    Discrete event simulation has been nurtured by statistical analysis for many years. The converse is not true. However, recent advances in computer technology and software development have made PC's running specialized simulation languages readily available. This paper discusses how discrete event simulation, implemented via specialized simulation languages (e.g., GPSS) can become a useful teaching resource and motivate statistics students. In addition, simulation helps to present more effectively interdisciplinary case studies, to increase group learning and to relieve students and instructors from statistical drudgery. Examples of teaching with such GPSS simulation approach are developed.

Pages

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