The aim of this study was, first, to provide evidence to support the notion of statistical literacy as a hierarchical construct and, second, to identify levels of this hierarchy across the construct. The study used archived data collected from two large-scale research projects that studied aspects of statistical understanding of over 3000 school students in grades 3 to 9, based on 80 questionnaire items. Rasch analysis was used to explore an hypothesised underlying construct associated with statistical literacy. The analysis supported the hypothesis of a unidimensional construct and suggested six levels of understanding: Idiosyncratic, Informal, Inconsistent, Consistent non-critical, Critical, and Critical mathematical. These levels could be used by teachers and curriculum developers to incorporate appropriate aspects of statistical literacy into the existing curriculum.
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