Empirical understanding of and perceived ability in statistical concepts: a Rasch measurement approach
This study investigates students’ conceptual knowledge and understanding of basic statistical concepts and compares it against statistical competence, which is associated with discrete statistical knowledge and basic interpretive skills. It also examines the correspondence between students’ percei...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Conference or Workshop Item |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2010
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/22665/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/22665/1/Empirical_Understanding_of_and_Perceived_Ability_in_Statistical.pdf |
| Summary: | This study investigates students’ conceptual knowledge and understanding of basic statistical concepts
and compares it against statistical competence, which is associated with discrete statistical knowledge and
basic interpretive skills. It also examines the correspondence between students’ perceived ability and their
empirical understanding of the concepts. Two instruments were developed: a 20-item test to measure
students’ empirical understanding of the basic statistical concepts and a questionnaire with matching
items to measure their perceived ability of these concepts. For a direct comparison of the two, students’
responses to the test and questionnaire items were jointly analyzed using Rasch analysis. Results of the
analyses conducted indicate that conceptual understanding of basic statistical concepts is more difficult to
attain that statistical competence. The results also suggest that students more often than not overestimated
their understanding of basic statistical concepts, particular those requiring conceptual understanding of the
concepts. |
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