This paper is from Session 10C: Statistics education in developing countries
which comes under Topic 10: An international perspective on statistics education
(Wednesday 14th, 11:00-13:00)
Assessment of graduate students’ conception of statistical inference: Philippine perspective
Presenter
Co-author
Abstract
In the Philippines, graduate education programs in non-statistical disciplines require statistics and research methodology courses, which aim to equip graduate students with the knowledge and skills needed for the applications of statistical tools particularly in thesis or dissertation work. In this paper, graduate students’ conceptions of basic ideas and processes of statistical inference were assessed using pre-post classroom self-assessments, interview, examination of students’ work samples, classroom observations, and a modified adaptation of a researcher-made Statistical Literacy Assessment Scale. The results revealed several common misconceptions on the concept of sampling and sample representativeness, parameter estimation and in making inferences based on sample data. Based on these findings, an instructional module anchored on constructivist learning will be developed to deepen graduate students’ conceptual understanding of statistical inference.
