ASSESSING STATISTICAL REASONING

Abstract

This paper begins with a discussion of the nature of statistical reasoning, and then describes the development and validation of the Statistical Reasoning Assessment (SRA), an instrument consisting of 20 multiple-choice items involving probability and statistics concepts. Each item offers several choices of responses, both correct and incorrect, which include statements of reasoning explaining the rationale for a particular choice. Students are instructed to select the response that best matches their own thinking about each problem. The SRA provides 16 scores which indicate the level of students’ correct reasoning in eight different areas and the extent of their incorrect reasoning in eight related areas. Results are presented of a cross-cultural study using the SRA to compare the reasoning of males and females in two countries.

First published May 2003 at Statistics Education Research Journal: Archives