Statistical Reasoning Process of Students in Decision Making Using Commognitive Framework

Abstract

Background: Statistical reasoning plays an important role in decision making, as the latter requires the individual to be able to connect and relate various aspects and ideas. Objectives: This study aimed to describe the student's statistical reasoning process using a commognitive framework based on the task of making decisions. Design: This study used a qualitative approach with a descriptive exploratory design. Setting and Participants: Respondents in this study were students majoring in mathematics in the fourth and sixth semesters. There were 58 students involved; three of them were research subjects. Data collection and analysis: The authors gave students a task containing a question. The question had to do with choosing one out of six employees who were most successful at their jobs. Results: The findings in this study indicate two main aspects when carrying out the statistical reasoning process using a commognitive framework in making decisions: 1) the visual mediator created when representing data is the foundation for analysing and interpreting data. Visual mediators that were irrelevant to data had an impact on the emergence of ritualised routine, resulting in an illogical decision; 2) substantiations narrative, in the form of involving various aspects of decision making, and memorisation narrative, in the form of rules related to mathematical or statistical concepts in decision making, were tools to minimise the risks arising from the decisions made. Conclusions: Commognitive framework could be used as a tool when students carried out statistical reasoning process in making complex decisions. It was important to make a visual mediator matching the data display when students represented data.

Students’ Reasoning about Variability When Comparing Two Sets of Data from the Perspective of Commognitive

“…Visual mediators involve real objects, such as diagrams, tables, graphs, and equation (Mpofu & Pournara, 2018). Numbers, algebraic formulas, algebraic notation, graphs, pictures, and diagrams are examples of visual mediators that International Journal of Instruction, October 2023 • Vol.16, No.4 are most widely used in mathematics (Rahmatina et al, 2022;Sfard, 2007Sfard, , 2008a. Mpofu & Pournara (2018) categorizes visual mediators into two, namely iconic visual mediators and symbolic visual mediators.…”