Statistical Thinking Levels of Students in Al-Ghad International College for Applied Medical Sciences in Saudi Arabia and its Relationship to Gender

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to identify the levels of statistical thinking among students of Al-Ghad International College for Applied Medical Sciences in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the effect of gender differences. The study used quantitative data collection methods for one group such as observation checklists and qualitative data collection methods such as interviews and focus group discussion. Performance tasks were designed to classify students according to Langrall and Mooney (2002) statistical thinking evaluation framework. Each task has its own subtasks and objectives spread over four statistical skills in which validity and reliability were verified. The data was yielded from the measurements of 41 students' statistical thinking levels enrolled in biostatistics course in the first semester of the academic year 2018-2019 . The results showed that the level of overall students' statistical thinking abilities was at the transitional level, followed by the idiosyncratic and quantitative levels respectively, while none of them reached the analytical level. The results also showed that there are no statistically significant differences in students' thinking levels attributed to gender. The study recommended the necessity of linking statistical activities to the reality of students' lives and specializations, focusing on the practical aspects rather than the theoretical ones, holding training programs to develop the capabilities of faculty members to classify their students according to their level of statistical thinking, and creating programs to develop statistical thinking among students.

A quantitative case study of secondary school students’ level of statistical thinking

“…According to the researchers, Piaget's theory of cognitive development, which defined thinking as a chain of synaptic connections and invisible cognitive activities involving the conscious use of the brain to 7 / 9 understand the world and choose how to respond to it, can be used to explain the convergence of statistical thinking levels between male and female students (Ghanem, 2017). The lack of disparities in their degrees of statistical thinking is due to the same level of physical development, mental maturity, and prior experience in statistical thinking (Nemrawi et al, 2022). Findings are consistent with those reported by previous researchers (Khamis, 2015;Ramey, 2015) in that no gender differences were found in statistical thinking skills.…”

“…The mean scores for each individual and each statistical skill were calculated by collecting the degrees of the subtasks for each statistical skill and dividing them by the number of subtasks (questions in that skill) for each individual separately and for all the study sample members combined. The students were classified according to their statistical thinking levels based on Nemrawi et al (2022).…”

“…Students still have unfavorable views about statistics as a topic as they believe that statistics involves only the ability to compute and employ formulas. The survey also revealed that most pupils had frequent statistical misunderstandings and only possessed a basic understanding of statistics (Nemrawi et al, 2022).…”

“…Additionally, the lack of statistical thinking may be attributed to various conceptual errors in statistics, the most significant of which is the failure to recognize correlation from causality and to differentiate between correlation and mean scores (Nemrawi et al, 2022). The researchers also argued that the low level of statistical thinking could be attributed to the learners' limited understanding of the value of statistical thinking in daily life in many countries as well as the fact that the teaching of statistics is primarily focused on equations and laws and rarely covers its practical applications (Nemrawi et al, 2022). Hence, educating students and teachers about statistics is essential given the importance of statistical thinking in many facets of daily life.…”

“…Among the possible drivers of student fallacy are the assimilation of statistical ideas into an unsuitable schema, the inability to utilize knowledge sources, and the lack of capacity to integrate and incorporate information from multiple sources. Recent recommendations have also emphasized the importance of increasing students' awareness of statistical concepts, their applications, and their understanding of the multifaceted statistical concepts that have become part of various aspects of the subject matter (Nemrawi et al, 2022).…”