Student Storytelling and Making Sense of Statistics: Research Methodology Insights

Abstract

With growing interest in storytelling as a pedagogy for students learning university introductory statistics, a need has arisen to develop appropriate research methodologies. This paper presents methodological insights from a study involving 31 university introductory statistics students who wrote contextualised stories about sampling distributions and the normal distribution. Data was generated using sound recordings of student interviews that captured reflections of their story writing experiences. An assumption-based, reflective analysis produced conjectures that generated preliminary research findings, which were then tested using the theoretical ideas of presupposition, subjectification, and multiple perspectives. The study’s findings suggest there is value in undertaking additional research into storytelling as a pedagogy. The methodology developed offers insights not only for future researchers in statistics education but also for other educational settings.