First Advisor

Reiten, Lindsay

First Committee Member

Powers, Robert

Second Committee Member

Eldredge, Nathaniel

Third Committee Member

Tsai, Chia-Lin

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Document Type

Dissertation

Date Created

8-2025

Department

College of Natural and Health Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Mathematical Sciences Student Work

Abstract

As the uses of data in society continue to expand, it is vital to prepare students to engage with data in meaningful and critical ways. Undergraduate introductory statistics courses provide an opportunity for students to develop important knowledge and skills for interpreting and questioning statistical information in social contexts. The purpose of this convergent mixed methods study was to use quantitative assessment data and qualitative interview data to investigate the statistical literacy of students in an undergraduate introductory statistics course in media contexts. This study defined statistical literacy using Watson and Callingham’s (2003) six-level construct. Specifically, this study investigated students’ statistical literacy in media contexts through the following research questions:

Q1 At what level of statistical literacy do students in an introductory statistics course apply statistical topics when critiquing statistics in the news media?

Q2 What relationship exists between students’ scores on non-media-based tasks and their levels of statistical literacy on media-based tasks?

Q3 What insights do the quantitative and qualitative results provide about the statistical literacy of students in an introductory statistics course?

Data were collected through a course-wide assessment and individual, task-based interviews. Quantitative analysis explored 123 participants’ scores on the assessment and the association between non-media and media-based task scores. Qualitative analysis involved coding five participant’s interview responses for statistical topics and level of statistical literacy according to Watson and Callingham’s construct. After separated analyses, data were brought together for integrated analysis, producing additional evidence and strengthening understanding of the initial findings. Responses on non-media tasks were not strongly associated with responses on media-based tasks. Participants demonstrated higher statistical literacy on sampling topics, but lower statistical literacy on topics such as inferential statistics and study design. Although participants exhibited a proclivity for skepticism in statistical claims, their questions and alternative explanations often relied more on intuition than statistical justification. The findings of this study suggest the need to incorporate media-based tasks into introductory statistics courses to provide students opportunities to practice applying skills in social contexts. The study also has implications for assessing statistical literacy using media-based tasks, including considerations for information to include, the task’s context, and prompts or instructions provided to elicit student thinking.

Abstract Format

html

Places

Greeley, Colo

Extent

208 pages

Local Identifiers

Waters_unco_0161D_11365.pdf

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the author.

Digital Origin

Born digital

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