How to improve statistical literacy?

Anuška FerligojFaculty of Social Sciences

University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

TEMPUS Meeting, Banska Bystrica, January 22, 2013

Introduction

H.G. Wells wrote at the beginning of the twentieth century (quoted in Casteles, 1992):

„Statistical thinking will one day be as neccessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write.“

Introduction cont.

• Understanding of statistical concepts and methodologies is essential for proper and efficient use of statistical data collected and published by statistical offices and other authorised institutions.

• For better use of statistical data much effort must be put into improving statistical literacy in the society.

Definition of statistical literacy (Wallman, 1993)

Statistical literacy is the ability to understand and critically evaluate statistical results that permeate our daily lives – coupled with the ability to appreciate the contributions that statistical thinking can make in public and private, professional and personal decisions (K. K. Wallman (1993): Enhancing Statistical Literacy: Enriching Our Society. JASA, 88).

Major points of Wallman ASA presidential address

• importance of understanding of statistics and statistical thinking among all sectors of the population (e.g., pupils and students, adult population, journalists, policy makers) • how to enhance statistical literacy • statisticians and statistical associations can enrich the society with their statistical knowledge

Components of adult statistical literacy (Gal, 2002)

1. People‘s ability to interpret and critically evaluate statistical information, data-related arguments, or stochastic phenomena, which they may encounter in diverse contexts, and when relevant (knowledge elements).

2. Their ability to discuss or communicate their reactions to such statistical information, such as their understanding of the meaning of the information, their opinions about the implications of this information, or their concerns regarding the acceptability of given conclusions (dispositional elements).

Garfield and Ben-Zvi definition of statistical literacy (2008)

They distinguish between statistical literacy, statistical reasoning, and statistical thinking.

Statistical literacy provides the fundation for reasoning and thinking: the basic statistical knowledge makes it possible to reason with statistical ideas and makes sense of statistical information.

Statistical literacy

Statistical literacy is a key ability expected of citizens in information-laden societies, and it is often touted as an expected outcome of schooling and as a necessary component of adults‘ numeracy and literacy. Statistical literacy involves understanding and using the basic language and tools of statistics: knowing what basic statistical terms mean, understanding the use of simple statistical symbols, and recognizing and being able to interpret different representations of data.

Statistical reasoning

Statistical reasoning is the way people reason with statistical ideas and make sense of statistical information. Statistical reasoning may involve connecting one concept to other or may combine ideas about data and chance. Statistical reasoning also means understanding and being able to interprete statistical results. We see statistical reasoning as the mental representations and connections that students have regarding statistical concepts.

Statistical thinking

Statistical thining involves a higher order of thinking than statistical reasoning. Statistical thinking is the way professional statisticians think. It includes •knowing how and why to use a particular method, measure, design or statistical model; •deep understanding of the theories underlying statistical processes and methods; •understanding the constraints and limitations of statistics and statistical inference.

Statistical thinking cont.

Statistical thinking is also about •understanding how statistical models are used to simulate random phenomena, •understanding how data are produced to estimate probabilities, •recognizing how, when, and why existing inferential tools can be used, •being able to understand and utilize the context of a problem to plan and evaluate investigations and to draw conclusions.

Statistical thinking cont.

Finally, Garfield and Ben-Zvi (2008) view statistical thinking as the normative use of statistical models, methods, and applications in considering or solving statistical problems.

How to measure statistical literacy

There are several attempts to measure statistical literacy. A very complex study done by Watson and Callingham (2003) assumed that statistical literacy is a hierarchical construct. The analysis of large archival data collection of over 3000 school students done by Rasch analysis supported the hypothesis of a unidimensional construct and suggested six levels of understanding: idiosyncratic, informal, inconsistent, consistent non-critical, critical, and critical mathematical.

International Statistical Literacy Project•in the 2009-2013 period being carried out by the International Statistical Institute•most of the activities for pupils in the primary and secondary schools•several activities and statistical literacy competitions

Current initiatives

Current initiatives cont.

Statistical dissemination and communication As part of the work perogram of the Conference of European Statisticians, a Steering Group on Statistical Dissemination and Communication organizes annual Work Sessions, supported by the UNECE Secretariat. The Steering Group aims to promote good practices in dessemination and communication of information by statistical organizations.

Current initiatives cont.

Statlit.orgThe primary goal of Statlit.org is to present statistical literacy as an interdisciplinary activity. As such it has overlaps with quantitative reasoning, quantitative literacy, numeracy and statistical reasoning. This site features books, papers and activities related to statistical literacy. A second goal is to present statistical literacy as the study of statisticians in everyday arguments.Milo Schield is the webmaster of this site. He is the Director of the W.M. Keck Statistical literacy project and Vice President of the National Numeracy Network in the USA.

Who can contribute to better statistical literacy?

• Educational institutions• Statistical offices• Statistical associations• Media • …The more these various actors cooperate in the efforts

to improve statistical literacy, the better the results.

Educational institutions

• Teaching appropriate statistical knowledge at the elementary and upper secondary school levels

• Organising and implementing high-quality undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral courses and programmes in statistics

• Cooperation of those preparing and implementing statistical courses and programmes at all levels of education (from elementary school to doctoral programmes)

Statistical offices

must try in various organised ways to increase the statistical literacy of the users of statistical data, so that they try to understand the needs of various segments of users such as:• business and government users• researchers • students• general public• media

Statistical associations

should help to link the various actors (e.g., educational institutions, statistical offices, the media) and provide more harmonised efforts to improve statistical literacy.

Some ways to increase statistical literacy

• Publication of clear (methodological) information on data sources, why and how they are obtained

• Counselling about proper use and interpretation of statistical data

• Organising seminars for users of statistical data on selected statistical topics for better understanding of statistical results

• Publication of free, brief and easy-to-read leaflets of selected statistical methodologies or data or statistical activities

• Presentation of typical abuses or misunderstanding of statistical concepts and data

Some ways to increase statistical literacy cont.

• Linking statistical offices and other authorised institutions with users of statistical data for better understanding and searching better solutions for planning of statistical data collection, processing and publication

• Organising meetings, seminars, public discussions for statistics teachers at all levels of education (e.g. harmonise the used statistical terminology, logical linking of statistical knowledge at different levels of education)

Some ways to increase statistical literacy cont.

• Cooperation of statistical offices, educational institutions and statistical associations with the media to accelerate proper understanding and use of data

• Regular monthly meetings of statistical offices with the media should be used for short “educational” information on proper understanding of statistical concepts and data with examples of misunderstanding

• Award good practice of correct transmission / publication of statistical concepts and data (e.g. by journalists)

And what is the situation in Slovenia?• Cooperation of the Statistical Office, the academic

community and the Statistical Society of Slovenia is exemplary and shows in several joint activities

• A result of this cooperation is preparation of the master’s and doctoral statistics programme about ten years ago, which is essential for statistical literacy and quality of statistics use

• Postgraduate studies include the official statistics module

• At the recent Statistical Days conference in Radenci a round table on statistical literacy was held with the participation of all the mentioned actors important for enhancing statistical literacy in Slovenia