EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS AND ANALYSIS

A Research Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Arts in Education Major in Social Sciences

Karren M. Javier

La Consolacion University Philippines

September 2017

Introduction

May 2017
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Educational Statistics and Analysis emphasize in the objective of measurements

and the statistical, mathematical, or numerical analysis of data collected through polls,

questionnaires, and surveys, or by manipulating pre-existing statistical data

using computational techniques. It focuses on gathering numerical data and generalizing

it across groups of people or to explain a particular phenomenon.

In conducting educational statistics and analysis study, it is to determine the

relationship between one thing an independent variable and another a dependent or

outcome variable within a population. It is either descriptive when the subject is usually

measured once or experimental when the subject is measured before and after a

treatment. A descriptive study establishes only associations between variables; an

experimental study establishes causality.

Educational statistics and analysis research deals in numbers, logic, and an

objective stance. It focuses on numeric and unchanging data and detailed, convergent

conclusioning rather than divergent conclusioning. It is the generation of a variety of

ideas about a research problem in a spontaneous, free-flowing manner.

Articles published in several prominent educational journals were examined to

investigate the use of data analysis tools by researchers in four research paradigms:

between-subjects univariate designs, between-subjects multivariate designs, repeated

measures designs, and covariance designs. In addition to examining specific details

pertaining to the research design (e.g., sample size, group size equality/inequality) and

methods employed for data analysis, the authors also catalogued whether (a) validity
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assumptions were examined, (b) effect size indices were reported, (c) sample sizes were

selected on the basis of power considerations, and (d) appropriate textbooks and/or

articles were cited to communicate the nature of the analyses that were performed. The

present analyses imply that researchers rarely verify that validity assumptions are

satisfied and that, accordingly, they typically use analyses that are non-robust to

assumption violations. In addition, researchers rarely report effect size statistics, nor do

they routinely perform power analyses to determine sample size requirements.

Body

Educational Statistics and Analysis is the practice of teaching and learning

of statistics, along with the associated scholarly research. Statistics is both a formal

science and a practical theory of scientific inquiry, and both aspects are considered in

statistics education. Education in statistics has similar concerns as education in

other mathematical sciences, like logic, mathematics, and computer science. At the same

time, statistics is concerned with evidence-based conclusion, particularly with the

analysis of data. Therefore, education in statistics has strong similarities to education in

empirical disciplines like psychology and chemistry, in which education is closely tied to

hands-on experimentation.

Mathematicians and statisticians often work in a department of mathematical

sciences (particularly at colleges and small universities). Statistics courses have been
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sometimes taught by non-statisticians, against the recommendations of some professional

organizations of statisticians and of mathematicians.

Statistics educators have cognitive and noncognitive goals for students. For

example, former American Statistical Association (ASA) President Katherine Wallman

defined statistical literacy as including the cognitive abilities of understanding and

critically evaluating statistical results as well as appreciating the contributions statistical

thinking can make.

Cognitive goals

In the text rising from the 2008 joint conference of the International Commission

on Mathematical Instruction and the International Association of Statistics Educators,

editors Carmen Batanero, Gail Burrill, and Chris Reading (Universidad de Granada,

Spain, Michigan State University, USA, and University of New England, Australia,

respectively) note worldwide trends in curricula which reflect data-oriented goals. In

particular, educators currently seek to have students: design investigations; formulate

research questions; collect data using observations, surveys, and experiments; describe

and compare data sets; and propose and justify conclusions and predictions based on data.

The authors note the importance of developing statistical thinking and conclusioning in

addition to statistical knowledge.

Despite the fact that cognitive goals for statistics education increasingly focus on

statistical literacy, statistical conclusioning, and statistical thinking rather than on skills,

computations and procedures alone, there is no agreement about what these terms mean
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or how to assess these outcomes. A first attempt to define and distinguish between these

three terms appears in the ARTIST website which was created by Garfield, del Mas and

Chance and has since been included in several publications. Brief definitions of these

terms are as follows:

1. Statistical literacy is being able to read and use basic statistical language and

graphical representations to understand statistical information in the media and in daily

life.

2. Statistical conclusioning is being able to conclusion about and connect different

statistical concepts and ideas, such as knowing how and why outliers affect statistical

measures of center and variability.

3. Statistical thinking is the type of thinking used by statisticians when they

encounter a statistical problem. This involves thinking about the nature and quality of the

data and, where the data came from, choosing appropriate analyses and models, and

interpreting the results in the context of the problem and given the constraints of the data.

Further cognitive goals of statistics education vary across students' educational

level and the contexts in which they expect to encounter statistics. Statisticians have

proposed what they consider the most important statistical concepts for educated citizens.

For example, Utts (2003) published seven areas of what every educated citizen should

know, including understanding that variability is normal and how coincidence are not

uncommon because there are so many possibilities. Gal (2002) suggests adults in

industrialized societies are expected to exercise statistical literacy, the ability to interpret
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and critically evaluate statistical information in diverse contexts, and the ability to

communicate understandings and concerns regarding the conclusions.

Statistics education research is an emerging field that grew out of different

disciplines and is currently establishing itself as a unique field that is devoted to the

improvement of teaching and learning statistics at all educational levels.

Most educational statistics and analysis in education, human development, and

human resource development falls short of what is needed for a solid sample. Most do

not sample randomly from a frame that closely coincides with the population of interest,

but rather conveniently select several schools, homes, or worksites that are located near

the researcher and agree to participate. For long interventions and long-term follow-ups,

some data is often missing for a substantial percentage of the sample. To prevent these

shortcomings usually would greatly increase the cost of the study. Although one can

never know with certainty, sometimes post-hoc analyses comparing characteristics of the

sampled units with the population, and characteristics of the respondents with the initial

sample, can suggest that one or both are representative. Without such evidence, caution

should be used in generalizing the results beyond the cases actually studied.

The two main sources of educational statistics are the educational institutions and

households. The educational institutions provide the data on enrolment and number of

teachers whereas information on aspects like literacy, educational level of population,

private expenditure on education etc., is available only from households.

In India, a person aged 7 years and above who can both read and write with

understanding in any language has been taken as literate. The Adult Literacy rate (15+
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Age Group) is the percentage of population 15-24 years old who can both read and write

with understanding a short simple statement on everyday life. The adult literacy rate has

shown an upward trend for females as well as males. It has increased from 61% to 69.3%

during the period 2001-2011. This indicator, being a statement about the stock of human

capital, is slow to change. As per NSS 71st round findings, Adult Literacy rate stands

70.5% for year 2014.

The bright line is that from 2001 to 2011, the increase in adult literacy rate was

higher among females than males and the gender gap was also narrowing down. The

Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for a class-group is the ratio of the number of persons in

the class-group to the number of persons in the corresponding official age-group. Thrust

on providing primary education has yielded results with the GER presently exceeding

hundred. The progress is visible across the social categories and gender with GER for SC,

ST and girls shooting above hundred.

Education is the single most important factor to ensure gender equality and

empowerment. The Gender Parity Index (GPI) is the ratio of the number of female

students enrolled at primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education to the

corresponding number of male student in each level. Thus GPI (based on GER) which is

free from the effects of the population structure of the appropriate age group, provides

picture of gender equality in education. During 2005-06 to 2014-15, substantial progress

has been achieved towards gender parity in education as revealed by GPI.

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A pattern of annual increases in total public elementary and secondary school

enrollment began in 1985, but enrollment stabilized at 49.3 million between 2006 and

2008, before beginning to increase again. Overall, public school enrollment rose 27

percent, from 39.4 million to 50.0 million, between 1985 and 2014. Private school

enrollment fluctuated during this period, with the fall 2014 enrollment of 5.0 million

being 10 percent lower than the enrollment of 5.6 million in 1985. About 9 percent of

elementary and secondary school students were enrolled in private schools in 2014,

reflecting a decrease from 12 percent in 1985. In public schools between 1985 and 2014,

there was a 30 percent increase in elementary enrollment (prekindergarten through grade

8), compared with a 20 percent increase in secondary enrollment (grades 9 through 12).

Part of the higher growth in public elementary school enrollment resulted from the

expansion of prekindergarten enrollment. Between fall 1985 and fall 2012, enrollment in

prekindergarten increased 764 percent, while enrollment in other elementary grades

(including kindergarten through grade 8 plus ungraded elementary programs) increased

25 percent. The number of children enrolled in prekindergarten increased from 0.2

million in 1985 to 1.3 million in 2012, and the number enrolled in other elementary

grades increased from 26.9 million to 33.7 million. Public secondary school enrollment

declined 8 percent from 1985 to 1990, but then increased 33 percent from 1990 to 2007,

before declining 2 percent from 2007 to 2014 . Between 1990 and 2014, the net increase

in public secondary school enrollment was 31 percent, compared with an 18 percent

increase in public elementary school enrollment. Over the most recent 10-year period

(between 2004 and 2014), public school enrollment rose 2 percent. Elementary
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enrollment increased 3 percent over this period, while secondary enrollment was 1

percent higher in 2014 than in 2004.

Statistics educators have cognitive and noncognitive goals for students. For

example, former American Statistical Association (ASA) President Katherine Wallman

defined statistical literacy as including the cognitive abilities of understanding and

critically evaluating statistical results as well as appreciating the contributions statistical

thinking can make.

Further cognitive goals of statistics education vary across students' educational

level and the contexts in which they expect to encounter statistics. Statisticians have

proposed what they consider the most important statistical concepts for educated citizens.

For example, Utts (2003) published seven areas of what every educated citizen should

know, including understanding that variability is normal and how coincidences are not

uncommon because there are so many possibilities. Gal (2002) suggests adults in

industrialized societies are expected to exercise statistical literacy, the ability to interpret

and critically evaluate statistical information in diverse contexts, and the ability to

communicate understandings and concerns regarding the conclusions.

Non-cognitive goals

Non-cognitive outcomes include affective constructs such as attitudes, beliefs,

emotions, dispositions, and motivation. According to prominent researchers Gal &

Ginsburg, statistics educators should make it a priority to be aware of students ideas,

reactions, and feelings towards statistics and how these affect their learning.
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Belief

Beliefs are defined as ones individually held ideas about statistics, about oneself

as a learner of statistics, and about the social context of learning statistics. Beliefs are

distinct from attitudes in the sense that attitudes are relatively stable and intense feelings

that develop over time in the context of experiences learning statistics. Students web of

beliefs provides a context for their approach towards their classroom experiences in

statistics. Many students enter a statistics course with apprehension towards learning the

subject, which works against the learning environment that the instructor is trying to

accomplish. Therefore, it is important for instructors to have access to assessment

instruments that can give an initial diagnosis of student beliefs and monitor beliefs during

a course. Frequently, assessment instruments have monitored beliefs and attitudes

together. For examples of such instruments, see the attitudes section below.

Dispositions

Disposition has to do with the ways students question the data and approach a statistical

problem. Dispositions is one of the four dimensions in Wild and Pfannkuchs framework

for statistical thinking, and contains the following elements:

Curiosity and Awareness: These traits are a part of the process of generating

questions and generating ideas to explore and analyze data.

Engagement: Students will be most observant and aware in the areas they find

most interesting.
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Imagination: This trait is important for viewing a problem from different

perspectives and coming up with possible explanations.

Skepticism: Critical thinking is important for receiving new ideas and information

and evaluating the appropriateness of study design and analysis.

Being logical: The ability to detect when one idea follows from another is

important for arriving at valid conclusions.

A propensity to seek deeper meaning: This means not taking everything at face

value and being open to consider new ideas and dig deeper for information.

Scheaffer states that a goal of statistics education is to have students see statistics broadly.

He developed a list of views of statistics that can lead to this broad view, and describes

them as follows:

Statistics as number sense: Do I understand what the numbers mean? (seeing data

as numbers in context, reading charts, graphs and tables, understanding numerical

and graphical summaries of data, etc.)

Statistics as a way of understanding the world: Can I use existing data to help

make decisions? (using census data, birth and death rates, disease rates, CPI, ratings,

rankings, etc., to describe, decide and defend)

Statistics as organized problem solving: Can I design and carry out a study to

answer specific questions? (pose problem, collect data according to a plan, analyze

data, and draw conclusions from data)

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Attitudes

Since students often experience math anxiety and negative opinions about statistics

courses, various researchers have addressed attitudes and anxiety towards statistics. Some

instruments have been developed to measure college students attitudes towards statistics,

and have been shown to have appropriate psychometric properties. Examples of such

instruments include:

Survey of Attitudes Towards Statistics (SATS), developed by Schau, Stevens,

Dauphinee, and Del Vecchio

Attitude Toward Statistics Scale, developed by Wise

Statistics Attitude Survey (SAS), developed by Roberts and Bilderback.

Careful use of instruments such as these can help statistics instructors to learn

about students perception of statistics, including their anxiety towards learning statistics,

the perceived difficulty of learning statistics, and their perceived usefulness of the

subject. Some studies have shown modest success at improving student attitudes in

individual courses, but no generalizable studies showing improvement in student attitudes

have been seen.

Nevertheless, one of the goals of statistics education is to make the study of

statistics a positive experience for students and to bring in interesting and engaging

examples and data that will motivate students. According to a fairly recent literature
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review, improved student attitudes towards statistics can lead to better motivation and

engagement, which also improves cognitive learning outcomes.

Conclusion

To conclude, the five conclusions to have educational statistics and analysis are to

be able to effectively conduct research, to be able to read and evaluate journal articles, to

further develop critical thinking and analytic skills, to act an informed consumer, and to

know when you need to hire outside statistical help.

The first conclusion is to be able to effectively conduct research. Without the use of

statistics it would be very difficult to make decisions based on the data collected from a

research project. For example, in the study cited in many write-ups, is the difference in

recorded absenteeism between psychiatric and obstetrics nurses large enough to conclude

that there is meaningful difference in absenteeism between the two units? There are two

possibilities: The first possibility is that the difference between the two groups is a result

of chance factors. In reality, the two jobs have approximately the same amount of

absenteeism. The second possibility is that there is a real difference between the two units

with the psychiatric unit being more nurses missing work. Without statistics we have no

way of making an educated decision between the two possibilities. Statistics, however,

provides us with a tool to make an educated decision. We will be able to decide which of

the two possibilities is more likely to be true. We will base this decision on our

knowledge of probability and inferential statistics.

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A second point about research should be made. It is extremely important for a

researcher to know what statistics they want to use before they collect their data.

Otherwise data might be collected that is uninterpretable. Unfortunately, when this

happens it results in a loss of data, time, and money.

Now many a student may by saying to themselves: "But I never plan on doing any

research." While you may never plan to be involved in research, it may find its way into

your life. Certainly, it you decide to continue your education and work on a masters or

doctoral degree, involvement in research will result from that decision. Secondly, more

and more work places are conducting internal research or are becoming part of broader

research studies. Thus, you may find yourself assigned to one of these studies. Finally,

many classes on the undergraduate level may require you to conduct research (for

example, a research methods or experimental psychology course). In each of these

instances, a knowledge of measurements and statistics will be invaluable.

The second conclusion to study statistics is to be able to read journals. Most

technical journals you will read contain some form of statistics. Usually, you will find

them in something called the results section. Without an understanding of statistics, the

information contained in this section will be meaningless. An understanding of basic

statistics will provide you with the fundamental skills necessary to read and evaluate

most results sections. The ability to extract meaning from journal articles and the ability

to critically evaluate research from a statistical perspective are fundamental skills that

will enhance your knowledge and understanding in related coursework.

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The third conclusion is to further develop critical and analytic thinking skills. Most

students completing high school and introductory undergraduate coursework have at their

disposal a variety of critical thinking and analytic skills. The study of statistics will serve

to enhance and further develop these skills. To do well in statistics one must develop and

use formal logical thinking abilities that are both high level and creative.

The fourth conclusion to study statistics is to be an informed consumer. Like any

other tool, statistics can be used or misused. Yes, it is true that some individuals do

actively lie and mislead with statistics. More often, however, well-meaning individuals

unintentionally report erroneous statistical conclusions. If you know some of the basic

statistical concepts, you will be in a better position to evaluate the information you have

been given.

The fifth conclusion to have a working knowledge of statistics is to know when you

need to hire a statistician. Most of us know enough about our cars to know when to take it

into the shop. Usually, we don't attempt the repair ourselves because we don't want to

cause any irreparable damage. Also, we try to know enough to be able to carry on an

intelligible conversation with the mechanic (or we take someone with us who can) to

insure that we don't get a whole new engine (big bucks) when all we need is a new fuel

filter (a few bucks). We should be the same way about hiring a statistician. Conducting

research is time consuming and expensive. If you are in over your statistical head, it does

not make sense to risk an entire project by attempting to compute the data analyses

yourself. It is very east to compute incomplete or inappropriate statistical analysis of

one's data. As with the mechanic discussed above, it is also important to have enough
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statistical savvy to be able to discuss your project and the data analyses you want

computed with the statistician you hire. In other words, you want to be able to make sure

that your statistician is on the right track.

Recommendation

Educational statistics and analysis serves as the backbone of a research study.

Educational statistics and analysiss main purpose is the quantification of the data. It

allows generalizations of the results by measuring the views and responses of the sample

population. Every educational statistics and analysis consists two broad phases namely

planning and execution. Therefore, it is evident that within these two phases, there likely

to have limitations which are beyond our control.

As mentioned in the article, improper representation of the target population

might hinder the researcher for achieving its desired aims and objectives. Despite of

applying appropriate sampling plan representation of the subjects is dependent on the

probability distribution of observed data. This may led to miscalculation of probability

distribution and lead to falsity in proposition.

Educational statistics and analysis usually requires a large sample size. However

due to the lack of resources this large-scale research becomes impossible. In many

developing countries, interested parties (e.g., government or non-government

organizations, public service providers, educational institutions, etc.) may lack

knowledge and especially the resources needed to conduct a thorough educational

statistics and analysis.

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Sometimes researchers face problems to control the environment where the

respondents provide answers to the questions in the survey. Responses often depend on

particular time which again is dependent on the conditions occurring during that

particular time frame.

Educational statistics and analysis method involves structured questionnaire with

close ended questions. It leads to limited outcomes outlined in the research proposal. So

the results cannot always represent the actual occurring, in a generalized form. Also, the

respondents have limited options of responses, based on the selection made by the

researcher.

Educational statistics and analysis is difficult, expensive and requires a lot of time

to be perform the analysis. This type of research is planned carefully in order to ensure

complete randomization and correct designation of control groups. A large proportion of

respondents is appropriate for the representation of the target population. So, as to

achieve in-depth responses on an issue, data collection in quantitative educational

statistics and analysis is often too expensive as against qualitative approach.

Educational statistics and analysis requires extensive statistical analysis, which

can be difficult to perform for researchers from non- statistical backgrounds. Statistical

analysis is based on scientific discipline and hence difficult for non-mathematicians to

perform.

Educational statistics and analysis is a lot more complex for social sciences,

education, anthropology and psychology. Effective response should depend on the

research problem rather than just a simple yes or no response.

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The requirements for the successful statistical confirmation of result is very tough

in an educational statistics and analysis. Hypothesis is proven with few experiments due

to which there is ambiguity in the results. Results are retested and refined several times

for an unambiguous conclusion. So it requires extra time, investment and resources to

refine the results.

References

Boik RJScheffes mixed model for multivariate repeated measures: A relative efficiency

evaluation Communications in Statistics, Theory and Methods19882012331255

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http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/00346543068003350