RIT Week1: research methods

''There is an increasing recognition of the need for students across many disciplines to acquire competence in research methods and statistics. This is often referred to as statistical literacy, defined by Gal (2005, p. 70) as “the ability to interpret, critically evaluate, and communicate about statistical information and messages”. Nikiforidou, Lekka, and Pange (2010, p. 798) also acknowledged the importance of statistical literacy as requiring consideration of the “the synergy of content, pedagogy and technology”.

1.1. Difficulties and misconceptions
However, acquiring methodological and statistical expertise poses significant challenges for many students (Tishkovskaya & Lancaster, 2010). The material is challenging because it is highly abstract and requires the consideration of inter-related logical reasoning, critical thinking, data analysis and interpretation and evaluation skills. Students perceive statistics as difficult and boring and this leads to anxiety and a lack of self-efficacy. Castro Sotos, Vanhoof, Van den Noortgate, and Onghena’s (2007) systematic review of students’ statistical misconceptions found that students have many misconceptions surrounding statistical constructs such as sampling distributions, hypothesis testing and confidence intervals."

​www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131514000141