Comparing Psychology Undergraduates' Performance in Probabilistic Reasoning under Verbal-Numerical and Graphical-Pictorial Problem Presentation Format: What is the Role of Individual and Contextual Dimensions?

This study aims to investigate about the existence of a graphical facilitation effect on probabilistic reasoning. Measures of undergraduates’ performances on problems presented in both verbal-numerical and graphical-pictorial formats have been related to visuo-spatial and numerical prerequisites, to statistical anxiety, to attitudes towards statistics and to the confidence in response correctness. Psychology undergraduates in Italy and Spain with no statistical expertise (N= 676) completed a protocol under conditions of presence versus absence of time pressure. Hierarchical linear regressions and ANCOVAs with mixed design have been carried out separately for each sample. The best predictor of performance in both formats has been the confidence in solution correctness under the condition of time pressure administration, which seemed to promote the commitment to the task. The findings suggest that the eventual occurrence of a graphical facilitation could be the result of a multifactorial interaction among contextual and individual dimensions, rather than being strictly related to the problem presentation format

Assessing probabilistic reasoning in verbal-numerical and graphical-pictorial formats: An evaluation of the psychometric properties of an instrument

Research on the graphical facilitation of probabilistic reasoning has been characterised by the effort expended to identify valid assessment tools. The authors developed an assessment instrument to compare reasoning performances when problems were presented in verbal-numerical and graphical-pictorial formats. A sample of undergraduate psychology students (n=676) who had not developed statistical skills, solved problems requiring probabilistic reasoning. They attended universities in Spain (n=127; f=71.7%) and Italy (n=549; f=72.9%). In Italy 173 undergraduates solved these problems under time pressure. The remaining students solved the problems without time limits. Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT) were applied to assess the effect of two formats and to evaluate criterion and discriminant validity. The instrument showed acceptable psychometric properties, providing preliminary evidence of validity

Empirical approach to the analysis of university student absenteeism. Proposal of a questionnaire for students to evaluate the possible causes

Works on student absenteeism in the universities have not been preferential for the authors in the field of educational research. Usually, what has been made is an approach to the available absenteeism data as an intervening variable or as a variable characteristic of the educational process, but not as a dependent variable in the strict sense of the term. In this work, we intend to make an empirical approach to the possible reasons of student absenteeism. There is a double point of view: the students" and the professors"; the reasons that justify it according to its protagonists are studied. This paper focuses on the six university degrees taught at the School of Economy and Business of the University of Barcelona (Facultat d"Economia i Empresa de la Universitat de Barcelona). An"ad-hoc" questionnaire has been prepared and the opinions of 1,162 undergraduates have been analyzed. The reasons given by each population differ in hierarchy and motivations

the measurement of statistical reasoning in verbal numerical and graphical forms a pilot study

Numerous subjects have trouble in understanding various conceptions connected to statistical problems. Research reports how students' ability to solve problems (including statistical problems) can be influenced by exhibiting proofs. In this work we aim to contrive an original and easy instrument able to assess statistical reasoning on uncertainty and on association, regarding two different forms of proof presentation: pictorial-graphical and verbal–numerical. We have conceived eleven pairs of simple problems in the verbal–numerical and pictorial–graphical form and we have presented the proofs to 47 undergraduate students. The purpose of our work was to evaluate the goodness and reliability of these problems in the assessment of statistical reasoning. Each subject solved each pair of proofs in the verbal-numerical and in the pictorial–graphical form, in different problem presentation orders. Data analyses have highlighted that six out of the eleven pairs of problems appear to be useful and adequate to estimate statistical reasoning on uncertainty and that there is no effect due to the order of presentation in the verbal–numerical and pictorial–graphical form

The measurement of statistical reasoning in verbal-numerical and graphical forms: a pilot study

Numerous subjects have trouble in understanding various conceptions connected to statistical problems. Research reports how students' ability to solve problems (including statistical problems) can be influenced by exhibiting proofs. In this work we aim to contrive an original and easy instrument able to assess statistical reasoning on uncertainty and on association, regarding two different forms of proof presentation: pictorial-graphical and verbal-numerical. We have conceived eleven pairs of simple problems in the verbal-numerical and pictorial-graphical form and we have presented the proofs to 47 undergraduate students. The purpose of our work was to evaluate the goodness and reliability of these problems in the assessment of statistical reasoning. Each subject solved each pair of proofs in the verbal-numerical and in the pictorial-graphical form, in different problem presentation orders. Data analyses have highlighted that six out of the eleven pairs of problems appear to be useful and adequate to estimate statistical reasoning on uncertainty and that there is no effect due to the order of presentation in the verbal-numerical and pictorial-graphical form

Towards the development of problems comparing verbal-numerical and graphical formats in statistical reasoning

Many students struggle with understanding concepts related to statistical problems. A body of studies has stated that the attitude of undergraduates when resolving statistical problems can be affected by problem displaying methods. Our paper reports on the development of novel and accessible problems designed to compare the basic processes of statistical reasoning using two different methods of presentation: Verbal-numerical versus graphical. Therefore, the main purpose of the current study is to estimate the goodness and reliability of those problems. Thus, we carried out two pilot studies in Italy and Spain, respectively. In the first study, 95 undergraduate students from the University of Cagliari (Italy) were presented with eleven pairs of simple statistical problems, homologous for verbal-numerical and graphical formats. Hence, according to the outcomes, we modified and improved the structure of our problems in order to present the revised version to 148 undergraduate students of the University of Barcelona (Spain). Each undergraduate was asked to solve the paired problems presented in verbal-numerical and graphical format, so that the presentation order of the trials was counterbalanced for all the participants. The results suggested which problems are suitable to assess the basic processes underpinning the statistical reasoning. Furthermore, by analysing the open responses on reasoning leading to the solution of the above mentioned problems, we were able to understand which items were misunderstood by our participants in order to reformulate them. Lastly, we discuss the method used to articulate the new items and the direction for future research

The application of graphical representations in estimation of probabilistic events

The communication of uncertain and certain information is essential for individualbehaviour and decision making. But many subjects have difficulty in understandinguncertainty-related problems. This difficulty can depend on the way in whichmaterials are presented and communicated: for example, whether this is verbalnumericalor graphical. We measured subjects performances when solving uncertainty-related problems in relation to the format of problem presentation, aimingto detect the graphical facilitation effect potentially produced by Euler-Venn andIconic diagrams. Through a quasi-experimental mixed design, we analysed the performanceof 229 undergraduate students in solving two paired uncertainty-relatedproblems under conditions of time pressure. Applying a non-parametric statisticaldata analysis, we found a graphical facilitation effect, particularly with Euler-Venn diagrams

The use of imagery in statistical reasoning by university undergraduate students: A preliminary study.

Many students have difficulty in grasping several concepts that are related to the solution of statistical problems. The bibliography reports how the ability of students to solve problems can be affected by the mode of the statistical problem presentation: verbal–numerical and pictorial–graphical. The dual-coding theory predicts that the graphical representation mode should enhance students’ statistical reasoning. Solving these problems requires the building, by the subjects, of a mental model, which in turn relies on visuo-spatial processing. To test this hypothesis we analysed how the ability to solve problems of 473 undergraduate students is affected by the mode of the statistical problem presentation. The study used a quasi-experimental mixed design to explore how the student’s performance is related to visuo-spatial and numerical abilities, statistical expertise, time pressure and problem representation mode (verbal/pictorial). Data analysis, based on the Hierarchical Loglinear Model and then the Logit Model, highlighted that the effect of facilitation, induced by the graphical presentation mode, would seem more likely to occur in inexperienced subjects with high visuo-spatial competence

Probabilistic reasoning under time pressure: an assessment in Italian, Spanish and English psychology undergraduates

Many studies have investigated the features of probabilistic reasoning developed in relation to different formats of problem presentation, showing that it is affected by various individual and contextual factors. Incomplete understanding of the identity and role of these factors may explain the inconsistent evidence concerning the effect of problem presentation format. Thus, superior performance has sometimes been observed for graphically, rather than verbally, presented problems. The present study was undertaken to address this issue. Psychology undergraduates without any statistical expertise (N = 173 in Italy; N = 118 in Spain; N = 55 in England) were administered statistical problems in two formats (verbal-numerical and graphical-pictorial) under a condition of time pressure. Students also completed additional measures indexing several potentially relevant individual dimensions (statistical ability, statistical anxiety, attitudes towards statistics and confidence). Interestingly, a facilitatory effect of graphical presentation was observed in the Italian and Spanish samples but not in the English one. Significantly, the individual dimensions predicting statistical performance also differed between the samples, highlighting a different role of confidence. Hence, these findings confirm previous observations concerning problem presentation format while simultaneously highlighting the importance of individual dimensions