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International Handbook of Research in Statistics Education pp 359–386Cite as

The Nature and Use of Theories in Statistics Education

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Part of the book series: Springer International Handbooks of Education ((SIHE))

Abstract

This chapter presents a literature review of theories used to frame and underpin Statistics Education Research. The aim is to describe, characterize and arrange the nature and use of theories in SER and hint at some potential trends and required directions for further theorizing the SER discipline. The review includes empirical research papers, published from 2004 to 2015, and focuses on students’ learning of statistics or probability at the primary and secondary school level. The number of papers that fulfilled our inclusion criteria was 35.

We distinguish five types of theories used in SER: Statistical Product Theories, Statistical Process Theories, Theories with a Didactical Focus, Theories in Mathematics/Science Education and Theories with a Broader Range on Epistemological Aspects. For further theoretical elaboration, we argue that SER pay attention to the relationship between personal and formal views of statistics, to the dynamics between categories or levels in student thinking and to the role of technology and context in the learning of statistics and probability. We end the chapter by thinking through potential benefits of a semantic theory, inferentialism, that has been proposed as underpinning research on statistical inference.

There is nothing so practical as a good theory.

(Lewin, 1951, p. 169)

The notion of “theory” is crucial in any scholarly or scientific discipline, including research on the teaching and learning of mathematics.

(Niss, 2007, p. 1308)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We refer the reader to Chap. 2 in this volume for further discussion of the nature and history of statistics education.

  2. 2.

    An overview of the review of the 35 articles can be found at the Handbook’s website in Springer Link.

  3. 3.

    We refer the reader to Chap. 16 of this volume for a discussion of RME.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Science and Technology, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden

    Per Nilsson

  2. Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    Maike Schindler

  3. Freudenthal Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Arthur Bakker

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  1. Per Nilsson
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Correspondence to Per Nilsson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, The University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Dani Ben-Zvi

  2. School of Education, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia

    Katie Makar

  3. Department of Educational Psychology, The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

    Joan Garfield

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Nilsson, P., Schindler, M., Bakker, A. (2018). The Nature and Use of Theories in Statistics Education. In: Ben-Zvi, D., Makar, K., Garfield, J. (eds) International Handbook of Research in Statistics Education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66195-7_11

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-66195-7

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

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