Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the students’ basic statistical literacy and reasoning using a CAOS test (Comprehensive Assessment of Outcomes in Statistics from https://app.gen.umn.edu/artist/) at the University of Wollongong. For this reason, a case study was conducted involving samples taken from two cohorts of undergraduate students: 132 students in March/Autumn 2010 and 79 students in March/Autumn 2011 who enrolled in an Introductory Statistics subject (STAT131). A quantitative method was employed using the CAOS test as instrument in addition to the conventional assessments. Students were required to complete a CAOS pre-test (baseline) and post-test (end of session). This test was used as an external measure to assess the students’ basic statistical literacy and it generally represents as accepted measure of statistical literacy developed by statistics education researchers. The findings revealed that the students’ performance at the baseline (CAOS pre-test) and at the end of session (CAOS post-test) was identical between the two cohorts, 2010 and 2011. However particularly in their final marks, the 2011 cohort outperformed (p = 0.004) than those in 2010. This implied that some issues regarding its suitability, validity, and reliability will need to take into account when using the CAOS test as to measure students’ learning and understanding of statistics. The paper concludes with a discussion on the issues raised and followed by suggestions for further research.
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Acknowledgements
The first author gratefully acknowledges the important contributions and support provided for the production of this paper from Associate Professor Dr. Anne Porter, University of Wollongong. The first author also would like to express special appreciation on the financial support provided by the Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Perak and the Ministry of Education Malaysia (KPM).
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Baharun, N., Porter, A. (2016). Use of CAOS Test in Introductory Statistics Subject. In: Fook, C., Sidhu, G., Narasuman, S., Fong, L., Abdul Rahman, S. (eds) 7th International Conference on University Learning and Teaching (InCULT 2014) Proceedings. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-664-5_6
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