Statistical Literacy: Students in Presenting Data

Moh. Hafiyusholeh

, I Ketut Budayasa

, Tatag Yuli Eko Siswono

, Cholis Sya’dijah

, and Elly

Susanti

Department of Mathematics, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya

Department of Mathematics Education, Unesa Surabaya

Department of Mathematics Education, UM Malang

Department of Mathematics, UIN Maliki Malang

ellysusanti@mat.uin-malang.ac.id

Keywords: Statistical Literacy, Data, Graph, Table.

Abstract: Statistics have become a key component of the mathematics curriculum. At a basic level, by studying

statistics, one can inference, read and present data in a more easily understood form known as statistical

literacy. Everyone is in one of the roles of being a consumer and as a data producer. The core element of

static literacy for consumers is the ability to read and interpret data in tables and graphs published by the

national statistical office. The core element for producers is the ability to create clear, understandable tables,

graphs and reports. The purpose of this research is to describe the student profile in presenting the data.

Therefore, this study is a descriptive explorative qualitative. The subject comes from grade XII students

MIA 9 SMA Negeri 3 Sidoarjo. Data were collected through a combination of interview methods with

written task analysis. The result of the research shows that the subjects had the ability to describe data in the

form of tables or diagrams in accordance with the desired information, including building an alternative

view for a set of data, that is in the form of line diagrams, histograms, and pie diagrams, as well as

frequency distribution table that referred to the purpose of data communication, regardless of the

characteristics of a data. by paying attention to the characteristics of the data.

1 INTRODUCTION

During the past quarter century, statistics have

become a key component of the mathematics

curriculum. Technological advances and methods of

modern data analysis, coupled with the massive data

in the global era, have led development of the

mathematics curriculum to be introduced statistical

concepts into the school curriculum. Even in the

principles and standards of school mathematics

evaluation, National Council of Teachers of

Mathematics (NCTM, 1989) enter data analysis and

probability as one of the five content standards.

Statistical material is important to be included in

the school mathematics curriculum because by

studying statistics, students can do simple

inferences, read a presentation of data and present

data in a form which is easier to be understood.

Statistics are also needed to be able to conduct

research effectively, because statistics are the main

method used to generalize the results of research.

Without using statistics, it is very difficult to make

decisions based on data that has been collected from

a study (Watson, 2006).

One of the important objectives of statistical

education in schools is that students have statistical

literacy. Statistical literacy is the basic ability that

must be possessed by everyone (Franklin, 2007).

Statistical literacy is a new goal for statistical

educators (Schield, 2011; Kasonga & Corbett,

2008). Statistical literacy is needed so that someone

can read and interpret and present data both in tables

and graphs (Schield, 2013), understand meaning,

navigate, and interpret information in the form of

tables, diagrams, or graphs (Murray & Gal, 2002).

Statistical literacy is a new goal for statistical

educators. A core element of statistical literacy for

consumers is the ability to read and interpret data in

the tables and graphs published by national

statistical offices. A core element for producers is

the ability to create tables, graphs and reports that

are unambiguous and comprehensible (Schield,

496

Haﬁyusholeh, M., Budayasa, I., Siswono, T., Sya’dijah, C. and Susanti, E.

Statistical Literacy: Students in Presenting Data.

DOI: 10.5220/0008524304960500

In Proceedings of the International Conference on Mathematics and Islam (ICMIs 2018), pages 496-500

ISBN: 978-989-758-407-7

2011). Statistical literacy is needed not only for

students but is needed for everyone as both data

producers and consumers (Seifer, 2009).

The problem is that the questions were tested on

the National Examination (UN), in fact only about

calculating the center and variation of data with

single number or data distribution like mean,

median, or mode (UN 2006, UN 2007, UN 2008,

UN 2009, UN 2010, UN 2011, UN 2012, UN 2013,

UN 2014, UN 2014, UN 2015, UN 2016, UN 2017).

These questions emphasize only the commutative

and procedural aspects so that students' statistical

literacy skills, especially in terms of presenting data

were neglected.

Research on statistical literacy relating to the

presentation of data by students is important to do

because by knowing the description of students'

statistical literacy it will be obtained an overview of

the thinking process and the actions of students in

dealing with data which can ultimately be made as a

basis for developing more complete learning model

and curriculum in preparing students to become

statistical literates. That is in line with Carver in

Hafiyusholeh, Budayasa & Siswono (2017). He

states that statistical literacy is important knowledge

needed by all people that must be developed starts at

an early age and is built throughout the school level.

Not many researches have examined in the

aspect of statistical literacy, namely the presentation

of data, one of them is Hafiyusholeh, Budayasa &

Siswono (2017) which described the presentation of

data and interpretation of data with reference to

gender aspects. This study described how students

with high mathematical abilities in presenting data.

2 THEORETICAL

FRAMEWORKS

A person is said to have statistical literacy if the

person is able to read and interpret data in both

tables and graphs (Schield, 2011); to create, evaluate

and communicate messages by involving words,

numbers, and graphs together (Forbes et.al, 2011); to

understand statistical concepts, vocabulary, and

symbols, and including an understanding of

probability, to organize data, to compile and display

data in table form, to work with different data

representations, to make clear and understandable

tables, graphs and reports (Ben-Zvi & Garfield,

2005); to know what basic statistical terms mean, to

understand the use of simple statistical symbols, to

recognize and to interpret different data

representations (Ben-Zvi & Garfield, 2008; Gal,

2002); to understand and interpret data (Schield,

2013); to critically evaluate the use of statistical data

by others or the media (Goodall in Wade &

Goodfellow, 2009); to read and understand statistics

in news, media, and others (Garfield et.al, 2002).

Statistical literacy can also be understood as a

person's ability to read (understand); analyze;

interpret; and represent a data in the form of tables

or graphs (Hafiyusholeh, Budayasa & Siswono,

2017; 2018, Hafiyusholeh, 2015).

Representing (presenting) data is a person's

ability to describe data in the form of certain tables

or diagrams/plots in accordance with the

information to be communicated. Including in this

process is being able to construct data displays for a

given set of data and build alternative views for a set

of data (Mooney, 2002); including consideration of

what is involved in making graphics as a tool for

compiling data.

3 RESEARCH METHOD

This research was a qualitative exploratory research.

The research subjects consisted of two subjects with

high mathematical abilities. Data were collected by

researchers through a combination of interview

methods with written task analysis and student

activity record results during the task completion

process. To obtain the validity of the data obtained,

time triangulation was carried out. The process of

data analysis in this research referred to Miles &

Huberman (1994) which was done by the following

steps: (1) data reduction; (2) data exposure; and (3)

drawing conclusions and verification.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

To explore and describe students' statistical literacy

in terms of data presentation, several questions were

given with different data types. The first given

question was data regarding the profits from the

store every month for one year. The second given

question was data on the number of students based

on education level. The last question was data on

students' math test scores in one class.

The results of the data presentation of each

question are presented in Figure 1 as follows.

Statistical Literacy: Students in Presenting Data

497

Figure 1. Presentation of data by subject

For each question given, (a) Subjects presented data

in the form of line diagrams with the reason to

facilitate in knowing the increase or decrease in

profits as the following interview excerpt.

P : The data (a) can be presented in what form?

S : Line diagram sir

P : Why is that?

S : Because with a line diagram, people easily

find to know the increase or decrease in

profits from the store for 1 year. In addition,

the data is in the form of decimal or

continuous so that it fits using line diagrams,

not bar charts

For the case (b) the subject presented it in the form

of a bar diagram with the aim of comparing students

to each level in the district, as for the case (c) The

subject presented it in the form of a frequency

distribution table with the reason that it is easy to get

the mean, median and mode. It was shown from

interviews as follow.

P : What is your opinion about data (b)?

S : I think student data in all districts is suitable

to use bar charts

P : Why?

S : Because it can be seen from the goal that is to

compare between the number of elementary,

middle and high school students. And this is

also discrete data. So, it is suitable to use a

bar diagram.

P : What do you mean?

S : For example, if we want to provide

information on the number of elementary

school students, secondary and high school, it

is more suitable to use a bar chart. Because

we want to compare the number of students

P : As for the case (c)?

S : I present it using a group table

P : Why is that?

S : The data is about the score of 40 students

presented irregularly. And my goal is to make

it easier for someone to find average, median

and mode

P : Why don't you use a single data table?

S : That's because the data is too much, so as not

to make a lot of tables

By paying attention to the presentation of the

data performed by the subjects and the results of the

interviews carried out, the results are as follows:

Subjects in planning data presentation for case (a)

are using line diagrams and bar charts. The main

thing to consider is the purpose of presenting data

and the type of data provided. In this case, the

purpose of the subject in presenting data was to

provide information about the increase or decrease

of the profits obtained by the store. Another thing

that was taken into consideration in presenting data

is the characteristics of the data. Because the data

presented was continuous data which is called

ICMIs 2018 - International Conference on Mathematics and Islam

498

decimal data, the subject presented it in the form of a

line diagram. While the bar diagram was not used,

because the data from the store in each month was

incompatible with the characteristics of the bar

chart. The data corresponding to the bar diagram

were discrete data. In addition to those

considerations, the subject also considered the aspect

of effectiveness in making or presenting the data.

In the case (b), the subject presented data in the

form of bar and circle diagrams. The two forms of

presentation were chosen because the purpose of the

subject was to provide information about the number

of students at each level in the district.

In the case of (c) the subject presented data in the

form of a frequency distribution table. This

presentation was chosen because it is more effective

than presenting data with a single data table. The

presentation of the data was chosen because the

purpose of the subject was so that the data reader

was easier to see the maximum and minimum

values, besides that, it is also easy for readers to

determine the average value of math test.

In addition to considering the purpose of

presenting data, subjects with high mathematical

abilities also considered the characteristics of the

data. If the data was presented in discrete form, then

the data presentation used was a bar diagram, circle

and histogram. However, if the data presented was

in a continuous form, then the data presented is a

line diagram. This condition was certainly quite

different from the results of the research of

Hafiyusholeh, Budayasa & Siswono (2018) which

stated that the subject in presenting data was only

influenced by the purpose of presenting data without

considering the characteristics of the data.

By considering to these answers, it could be said

that the subject had the ability to describe data in the

form of a specific table or diagram in accordance

with the desired information, including building an

alternative display for a set of data. Subjects were

also able to construct and make various forms of

data presentation in line with the purpose of the

information to be communicated to the reader. This

is in line with the opinion of Mooney (2002) which

stated that a person could be said to be able to

represent (present) data, if someone was able to

describe data in the form of certain tables or

diagrams/plots in accordance with the information

to be communicated. Including in this process was

being able to construct data displays for a given set

of data and build alternative views for a set of data;

including consideration of what was involved in

making graphics as a tool for compiling data

(National Research Council, 2001).

These competencies also correspond to the

competency standards set in the national curriculum.

In the passing standard as stated in Permendikbud

2016 No. 021 which relates to statistical material

and opportunities mentioned that in Class X-XII

Senior High School, the competencies that must be

mastered in relation to statistical materials and

opportunities are comparing and assessing the

effectiveness of various data presentation methods.

In this case, if referring to basic competencies, then

the basic competencies that should be mastered by

students are able to present data in the form of

tables, charts, lines, circles and ogives and their

interpretations

5 CONCLUSIONS

The results showed that subjects with high

mathematical abilities in identifying data

presentation forms considered two aspects, namely

the aspect of the objectives presented by the data and

the second was the characteristics of the data.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Honorable to chairman of the department of

mathematics and Rektor UIN Sunan Ampel who

gave researchers the opportunity to continue

research.

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