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Statistical literacy

Statistical literacy. Laine G.M. Ruus Data Library Service, University of Toronto 2006/05/04. Statistical literacy.

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Statistical literacy

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  1. Statistical literacy Laine G.M. Ruus Data Library Service, University of Toronto 2006/05/04

  2. Statistical literacy “…refers broadly to two interrelated components, primarily (a) people's ability to interpret and critically evaluate statistical information, data-related arguments, or stochastic phenomena, which they may encounter in diverse contexts, and when relevant (b) their ability to discuss or communicate their reactions to such statistical information, such as their understanding of the meaning of the information, or their concerns regarding the acceptability of given conclusions.  These capabilities and behaviors [sic]do not stand on their own but are foundedon several interrelated knowledge bases and dispositions...". Source: Gal, Iddo. Adults’ Statistical Literacy:  Meanings, Components, and ResponsibilitiesInternational Statistical Review70( 1): 1-25, April 2002

  3. Stories • The Metro article of 2006/05/03 chose to tell one story: a “growing trend” of private or semi-private worship, rather than conspicuous worship in a public place (church, etc) • Refers to a source, a Statistics Canada study. Found article entitledWho's religious? listed in the Statistics Canada Daily of 2006/05/02

  4. Source: Study: Who’s religious? The Daily Tuesday, May 2, 2006

  5. The Daily article refers to an article in Canadian Social Trends, May 2006 … The Stats Can Daily article refers in turn to an article in Canadian social trends :

  6. … which contains statistical tables, as well as charts which help visualize some of the statistics in the tables, including …

  7. What the Metro article got wrong: • Focused on only one of the stories in the Statistics Canada Daily/Social trends articles • The phrase “growing trend” came from a different story, one of declining religious affiliation and church attendance • Misinterprets the information in the table • There is only one time period, therefore cannot identify a trend from this table • Implies that a majority prefer private to public religious observance, but from the article and table it appears to be only 27-37% of the 21% of the population who attend religious services infrequently/never

  8. Frequency of public religious observance (eg frequency attend church, etc) Frequency of private religious observance Producing a similar cross-tabulation using the original microdata provides support for a slightly different variation on the story….

  9. Standing the table ‘on its head’ gives a different interpretation of the data… Frequency of private religious observance Frequency of public religious observance (eg frequency attend church, etc) Public religious observance (eg frequency attend church, etc)

  10. Statistical literacy skills include: • Ability to follow the trail of breadcrumbs to find the Canadian social trends article and the tables/charts that accompany it • To assess the reliability of Statistics Canada as a source of statistics on religion – ie what if any might Statistics Canada’s bias be vis-à-vis religion? • To assess the validity of survey-based information versus anecdotal information (the Metro article) – ie are there other data sources that would provide better information on the question? How good is Statistics Canada at taking surveys that represent the population?

  11. Statistical literacy skills include (cont’d): Frequency of religious practices on one’s own showing attendance at religious services/meetings (%) • Ability to interpret the information provided in the table, including ability to visualize it Attend public religious services Frequency of relgious practices on one’s own

  12. Statistical literacy skills include (cont’d): • Ability to assess the significance of the information that is not in the table – how many cases were there in this survey? Does this table tell us what % of the population go to church once a month or more? • Ability to assess cross-tabulations and percentages as appropriate descriptive statistics for this type of data – are there other descriptive statistics that would have added to the information in the table, eg cell counts as well as row percentages?

  13. Statistical literacy skills include (cont’d): • Understand the role of the tests of significance that have been used – ie, what does ‘95%’ confidence interval mean? • Understanding what has to be done to examine the influence of a third variable (eg gender, age, education, or province) on religious attendance & private religious practice

  14. In summary … • Like information literacy, statistical literacy includes: • determining information needs • information access skills • critical evaluation of sources • understanding of the information • Unlike information literacy, statistical literacy includes: • some understanding of data collection, descriptive statistics, significance, inference, and causality • active involvement in process of creation/transformation of descriptive statistics

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