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. 2023 May 13:1-18.
doi: 10.1007/s10649-023-10234-z. Online ahead of print.

A method for assessing students' interpretations of contextualized data

Randall E Groth  1 , Yoojin Choi  1
Affiliations

A method for assessing students' interpretations of contextualized data

Randall E Groth et al. Educ Stud Math. .

Abstract

Learning to interpret data in context is an important educational outcome. To assess students' attainment of this outcome, it is necessary to examine the interplay between their contextual and statistical reasoning. We describe a research method designed to do so. The method draws upon Toulmin's (1958, 2003) model of argumentation for the first stage of qualitative data analysis and the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) (Biggs & Collis, 1991) model for the second stage. Toulmin analyses help identify the justifications and expressions of uncertainty students provide in their interpretive arguments. Subsequent analyses based on the multi-modal conceptualization of SOLO help characterize the quality of student arguments relative to one another. Existing literature and an empirical example are drawn upon to explain how the Toulmin and SOLO models can be used in tandem to analyze students' interpretations of contextualized data. We also explain how pairing Toulmin and SOLO can address theoretical and practical limitations that arise when using just one of the two models on its own.

Keywords: Argumentation; Context knowledge; Qualitative research; SOLO taxonomy; Statistics; Toulmin model.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Basketball task (Tabor & Franklin, , p. 255). From Statistical Reasoning in Sports 2e by Josh Tabor and Christine Franklin. Copyright W.H. Freeman 2019. All rights reserved. Used by permission of the publisher Macmillan Learning
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Toulmin diagram summary of S7’s response
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Hypothetical progression toward using multi-modal reasoning to construct interpretations of contextualized data. Descriptions of potential unistructural, multistructural, and relational levels are adapted from the Watson et al. (2022a) investigation of multi-modal functioning in statistics and the Pezaro et al. (2014) synthesis of the Toulmin and SOLO models. The sample responses that are referenced in connection with different levels are shown in Table 1 and Fig. 2
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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