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Analysis Of Student Performance In Statistics

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Analysis Of Student Performance In Statistics

Author: Narelle F. Smith, Leigh N. Wood, Roslyn K. Gillies & Gillian Perrett

Publication Year: 1994

Abstract

This paper reports on an investigation of students' difficulties in first-year statistics examinations at
university. Our hypothesis was that difficulty with language was an important factor in student
performance in statistics examinations. Our data consisted of examination questions ranked in order
of difficulty based on student performance, lecturers' perceptions of difficulty and a measure of the
linguistic complexity of the questions.
The examination paper that was analysed was a typical short answer paper for students studying
statistics in their first year at university. The paper was not designed specially for analysis but rather
was the normal end of year paper for a business statistics subject with an enrolment of 600 students.
Three statistics lecturers not involved in teaching the subject ranked questions according to their
perception of the level of difficulty and these were compared with the performance of 186 students.
The examination paper was also analysed for linguistic complexity as measured by lexical density
and this was compared with students' responses.
The results were surprising. There was no correlation between student performance and the linguistic
complexity of the questions as measured by formal measures of lexical density. The lecturers' rankings
were consistent and correlated highly with student responses in most cases. Certain topic areas
appeared to cause more difficulties than others and further research will concentrate on these topics.

Type: Research Paper

Narelle F. Smith, Leigh N. Wood, Roslyn K. Gillies & Gillian Perrett
Analysis Of Student Performance In Statistics

Short Communications & Round Tables

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MERGA Paper Template – to be used to write the abstracts which are then submitted to the MERGA conference website
MERGA Publication Agreement – to be submitted on the MERGA conference website at the time of the abstract submission

Submissions not exceeding one page are required for short communications and round tables. The submissions must be prepared using the conference template, and can include essential references. They will be reviewed by the Editorial Team and, if accepted, will be published in the conference proceedings as one-page abstracts (not as papers). Presenters are invited to prepare a paper for distribution at the conference, but these papers will not be included in the proceedings.

Short communications are suitable for reports on research in mathematics education that do not fully meet the requirements for published papers. These might include works in preliminary stages, reports of pilot projects, initial reviews of literature, ideas or suggestions for future study, and briefer discussions of particular issues. Short communications allow new researchers to obtain feedback on projects in a constructive and supportive environment, and foster the building of links between researchers with similar interests.

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Research Papers

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MERGA Paper Template – to be used to write the papers which are then submitted to the MERGA conference website
MERGA Publication Agreement – to be submitted on the MERGA conference website at the time of the paper submission

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1. Reports of empirical investigations

When empirical investigations are reported (such as in an experimental intervention, confirmatory study, or action research, etc.), the paper should also include

a statement of rationale for methodologies used in collecting and analysing data;
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2. Reports that are not based on empirical research including:

a theoretical discussion;
a position paper;
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a literature review, a meta-study;
an account of a new initiative;
a reflective critique of practice; or
any mixture of these or other recognised scholarly forms.

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It is expected that presenting authors will have 40 minutes to present their work at the conference. At least 10 minutes must be allowed to field questions and comments from the audience.

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a statement of the problem/issue and a discussion of its significance;
a critical analysis of the research literature as it relates to the topic of the paper; and
conclusions and implications for mathematics education derived from the study.

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MERGA Paper Template (to be used to write the papers which are then submitted to the MERGA conference website)
MERGA Publication Agreement (to be submitted on the MERGA conference website at the time of the paper submission)

Presentation of groups of published papers related by theme in the form of a research symposium is encouraged. The symposium forum will be particularly suitable for presentations relating to a single large project or presentations that explore topical themes from different and/or related perspectives. Special Interest Groups [SIGs] are encouraged to consider the symposium option as a means for sharing and discussing current research.

A symposium should consist of no more than four presentations of about 15 minutes duration each. The written papers should be half the length of research papers as described for research papers. Both research report types – empirical or non-empirical – are acceptable as published symposium papers.

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