Dear Robin et al

It might amuse him (Milo Schield) to learn that one of
the reasons that I was first thrown out of a job
(which involved, among other tasks, teaching
'Elementary Statistics' to an Arts-wide group of 250)
because my teaching was judged - by the Mathematics
faculty - to be not mathematical enough.  In fact, I
had focussed almost entirely (nearly 30 years ago) on
the problems of critically interpreting the use of
numerical data in everyday life (including newspapert
articles etc.).

Roy Carr-Hill


Robin Rice wrote:
>
> If I may, I'd like to expand the debate (or fan the flames?) by
> pointing out the work of Milo Schield, whose work "Statistical
> literacy: thinking critically about statistics" was referenced in the
> report. It has bearing to the examples given about how statistics can
> be mis-interpreted, by students, and those who should know better.
>
> In this article, Dr. Schield, an American lecturer who has
> spent a sabattical at the RSS Centre for Statistical Education in
> Nottingham, argues that "Statistical literacy is the ability to read
> and interpret data; the ability to use statistics as evidence in
> arguments." He goes further in the summary to state that "Statistical
> literacy is a liberal art - not a mathematical science. In this sense,
> statistical literacy is a most important skill in dealing with a
> growing torrent of statistical data." The focus is on the user of
> statistics who must make decisions based on available evidence,
> whether it be good or bad quality, low or high in quantity (as in the
> 'real world').
>
> The sections in the middle go over things like association versus
> causation, sample versus population, quality vs. power of a test,
> interpreting statistics correctly, problems in measurement, and
> spurious associations, with clear examples. In a more recent article,
> and a recent talk to the RSS, he discussed Reading Tables of Rates and
> Percentages (because students have such a hard time doing it
> correctly, and the language of it can be tricky).
>
> Milo tells me that statisticians are not very keen on the phrase
> "statistical literacy." They want full competency, and are not
> interested in these kinds of remedial problems. After all, rates and
> percentages are something we learn in primary school! He came to it
> after teaching a required critical thinking course. So how will
> students learn these skills, and are they essential skills for all?
>
> The papers referred to and others can be found at
> http://www.augsburg.edu/ppages/~schield/
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Robin Rice
> Data Librarian
> Edinburgh University Data Library
> Main Library Bldg., George Square
> Edinburgh EH8 9LJ
>
> [log in to unmask]
> 0131 651 1431
> http://datalib.ed.ac.uk
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> You wrote:
>
> > Ray is right that numeracy does not make for good interpretation
> > skills, but in my experience they are a precondition.  Moreover they
> > are a necessary skill for being a rounded researcher.  In sociology
> > there is genuine concern at the paucity (and often quality) of
> > published quantitative research.  It is not uncommon for qualitative
> > research to appear in leading journals, where on the basis of half a
> > dozen depth interviews more is claimed than from the results of a
> > large scale survey.
> >
> > Research I am undertaking with Geoff Payne indicates very
> > clearly that in the last few years quantitative sociology has been
> > hardly present in the main UK journals.  This absence, I would
> > hypothesise, has at least some of its origins in a lack of numeracy
> > at undergraduate level.
> >
> > I took Alan's comments about the 3% as slightly tongue in cheek??
> >
> > Malcolm Williams
> >
> > Malcolm Williams,
> > Department of Sociology,
> > University of Plymouth,
> > Drake Circus,
> > Plymouth,
> > Devon
> > PL4 8AA
> > UK
> >
> > Tel: (0)1752 233283 (Direct) (0)1752 233217 (Department) FAX: (0)1752 233201
> >
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