Choice of a hypothesis test by university students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37001/ripem.v14i3.3769Keywords:
Hypothesis Tests, Selection of a Test, Semiotic Conflicts, University StudentsAbstract
Hypothesis testing is a core content in undergraduate statistics courses, which has led to a great interest in its teaching. Using the ontosemiotic approach to mathematical cognition and instruction, the aim of this paper was to analyse how university students choose an appropriate test to solve a problem and to identify the underlying semiotic conflicts. For this purpose, a sample of 224 students was given an open problem, in which they were asked to decide which test should be used. Using the content analysis method, the individual written answers were classified into categories, to which the semiotic analysis was applied. Few participants choose a correct contrast, although a further 40% give a partially correct answer, forgetting some of the required assumptions. Semiotic conflicts such as confusing one-sided and two-sided contrast, population and sample and statistic and parameter are observed in the incorrect answers.
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