Statistical literacy and society: What is civic statistics? (original) (raw)

The importance of statistical literacy for democracy : civic-education through statistics

2018

Civic Education has had the same objective (“Mündigkeit”) for the last 50 years, but the conditions to achieve it have changed. Mündigkeit is a prerequisite for citizen’s participation, to strengthen and stabilize democratic structures. In the information age, Mündigkeit regarding statistics means having an orientation in the confusion of the modern information jungle and the deluge of quantitative information and statistics. The requirements for understanding and evaluating information about societal developments have changed: Statistical skills are becoming increasingly important for an evidence-based judgment in today's society. They entail understanding data-related arguments and representations, questioning possible conclusions as well as uncovering opinions and already made decisions

Implementing Civic Statistics: An Agenda for Action

Springer eBooks, 2022

The first three chapters of this book have identified societal demands for understanding Civic Statistics (Chap. 1), described specific features of the statistical and mathematical information citizens receive about civic issues (Chap. 2), and mapped out the facets and tools (skills, knowledge, mental and motivational tools) needed to critically understand such statistical and mathematical information about society (Chap. 3). The present chapter examines issues that are essential for promoting necessary changes in the teaching and learning of Civic Statistics, which are needed for empowering citizens to engage with and analyze data sources and datainformed reasoning about burning issues in society, and critically interpret messages related to Civic Statistics encountered in the news media, social networks and related digital sources. The chapter first provides further illustrations of activities or tasks pertaining to Civic Statistics and shows how to analyse task demands in terms of the facets and tools they require. Then, general questions are examined regarding the all-important alignment of the features of Civic Statistics and their demands with curriculum plans and learning goals, classroom teaching practices, and assessment methods. We provide some guidelines for developing assessment items relevant to Civic Statistics. Finally, the chapter presents six broad recommendations related to changes in systemic issues that can promote attention to and critical understanding of Civic Statistics, at the school and university levels, and which can improve effective instruction and assessment in this regard, within mathematics education, statistics and data science education, and related disciplines.

Statistical Literacy for Active Citizenship: A Call for Data Science Education

Statistics Education Research Journal, 2017

Data are abundant, quantitative information about the state of society and the wider world is around us more than ever. Paradoxically, recent trends in the public discourse point towards a post-factual world that seems content to ignore or misrepresent empirical evidence. As statistics educators we are challenged to promote understanding of statistics about society. In order to re-root public debate to be based on facts instead of emotions and to promote evidence-based policy decisions, statistics education needs to embrace two areas widely neglected in secondary and tertiary education: understanding of multivariate phenomena and the thinking with and learning from complex data.

A Conceptual Framework for Civic Statistics and Its Educational Applications

Springer eBooks, 2022

This chapter presents a comprehensive conceptual framework of 11 facets and tools which together describe the knowledge, skills and dispositions that (young) adults need in order to comprehend, critically evaluate, communicate about, and engage with Civic Statistics regarding 'burning' societal issues, and that may enhance citizen empowerment. The framework is organized around three key dimensions involving engagement & action, knowledge, and enabling processes. It identifies knowledge-bases covering meaning for society and policy and critical evaluation and reflection; selected statistical and mathematical constructs and skills; core literacy and mathematical skills; understanding models and modelling, multivariate ideas and textual and rich visual representations; knowledge of research and data production methods and extensions related to official statistics and risk on the societal level; and it emphasises the importance of appropriate dispositions, critical stance, and habits of mind. We offer examples and curriculum tasks that illustrate each of the 11 facets and their interconnectedness. We also describe the use of a 'radar plot' tool to support the analysis of how balanced are prospective class activities or test items in terms of covering the 11 facets and tools. The chapter ends with a brief discussion of the implications of the conceptual model and its 11 facets for planning curricula, instruction, and assessments that can promote teaching and learning about Civic Statistics within mathematics education, statistics and data science education, and related disciplines.

Official Statistics and Statistics Education: Bridging the Gap

Journal of Official Statistics, 2017

This article aims to challenge official statistics providers and statistics educators to ponder on how to help non-specialist adult users of statistics develop those aspects of statistical literacy that pertain to official statistics. We first document the gap in the literature in terms of the conceptual basis and educational materials needed for such an undertaking. We then review skills and competencies that may help adults to make sense of statistical information in areas of importance to society. Based on this review, we identify six elements related to official statistics about which non-specialist adult users should possess knowledge in order to be considered literate in official statistics: (1) the system of official statistics and its work principles; (2) the nature of statistics about society; (3) indicators; (4) statistical techniques and big ideas; (5) research methods and data sources; and (6) awareness and skills for citizens’ access to statistical reports. Based on thi...

Literacy in statistics for the public discourse

Statistical Journal of the IAOS, 2021

If one assesses the quality of statistics according to whether they are fit for purpose, one must put the question of this very purpose at the beginning, not only for the production of statistics, but also for their use and the literacy required. In this contribution, public discourse, political communication and decision-making processes are placed at the beginning of the argument. Official statistics work with a conceptual approach in which very much emphasis is placed on standardisation of products and processes, thus ensuring comparability of facts in regional and temporal terms. Only in this way can statistics be used as a common language to objectify conflicting issues. It is not about everyone being able to create his or her own statistical model of reality, quite the opposite. In this sense, public statistics are an infrastructure, comparable to rail transport. Moreover, statistical processes today are highly rationalised and industrialised, comparable to a factory. So, when...

Teaching statistical literacy by getting students to use real world data: 40 years worth of experience in 40 minutes

Promoting Understanding of Statistics about Society IASE Roundtable Conference

The data deluge over the past twenty years has resulted in an explosion in volumes of available data. Access to data is increasingly easy; technology advances have resulted in increasingly sophisticated ways to represent and analyse these data. Citizens are confronted with statistics and numbers in a multitude of ways, so the imperative for improving statistical literacy is strong if we want a well-informed and data-literate population. Social sciences are embracing quantitative methods as demand grows, in the private and public sectors, for evidence-informed policy and a greater sophistication in approaching difficult to measure constructs, such as global sustainability, is emerging. The Sustainable Development Goals set out by the UN1 in September 2015, and the data requirements associated with them, may accelerate all of these trends. This paper will reflect on the authors’ experiences of working with real data in the context of schools, and university social science courses, ove...

Developing official statistics literacy : a proposed model and implications

2018

This paper points to a gap in the literature regarding the lack of a widely accepted conceptual framework about the knowledge bases that adults at large and non-specialists need in order to be critically aware of social and economic phenomena by understanding key aspects of official statistics. This negatively affects work by official statistics providers and statistics educators. We thus propose a model encompassing six key knowledge elements needed for official statistics literacy and highlight its implications. We emphasize the need to develop a digital textbook about official statistics literacy as well as a modular online course, and point to other directions official statistics providers and statistics educators could take

Promoting Civic Engagement via Exploration of Evidence: Challenges for Statistics Education

2017

1 1 This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. All materials are protected by copyright. They may be used as a whole or in parts under above CC License with the exception of the illustrations which may be used for educational purposes only. This syllabus is based on the facets of statistical literacy that make up Civic Statistics (Gal, Nicholson & Ridgway, 2017). There, facets are described in three groups: (1) Engagement & Action, (2) Knowledge Base (3) Enabling Processes. Engagement & Action (facets 1 -3, Meaning for society and policy; Critical evaluation and reflection; and Dispositions) describes features that pertain to any involvement with data about society. Similarly to process standards, these facets cannot be addressed in isolation but permeate any Civic Statistics topic and e...