Statistical Literacy for Educators: Usability Study

Abstract

The role of data in many fields and areas of modern life is significant. Gathering, shaping, storing, and analyzing data is becoming a very important industry. This importance of data analysis implies that even people who are not employed in analytic positions would benefit from understanding at least basic concepts of data analysis. This fact increases demand in statistical literacy, especially for those who are dealing with data during their workflow. Educators, and especially teachers are among those who collect data from their students and might benefit from understanding the basic principles of statistics. This project aimed to develop and evaluate an online based resource where basic statistical concepts are paralleled with scenarios of their use in a classroom. The usability study explored ease of use of the website and satisfaction rate of the content presented on the website. The usability study confirmed the need in a resource introducing basic statistical concepts in a simple and highly approachable manner for those employed in the field of education. At the same time, it revealed that simplicity shouldn’t be extreme, and the resource should take advantage of modern web-tools, thus keeping a good balance between accessibility and functionality.