ANALYZING PROBLEM-SOLVING BEHAVIOR OF SUCCESSFUL AND UNSUCCESSFUL STATISTICS STUDENTS

The present study investigated problem-solving behaviour in statistics by documenting differences between successful and unsuccessful studen ts. Two methodological approaches were used. The first, based on studi es by Chi, Glaser and Pees (1982), required students to identify key s tructural features of common problems. The second, based on further wo rk by Chi, Bassok, Lewis, Reimann & Glaser (1989), used verbal protoco l procedures to examine the processes employed when 'Good' and 'Poor' statistics students solve an ANOVA problem. It was expected that findi ngs obtained by these earlier researchers in the domain of Physics wou ld also apply in Statistics. Two groups of students in an undergraduat e Psychology course were selected for the study. The first group (N = 8) had performed well in a statistics unit, the second group (N = 6) h ad failed that unit. In the first part of the study, no differences we re found between groups on the task of identifying key structural feat ures of common problems. In the second part of the study, protocol ana lyses showed that the 'Good' students engaged in more concept-oriented solution behaviour, displayed more monitoring/judging behaviour, and asked more questions about the problem itself. These findings are simi lar to those obtained in other abstract knowledge domains such as Phys ics and Mathematics and indicate quite fundamental differences in the way in which competent and incompetent Statisics students solve Statis tics problems.