title: Development of the Statistical Reasoning in Biology Concept Inventory (SRBCI).
abstract: We followed established best practices in concept inventory design and developed a 12-item inventory to assess student ability in statistical reasoning in biology (Statistical Reasoning in Biology Concept Inventory [SRBCI]). It is important to assess student thinking in this conceptual area, because it is a fundamental requirement of being statistically literate and associated skills are needed in almost all walks of life. Despite this, previous work shows that non-expert-like thinking in statistical reasoning is common, even after instruction. As science educators, our goal should be to move students along a novice-to-expert spectrum, which could be achieved with growing experience in statistical reasoning. We used item response theory analyses (the one-parameter Rasch model and associated analyses) to assess responses gathered from biology students in two populations at a large research university in Canada in order to test SRBCI's robustness and sensitivity in capturing useful data relating to the students' conceptual ability in statistical reasoning. Our analyses indicated that SRBCI is a unidimensional construct, with items that vary widely in difficulty and provide useful information about such student ability. SRBCI should be useful as a diagnostic tool in a variety of biology settings and as a means of measuring the success of teaching interventions designed to improve statistical reasoning skills.
authors.affiliation: *Biology Program, Departments of Botany and Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Deane
authors.affiliation: *Biology Program, Departments of Botany and Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada nomme@zoology.ubc.ca.
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nomme
authors.affiliation: *Biology Program, Departments of Botany and Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jeffery
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pollock
authors.affiliation: Science Centre for Learning and Teaching, Faculty of Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
authors.forename: Gülnur
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Birol
mesh_terms: D001695:Biology / Q000193:education*; D002170:Canada; D003479:Curriculum; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017145:Models, Educational; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012106:Research; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013334:Students; D013850:Thinking