The Statistical Literacy of Mathematics Education Students: An Investigation on Understanding the Margin of Error

Abstract

Understanding the margin of error (MoE) as a part of statistical literacy which is useful for the public to select credible information from various surveys and polls. The study aims to reveal the levels of statistical literacy of mathematics education students, especially in understanding MoE, and compare them based on four variables: gender, enrollment in a statistics course, year in the program, and type of university. The online survey research involved undergraduate students of the mathematics education study program from 21 universities in Indonesia’s western, central, and eastern regions as the sample (n = 970). Descriptive statistics was used to describe the literacy levels and inferential statistics (t-test and F-test) to compare them based on the four variables. The results of the study reveal that: (1) student literacy in understanding the MoE concept is dominant at the non-literate level; and (2) there are significant differences in students’ literacy levels in terms of gender, enrollment in a statistics course, year in the program, and type of university. The study indicates that the literacy of mathematics education students is still low, so the statistics course is expected to focus more on developing statistical literacy.