Addressing the Lexical Ambiguity Associated with the Word Random in Introductory Statistics Classes

• Activity Number: 477
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 4, 2010 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education
• Author(s): Diane Fisher*+ and Jennifer Kaplan and Neal Rogness
• Companies: University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Michigan State University and Grand Valley State University
• Keywords: random ; lexical ambiguity ; language ; statistics education ; word usage

Abstract

When words that are part of everyday English are used differently in a scientific domain, these words are said to have lexical ambiguity. Studies in other fields suggest that in order to help students learn vocabulary instructors should exploit the lexical ambiguity of such words. Previously, we have reported that half of the students entering a statistics course use the word random colloquially to mean, "haphazard" or "out of the ordinary." Another large subset of students define random as, "selecting without prior knowledge or criteria." At the end of the semester, only 5% of students give a correct statistical definition for the word random and most students still define random as, "selecting without order or reason." In this session we will present activities that instructors can use to help students better understand what statisticians mean by random or randomness.