Quantitative Writing: Communicating Data

• Activity Number: 366
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 11, 2015 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education
• Author(s): Kimberly Massaro* and Gail Pizzola
• Companies: The University of Texas at San Antonio and The University of Texas at San Antonio
• Keywords: Quantitative Literacy ; Quantitative Writing ; Communicating Data

Abstract

Quantitative writing helps students analyze and interpret quantitative data. It is a skill that requires students to identify a problem, discuss it, support the discussion with numerical data, and communicate that data effectively to a general, real-world audience. The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) has developed the Quantitative Literacy Program (QLP) to enhance students' quantitative reasoning in disciplines across the curriculum. As a requirement for graduation, students complete at least one course that has been enhanced with quantitative literacy (a Q-course). Students explore, visualize, and analyze the results of data they collect and effectively express the results of their analyses in a written document. The scope of the quantitative writing ranges from a brief description or summary of the main observations associated with the data to creating an argument and defending the overall conclusions supported by the data and illustrated with tables and figures. This paper discusses the importance of quantitative writing across the curriculum and provides specific examples of how quantitative writing has enhanced courses throughout the curriculum at UTSA.