Pilot of a Simulation-Based Inference (SBI) Approach in an Online Undergraduate-Level Introductory Statistics Course

• Activity Number: 654 - Teaching Introductory Statistics Using Simulation-Based Inference Methods
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 3, 2017 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education
• Author(s): Whitney Alicia Zimmerman* and Mengzhao Gao and Glenn Johnson and Daniel Adam Spencer and Daisy Philtron
• Companies: The Pennsylvania State University and The Pennsylvania State University and The Pennsylvania State University and University of California, Santa Cruz and The Pennsylvania State University
• Keywords: Simulation-based inference ; SBI ; Statistics education ; Introductory statistics ; Online education ; Distance education

Abstract

A simulation-based inference (SBI) approach was piloted in three (out of 15) online sections of an introductory statistics course. Students were primarily adult learners coming from a wide variety of majors, almost all non-majors. SBI sections used the Lock^5 textbook and StatKey. All sections (SBI and traditional) used Minitab Express. At the beginning of the semester all students completed a demographics survey, the GOALS, and select CAOS items, they also wrote two short essays. Seven weeks into the course students took a midterm exam common across all online sections. At the end of the semester students again completed the GOALS, select CAOS items, and two essay questions; they also took a common final exam. Scores of students in the three sections using the SBI curriculum were compared to students in the 12 sections using a more traditional curriculum. A similar pilot occurred in on-campus sections. Advice will be given for implementing an SBI curriculum in an online setting and with adult learners.