Education Statistics Research Articles

Impact of human capital development and economic growth in Nigeria

This study examined the impact of human capital development and economic growth in Nigeria using time series spanning from 1986 to 2021 which were sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Statistical Bulletin and from the Statistical and Nigeria Education Management Information System, Educational planning, Research and Development office of the Federal Ministry of Education, Abuja. It was set out to explore the relationship between human capital indicators (primary school enrolment, government expenditure on education and government expenditure on health) and economic growth (gross domestic product). The study employed Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to Co-integration analysis to estimate the relationship among the variables used in the study. The study established long-run co-integration among the variables. The findings from the study revealed that there is strong positive long-run relationship among primary school enrolment, government expenditure on education, government expenditure on health and economic growth though not statistically significant while only government expenditure on education and economic growth is statistically significant. In line with the findings, the study recommended that government and all stakeholders should make conscious effort to curb the menace of increasing out of school children which is regarded as “a time bomb” in order to increase primary school enrolment in Nigeria. Government should also improve her expenditure on education in providing educational infrastructure, training and retraining of teachers at all levels in the country so as to sustain long-run economic growth. Furthermore, effort should be made towards increasing budgetary allocation to health sector for continuous growth sustainability.

A Class of Time Series Analysis Model with Grey Item and Its Application

Abstract In this paper, we use the grey system theory and time series analysis, put forward the grey time series model, analyze the kind of model, and give model-building and forecasting methods. It is applied in agriculture with total output value and grain output value. The forecasting test has proved the model's correctness. This method can be extended to various fields, including educational statistics. Keywords: Time series analysis, AR model, Grey system, Forecasting, Agriculture economy, Educational.

ADDRESSING WATER SCARCITY THROUGH STATISTICAL INQUIRY IN TEACHER EDUCATION

This article presents the design and implementation of a study and research path for teacher education (SRP-TE) based on the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic. The goal is to analyze this teacher education proposal for inclusive statistics education aiming to overcome constraints derived from the phenomenon of the transparency of data treatment. The proposal starts with a newspaper report about the loss of water resources in Brazil and questions the data supporting it. The study focuses on one of the participating teachers from a disadvantaged region in the Northeast, where she worked in a rural school with few resources and poor infrastructure. The course helped her implement an inquiry activity with her sixth-grade students and mobilize digital resources for data visualization and graph representations. This case study contributed to analyzing how the SRP-TE promoted teachers’ professional development and provided elements for teaching inclusive statistics.

Integrating Diverse Perspectives in Graduate Statistics Education Through Academic and Library Faculty Collaboration

Integrating Diverse Perspectives in Graduate Statistics Education Through Academic and Library Faculty Collaboration

Exercise physiology degrees in the United States: an update on secular trends.

The number of degrees conferred by postsecondary institutions in an academic field reflects institutional priorities, public interest in a domain of human knowledge, and overall societal and economic demand for certain skills and abilities. Public postsecondary institutions, which are obligated to serve the public interest, and professional organizations, which are meant to reflect the values and interests of their members, should monitor degrees conferred, in part, to understand the career pathways of their graduates or members. The current report describes secular trends in degrees conferred in exercise physiology in the United States since 2002-2003. Data were obtained from spreadsheets published by the National Center for Education Statistics. The number of bachelor's degrees conferred in exercise physiology plateaued starting in 2017-2018 before increasing again in 2020-2021. In 2021-2022, 31,066 bachelor's degrees were conferred in exercise physiology, representing the highest yearly total on record (1.5% of all U.S. bachelor's degrees). The increase has been driven by female graduates (2021-2022: 58.9% women). The number of male graduates started plateauing in 2016-2017. The number of master's degrees conferred has continued to increase (2021-2022: 51.6% women), and doctorate degrees have numbered between 245 and 300 per year since 2013-2014 (2021-2022: 52.2% women). Moving forward, exercise physiology organizations are encouraged to monitor secular trends in degrees conferred and include these data in large-scale graduate destination reports. The plateauing of male exercise physiology graduates over the past 6 years and the significantly lower proportion of male than female graduates averaged across all academic fields warrant continued discussion.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The field of exercise physiology has experienced substantial growth at postsecondary institutions in the United States over the past 20 years. Growth has slowed in recent years, but the number of bachelor's degrees conferred in the field reached a record high in 2021-2022. The increase in bachelor's degrees conferred has been driven largely by increased numbers of female graduates (58.9% female). The number of male graduates plateaued starting in 2016-2017.

Leveraging Expert Perspectives to Explore Key Elements in Integrating Sustainability and Statistics Education

The integration of sustainability education across subjects is an effort to instill concern in students for preserving global well-being. However, experts are required to be involved in organizing effective strategies to ensure that the targeted goals are achieved through the integration of sustainability education across subjects. Our research explored expert views on the elements that need to be emphasized in integrating sustainability education and statistics education. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews to collect data from 13 experts, including lecturers, curriculum developers, and teachers. The continuous comparative analysis of the collected data produced four themes, discovering elements that must be present in integrating sustainability education and statistics education, namely (i) statistics education, (ii) sustainability education, (iii) statistical data, and (iv) learning strategies. The findings of this study significantly contribute to contemporary curriculum development by identifying key components necessary for merging sustainability education with statistics education. Hence, the difficulty of school teachers to integrate sustainability education into statistics education should be recognized, so as to input teachers and curriculum developers in providing relevant learning experiences in the objectives of statistics education and sustainability education.

Clustering Türkiye's Provinces According to Education Level Indicators with Two-Stage Cluster Analysis

Abstract Purpose: This study aims to cluster similar provinces of Turkey according to (i) below-high school and (ii) high school and above-high school education level indicators using cluster analysis methods. Design/Methodology: The annual most recent data for 81 provinces were taken from the education statistics for the year 2022 published on the official website of the Turkish Statistical Institute. A two-stage cluster analysis method was used to identify similar provinces. Findings: According to indicators of education level below the high school level, the first cluster consists of 17 provinces (Adıyaman, Ağrı, Bingöl, Bitlis, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, Hakkâri, Kars, Mardin, Muş, Siirt, Şanlıurfa, Van, Batman, Şırnak, Iğdır and Kilis) and the second cluster consists of 64 provinces (other remaining provinces). The 17 provinces in the first cluster are eastern provinces where education needs to be increased. According to the education level indicators at high school and high school level, the first cluster consists of 6 provinces (Ankara, Çanakkale, Eskisehir, Isparta, Istanbul, and Izmir), and the second cluster consists of 75 provinces (the remaining other provinces). The six provinces in the first cluster are western provinces where education is advanced. Limitations: The limitation of the study is that cluster analyses were conducted for Turkey's 81 provinces and 2022 cross-sectional data. Originality/Value: The use of the two-stage cluster analysis method, which allows the number of clusters to be automatically determined according to AIC and BIC criteria, unlike the Ward and K-means methods used in cluster analysis, contributes to the original value of the research. Considering that the increase in education benefits people and society, it points out the importance of the study in providing meaningful and valuable information by creating awareness among individuals and policymakers in the relevant provinces by identifying similar provinces with clustering methods.

Making the Healthy Choice the Easy Choice: Examining the Food Environments Surrounding South Carolina’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

Purpose To understand the distribution of healthy and unhealthy food stores and restaurants around historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in South Carolina. Design DatabaseUSA and ArcGIS Pro were used to identify, classify, and map food stores and restaurants near each HBCU. Setting The study area included a 3-mile buffer radius around the eight South Carolina HBCUs. Subjects A total of 654 food stores and restaurants were identified within a 3-mile radius of the HBCUs. Measures Demographic data for each HBCU was collected from the National Center for Education Statistics. The food stores and restaurants were identified using Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes and descriptions, and they were classified using previous research methodologies. Results Based on the analysis, 19 (2.9%), 237 (36.2%), and 398 locations (60.9%) were classified as healthy, intermediate, and unhealthy, respectively. Within a 0.5-mile radius of the HBCUs, there were no retail food stores classified as healthy, followed by 14 (2.1%) and 23 (3.5%) retail food stores and restaurants that were classified as intermediate and unhealthy, respectively. Conclusions This study shows that most food options around South Carolina HBCUs are unhealthy and that few places are available to purchase healthy food. Eating well will be difficult in the current food environment. Increasing healthy options should be part of a comprehensive approach to promoting good nutrition.

Design and Testing of Brush Robot as Innovation in Improving STEM Instructional Out-Come in Pre-Service Teachers in Plateau State.

In this study, an experimental research design was used to design and test brush robots with pre-service teachers in Federal College of Education Pankshin Plateau state. This intends to solve the problem of innovation deficit in classroom instruction. The population for the study consisted of all NCE one students in the department of early childhood offering the course Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics STEM in the 2023/2024 session. A Sample of 30 Pre service NCE teachers participated in the research. A robot brush was constructed using low cost kits in the robot design stages. The instruments used consisted of Robot Parts test and the Solve-It tasks (design and functionality test) with Cronbach alpha reliability of 0.81. Treatment lasted for 6 weeks. Data was collected and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results indicated that pre-service teachers have poor knowledge of robot parts such as DC motors. This implies that pre-service teachers are novice to robot part and use Also, participants were very competent in robot design process activities and robot base cutting. Participants also showed average competence in Robot stage cutting, construction of rollers and fixing of robot parts. They however showed only fair competence in coupling of robots parts. Findings indicate that the teachers designed robots have high educational value. The robots are averagely complete in form, ease of use motion and durability. The designs however have low compliance to safety. It was recommended amongst other that Teacher training colleges should organised in-service training to improve teacher competent in handling engineering and technology parts and programming of STEM robots.

Gender Inequality in China's Education System

Abstract: This study discusses the persistent issue of gender inequality in education within the context of Chinese society, where traditional gender roles have been deeply influenced by Confucianism. Historically, the Confucian emphasis on male dominance and female submissiveness has led to significant gender disparities, particularly in the realm of education. Despite significant progress over the years, women in China still encounter disparities regarding educational opportunities and resources. The essay focuses on understanding the historical and contemporary factors contributing to this educational inequality and assessing the severity of the problem in the current context. The study utilizes a combination of literature analysis and case studies to explore the underlying causes of gender inequality in education. Literature analysis helps in reviewing existing research, case studies provide detailed insights into specific instances of educational inequality, highlighting how these disparities reflect in real-world settings. This research draws data from academic publications, historical records, and educational statistics. The findings show that despite policy reforms and efforts to promote gender equality, deep-rooted cultural beliefs and structural barriers continue to impede women's access to equal educational opportunities. This study concludes that achieving gender equality in education requires a multifaceted approach, including policy interventions, cultural shifts, and targeted support for disadvantaged groups. These findings offer practical recommendations for policymakers and educators.

Does geographical location impact educational disparities among Ecuadorians? A novel two-stage inequality decomposition method

The aim of this paper is to assess the extent of educational disparities among Ecuadorians attributed to their geographical location. For this purpose, a novel two-stage hierarchical decomposition of inequality for the half of the square of the coefficient of variation is introduced. This method, an extension of the one-stage (within/between) decomposition, is applicable to variables that can take the value zero, such as the ‘years of schooling’ variable. Using microdata bases from Ecuador’s National Survey of Employment, Unemployment and Underemployment (encompassing all twenty-four provinces and four regions in 2014 and 2021), we estimated the ‘years of schooling’ for individuals aged 24 and over, determining provincial, regional and national mean values. The proposed method allows the identification of the extent to which educational disparities among Ecuadorians (total inequality) can be attributed to differences between provinces and regions (spatial inequality), and the extent to which such educational inequality is due to variations among individuals within provinces. Moreover, it measures the educational inequality within each province and evaluates the contribution of each province to intra-provincial inequality. The results indicate that, although spatial inequality increased between the study years, total educational inequality decreased. This is because the contribution of spatial inequality to total inequality was practically negligible compared to the influence of disparities among individuals within provinces. Consequently, the reduction in the intra-provincial inequality is the reason for the decrease in educational differences among Ecuadorians. The findings potentially reflect individual-focused policies, socioeconomic features of Ecuador’s provinces and align with the official educational statistics.

Factors Influencing Athletic Training Services in California Secondary Schools: A 5-Year Update.

California is the only state that does not regulate the athletic training profession, allowing unqualified personnel to be hired and call themselves athletic trainers (ATs). The benefits of employing a certified AT in the secondary school setting are numerous, but efforts to push regulation legislation continue to fail in California. To describe the availability of certified ATs in California secondary schools and explore factors influencing AT employment. Cross-sectional study. Online survey. Participants from 1538 California secondary schools. Officials from member schools completed the 2022-2023 California Interscholastic Federation Participation Census. Participants provided information specific to enrollment, sport participation, access to automated external defibrillators, and whether the school had ATs on staff. The AT's certification status was independently verified. Enrollment data specific to ethnicity, race, and percentage of students eligible for free meals were obtained through the California Department of Education Statistics. More than half (51.6%) of California secondary schools did not employ a certified AT, and 8.3% employed unqualified personnel as ATs. Nearly half (43%) of student-athlete participants were enrolled at schools with no certified AT. Schools that employed certified ATs had a lower proportion of students eligible to receive free and reduced-price meals. The average percentage of Hispanic or Latino students was greater in schools with no certified AT and schools that employed unqualified personnel as ATs than schools that employed certified ATs. Data indicate that, in a 5-year period, access to athletic training services in California secondary schools has not improved. Large gaps in access to athletic training services and clear socioeconomic and racial and ethnic disparities exist. Efforts to educate stakeholders on the importance of athletic training regulation in California should continue.

Accessing the Impact of Policy Reforms on the Rights to Education: A Comparative Study of Emerging and Developed Economies (Nigeria and the U.S. )

This study examined the impact of education policy reforms on the right to education in emerging and developed economies, focusing on Nigeria and the United States. It analyzed how policy interventions shaped access to education, the quality of educational outcomes, and equity in both countries. The key research questions investigated the effectiveness of education reforms in improving access, addressing regional and socioeconomic disparities, and ensuring quality education. The study adopted a comparative case study methodology, analyzing secondary data, policy documents, and education statistics from both nations. Theoretical frameworks such as Human Capital Theory and a rights-based approach to education were used to evaluate the policies' impact. Findings revealed that while Nigeria made significant strides in increasing school enrollment through policies like the Universal Basic Education (UBE) program, it struggled with quality, funding, and regional disparities. In contrast, the U.S. achieved widespread access to education but faced persistent challenges related to racial and socioeconomic inequities, influenced by the shortcomings of standardized testing and uneven funding allocation. The study’s implications suggested that addressing policy implementation, funding, and equity issues is essential for advancing the right to education. Recommendations were provided to strengthen reforms, improve funding mechanisms, and promote equitable access to quality education in both contexts.

Pathways to Mobility: Using a Multidimensional Approach to Examine Postgraduation Outcomes for Promoting College Student Success

Research examining students’ socioeconomic outcomes after attaining a bachelor’s degree tends to use single measures such as income or occupation (Thomas & Zhang, 2005; Torche, 2015). Yet, socioeconomic status is more complex than single measures. To capture that complexity, this study draws data from the National Center for Education Statistics Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:08/12) to examine a multidimensional measure of socioeconomic status one and four years after graduation with a bachelor’s degree. The findings suggest that college graduates are not guaranteed benefits or low levels of time unemployed. The differences found across groups and time points highlight the importance of considering both monetary and non-monetary aspects of socioeconomic status related to higher education attendance and student success. This study contributes to exploring multidimensional measures to advance the understanding of students’ postgraduation outcomes and the continued impact of higher education on students’ outcomes beyond completion.

Affective Engagement with Metaphor in Introductory Statistics Education

Metaphor is a popular pedagogical tool to help learners understand unfamiliar concepts, but its affective and interactional qualities remain underexplored compared to its cognitive benefits. This study investigates how metaphor may enhance affective engagement within introductory statistics education for linguistics students. As previous research tends to rely on delayed and self-reported data, this study employs a mixed-methods approach that combines real-time physiological measures of engagement with feedback through surveys and interviews. It compares metaphorical and literal instructional styles for teaching simple linear regression, focusing on: i) differences in teacher and learner skin conductance levels, ii) teacher-learner synchrony through skin conductance concordance, iii) the relationship between physiological measures and affect-related survey responses, and iv) learner reflections on their experiences. Results show that the metaphorical style is associated with higher engagement levels and stronger teacher-learner synchrony, affirming the role of metaphors in enhancing collaborative learning when elaborated over time in spontaneous interactive fashion. However, the qualitative data reveal nuanced learner perceptions, highlighting the importance of clearly communicating the scope of metaphor use. This study contributes to understanding the interplay between affective and cognitive engagement in metaphorical learning, offering practical recommendations for its effective implementation in complex subjects like statistics.

Enhancing Statistical Education in Chemistry and STEAM Using JAMOVI. Part 1: Descriptive Statistics and Comparing Independent Groups

Enhancing Statistical Education in Chemistry and STEAM Using JAMOVI. Part 1: Descriptive Statistics and Comparing Independent Groups

The Preparation of Future Statistically Oriented Physicians: A Single-Center Experience in Saudi Arabia.

Background and Objectives: Statistics are of paramount significance to physicians as they allow them to critically interpret the medical literature and to contribute to it. However, teaching statistics to medical students and physicians, as well as learning statistics, is nothing short of difficult and anxiety-inducing to a great extent. Materials and Methods: In this study, an example of a novel approach to teaching statistics to medical students is introduced at a single college of medicine in Saudi Arabia. In this retrospective report, a new approach that has been developed and delivered to students is described. Results: The approach, referred to as the personal experience pathway, is part of a major curriculum change to the MBBS program. The track presents statistics to students as a tool, rather than a subject, that students will need to interpret results, either present in the literature or those of the research projects they are conducting. The outcome of this process has been assessed through measuring students' scholarly output through student self-reporting and has been followed up over four student cohorts graduating between the years 2019 and 2022. The approach has successfully equipped students with a solid foundation of statistical understanding that has allowed them to publish in peer-reviewed journals. Such scholarly output has increased significantly over the last two years. Conclusions: The current study presents a framework through which the detailed curriculum plan could be applied to other medical schools, nationally and internationally, which will better prepare future statistically oriented physicians.

Reproducibility in the Classroom

Difficulties in reproducing results from scientific studies have lately been referred to as a reproducibility crisis. Scientific practice depends heavily on scientific training. What gets taught in the classroom is often practiced in labs, fields, and data analysis. The importance of reproducibility in the classroom has gained momentum in statistics education in recent years. In this article, we review the existing literature on reproducibility education. We delve into the relationship between computing tools and reproducibility through visiting historical developments in this area. We share examples for teaching reproducibility and reproducible teaching while discussing the pedagogical opportunities created by these examples as well as challenges that the instructors should be aware of. We detail the use of teaching reproducibility and reproducible teaching practices in an introductory data science course. Lastly, we provide recommendations on reproducibility education for instructors, administrators, and other members of the scientific community.

Harnessing the Power of Technology in Statistics Education: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Study

This study aims to conduct a bibliometric mapping of research articles on technology in statistics education. The articles under analysis are those published in English-language journals and indexed in the Scopus database. VOSviewer and Bibliometrix software were employed in the data analysis. The search yielded 59 relevant articles published since 1985, with a 1.84% annual growth rate, an average of 11.02 citations per document, and an average document age of 13.7 years. The publications involved 135 authors from 31 countries, with an average of 2.44 co-authors per document. The research findings revealed the formation of five clusters through networking visualization. Based on the thematic map using Bibliometrix, we identified that "higher education" and "R" are themes that have shown significant development and are crucial for shaping the technology field in statistics education. This bibliometric analysis provides ideas and references for selecting current, potential, and evolving research themes related to technology in statistics education.

Students’ local vs. global views of data distributions: a cross-grade-level analysis using eye-tracking

AbstractThe ability to interpret and compare data distributions is an important educational goal. Inherent in the statistical concept of distribution is the need to focus not only on individual data points or small groups of data points (so-called local view), but to perceive a distribution as a whole, allowing to recognize global features such as center, spread, and shape (so-called global view). However, the latter is challenging for students to acquire. This study, involving 68 students in grades 4, 6, and 8, had two main objectives. First, we aimed to examine the potential impact of grade level on how students perceive and compare distributions presented in dot plots. Despite variations in specific pre-knowledge, our findings showed no significant grade-related differences in students’ gaze behavior or their ability to process global features when comparing distributions. This finding suggests that there is no significant developmental trend across grade levels regarding students’ capacity to perceive distributions globally, a critical aim in statistics education. Our second objective was to extend the findings of our previous work regarding the identification of specific eye-tracking measures as indicators of students’ local vs. global views. In line with our hypotheses, differences in gaze behavior between students with a local and global view were determined regardless of their grade level. This robustness across different educational stages underscores the validity of specific eye-tracking measures as reliable indicators for students local vs. global view of data. Our research highlights the potential of eye-tracking for understanding students’ data interpretation approaches in statistics education.