On the misinterpretation of histograms and box plots

Lem, Stephanie; Onghena, Patrick; Verschaffel, Lieven; Dooren, Wim Van

doi:10.1080/01443410.2012.674006

Cited by 26 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Also in chemistry, specific representational difficulties have been investigated [8]. In recent work on statistics education, Lem et al [9] report on misinterpretations of histograms and box plots.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Koedinger and Nathan [27] studied the performance and strategies of high school algebra students solving both word-and formula-based representations of problems and claim that there is a close link between solution strategies and representations, since certain representations elicit the use of certain strategies. Lem et al [9] studied student performance in parallel distributional reasoning problems (statistics) formulated in terms of a histogram, box plot, or a list of descriptive statistics. Results show significant performance differences between representations, and the authors suggest a relation between misinterpretation and particular features of the different representations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Representation use and strategy choice in physics problem solving

Cock

2012

Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.

132

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In this paper, we examine student success on three variants of a test item given in different representational formats (verbal, pictorial, and graphical), with an isomorphic problem statement. We confirm results from recent papers where it is mentioned that physics students' problem-solving competence can vary with representational format and that solutions can be triggered by particular details of the representation. Previous studies are complemented with a fine grained analysis of solution strategies. We find that students use different problem-solving strategies, depending on the representational format in which the problem is stated.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Representation use and strategy choice in physics problem solving

Cock

2012

Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.

132

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“…Tversky's (1997) graph design principle on the use of direction provided a theoretical grounding for hypothesizing that the vertically oriented box plot might be interpreted differently than horizontally oriented box plots. As in the studies of Lem et al (2012Lem et al ( , 2013b, a dualprocesses approach was used to study the possible differences in reasoning processes.…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They found that the area of the box plot is often perceived by students as displaying the frequency or proportion of observations in that interval, instead of the density. Bakker et al ascribed this misinterpretation to the fact that students link the use of box plots to the use of graphical representations previously learned in school (e.g., histograms and bar graphs, see also Lem, Onghena, Verschaffel, Van Dooren, 2012). In box plots the area of the box indicates how dense the observations are in that interval: The smaller an area, the higher the density of observations in that interval.…”

Section: The Heuristic Misinterpretation Of Box Plotsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heuristic Reasoning in Interpreting Box Plots: The Influence of Orientation

Lem¹,

Vandebeek²,

Onghena³

et al. 2014

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We studied how graph design principles can predict specific reasoning mechanisms that occur when misinterpreting box plots, and, more specifically, the misinterpretation of the area as a representation of frequency or proportion of observa tions, instead of density. In previous studies this misinterpretation has been shown to be heuristic in nature and is elicited by the fact that box plots do not use space in a natural way. Graph design principles provide a theoretical framework for assuming that the orientation of a box plot could influence its interpretation. By analyzing reaction times and accuracy rates for different item types, we explored whether there indeed is an influence of the orientation of a box plot on the way it is interpreted. Results indicate that the misinterpretation manifests itself in both orientations to the same extent, suggesting that the orientation of a box plot does not influence the reasoning mechanisms it provokes.

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“…Educators have to take this into account in designing better and more efficient learning environments. For example, students' exposure to multiple representations of the same distribution can be useful for better interpretation of statistical graphs (Lem, Onghena, Verschaffel & Van Dooren, 2012).…”

Section: Published By Sciedu Pressmentioning

confidence: 99%

Student's Conceptions in Statistical Graph's Interpretation

Kukliansky

2016

IJHE

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Histograms, box plots and cumulative distribution graphs are popular graphic representations for statistical distributions. The main research question that this study focuses on is how college students deal with interpretation of these statistical graphs when translating graphical representations into analytical concepts in descriptive statistics. This study is divided into two parts. The research sample included 256 college students in the first part and 187 college students in the second part. The research tools were questionnaires dealing with the interpretation of the graphs, while relating the graphs and other concepts in descriptive statistics. In spite of the benefits learners may reap from using multiple representations, the results reveal that some of the students had difficulties in relating multiple representations to the same data. Educators have to take into account that only deep understanding of each and every one of the representations and their interrelation will enable students to translate successfully one format into another. Some of the mistakes students made could be derived from the use of the intuitive rule known as the Same A-Same B.

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On the misinterpretation of histograms and box plots

Cited by 26 publications

References 18 publications

Representation use and strategy choice in physics problem solving

Representation use and strategy choice in physics problem solving

Heuristic Reasoning in Interpreting Box Plots: The Influence of Orientation

Student's Conceptions in Statistical Graph's Interpretation

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