IS THE P-VALUE REALLY DEAD? ASSESSING INFERENCE LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE STUDENTS IN AN INTRODUCTORY STATISTICS COURSE

In reaction to misuses and misinterpretations of p-values and confidence intervals, a social science journal editor banned p-values from its pages. This study aimed to show that education could address misuse and abuse. This study examines inference-related learning outcomes for social science students in an introductory course supplemented with randomization and simulation content. Learning gains were measured across a suggested taxonomy of inference learning outcomes using the Reasoning about P-values and Statistical Significance (RPASS-10) scale. Three graphical comparisons of students’ Pretest and Posttest proportions were encoded by learning gain or loss, an inference learning outcome taxonomy, or if a correct concept or misconception was assessed. What students learned and the difficulties that persisted shape recommendations for teaching and future research.First published May 2017 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives