Promoting research and research reporting in statistics education

Promoting research and research reporting in statistics education: The SERJ experience SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

SERJ: Statistics Education Research Journal Co-editors: Iddo Gal, University of Haifa, Israel (iddo@research. haifa. ac. il) and Flavia Jolliffe, University of Kent, UK (F. Jolliffe@kent. ac. uk) SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

About SERJ • SERJ is the journal of the International Association for Statistical Association (IASE). • A peer-reviewed electronic journal. • The first to focus on advancing research-based knowledge that can help to improve the teaching, learning, and understanding of statistics or probability at all educational levels and in both formal and informal contexts. • Access is free at www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

Some history of SERJ • SERJ grew out of the Statistics Education Research Newsletter (SERN) • Initial discussions re changing SERN to SERJ in Summer 2001 • First issue published May 2002. Fairly similar to SERN as contained material planned for publication in SERN. SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

History continued • December 2002 – Became a joint publication of ISI and IASE. – Second issue published, included four refereed papers. • May 2003 – First paper in Spanish published. • November 2003 – Sections more appropriate to a newsletter dropped SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

Key paper types • Reports of original research - Quantitative / qualitative (up to 8000 -10, 000 words) - Brief papers (2500 words) • Conceptual papers, e. g. , - Integrative & critical reviews of research literature - Research-oriented theoretical models or epistemological analyses - Methodological issues in research & assessment SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

Statistics education research • Might examine, e. g. cognitive, motivational, attitudinal, curricular, teaching-related, technology-based, organizational, or societal factors and processes that are related to the development and understanding of stochastic knowledge. • Might also focus on how people use or apply statistical and probabilistic information and ideas. SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

Special issues of SERJ • November 2004 on research on reasoning about variation and variability. • November 2006 on research on learning and reasoning about distributions. – Deadline for submissions: November 1, 2005. – Send letter of intent or queries to Iddo Gal, iddo@research. haifa. ac. il SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

Papers in latest issue May 2005 • Effect of Calculator Technology on Student Achievement in an Introductory Statistics Course (Linda Collins and Kathleen Mittag) • Factor Structure of the “Attitudes Toward Research” Scale (Elena C. Papanastasiou) SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

May 2005 issue (cont. ): Special section reasoning about variation: • “Variation Talks”: Articulating Meaning in Statistics (Katie Makar and Jere Confrey) • Exploring Students’ Conceptions of the Standard Deviation (Bob del. Mas and Yan Liu) • A Framework for Teaching and Assessing Reasoning about Variability (invited paper) (Dani Ben-Zvi and Joan Garfield) • Thinking Tools and Variation (invited paper) (Maxine Pfannkuch) SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

Refereeing process of SERJ • Papers are submitted to a named co-editor. • The paper is given an initial screening, possibly in consultation with the other co-editor. • If suitable to be refereed it is sent to an associate editor. • The associate editor sends it in a blinded form to two or more external referees. • The co-editor collates the associate editor’s and the referees’ reports and sends the decision to the author with further comments. SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

Submissions which are not refereed • Papers which do not contain any statistics education research, e. g. papers suggesting methods for teaching a topic but with no description of relevant (classroom) research, papers on mathematical statistics. >> Author is reminded of the types of paper which SERJ publishes. A more suitable journal for publication might be suggested. SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

Initial problems with submissions 1 • Papers with some potential for publication in SERJ but clearly needing substantial revision, e. g. contain insufficient details of the research, discussion too weak, style is poor. >> Authors sent detailed comments and suggestions for improving the paper, and are encouraged to resubmit (if paper salvageable). (We see part of SERJ’s role as training less experienced researchers both in doing and in writing up research. ) SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

Initial problems with submissions 2 • Technical issues: Papers which appear to be in line with aims of SERJ, but are not in the required format, e. g. , 2 -column layout. >> Author is asked to resubmit in the required format and pointed to the template and guides for authors on the SERJ web page. SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

Initial problems with submissions 3 • The paper is in line with the aims of SERJ, but it is thought that it might have been published elsewhere. >> Authors are asked to confirm that the paper has not already been published if they have not stated this on submission. SERJ policy is that papers which have been published in any form, including on the Internet or in conference proceedings are not accepted for consideration. This restriction does not apply to expanded conference papers. SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

Refereeing decisions • Accept (at most simple or editorial changes) • Accept with minor revisions (revised paper seen by editorial team only) • Rewrite and resubmit (major revision required, further stages of refereeing) • Reject SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

Papers acceptable for SERJ Relevant to SERJ aims, and of high quality: 1. Original & worthy contribution to knowledge/ literature 2. Rational flow of information & ideas, justifications: Scientific background > goals/ questions/ hypotheses > method > results > discussion, limitations, implications 3. Writing: clear, concise, logical, responsible balance, relevant references (APA guidelines) 4. Presentation / organization (author guidelines) SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

Typical problems: research reports Goals/questions: - known or none - too broad, too narrow Lit review: too broad/unfocused/brief, inadequate Method: - poor research design - too little/too much/confusing details about: › › › approach & context respondents instruments/tasks procedure analysis SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

Typical problems 2 Results: - wrong analysis - data without purpose, irrelevant Discussion: - poor link back to goals/questions, literature - doesn’t explain its contribution - no “limitations” - no “implications” (to literature & known models, teaching, assessment, future research, …) Bibliography: - missing, incorrect form, does not match references in text SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

Tips for authors 1 Planning the paper: Reflect on: Storyline, contribution, research goals/questions. Summarize: Research questions, key findings, key conclusions. Check: Author guidelines, SERJ template, prior issues of SERJ. Write: Results, method, implications, scientific background, … SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj

Tips for authors 2 Before submitting: Review- refine- get feedback- check fit to guidelines (template!)- blind text- letter to editor. Managing the revision & re-submission cycle: Evaluate editorial comments--Think--Revise. Re-submit with detailed letter to editor (what/how revised, justify cases where comments not accepted). SERJ www. stat. auckland. ac. nz/serj