THE TRANSITIVITY misconception OF
PEARSON’S CORRELATION COEFFICIENT
ANA ELISA CASTRO SOTOS
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
anaelisa1980@gmail.com
Stijn vanhoof
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
stijn.vanhoof@ped.kuleuven.be
wim van den noortgate
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
wim.vandennoortgate@ped.kuleuven.be
patrick onghena
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
patrick.onghena@ped.kuleuven.be
ABSTRACT
Despite the relevance of correlational studies for most research domains, many students, teachers, and researchers alike hold misconceptions concerning the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. One of these, the transitivity misconception, has not yet been documented in a systematic way. This paper summarizes the first empirical study, using 279 university students, and examines the relationship between student-based and task-based factors and the appearance of this misconception. In particular, two task-based factors seemed to have a significant effect on its appearance. In addition, the respondents’ level of confidence in their answer to the transitivity item was significantly lower than for most other times.
Keywords: Statistics education research; University students; Confidence
Statistics Education Research Journal, 8(2), 33-55,
http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/serj
Ó International
Association for Statistical Education (IASE/ISI), November, 2009
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ana elisa castro sotos
Centre for Methodology of Educational Research
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Andreas Vesaliusstraat 2
3000 Leuven
Belgium
Statistics Education Research Journal, 8(2), 33-55, http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/serj
Ó International Association for Statistical Education (IASE/ISI), November, 2009