Looking back over their shoulders: a qualitative analysis of portuguese teachers' attitudes towards statistics

Abstract

Teachers’ attitudes towards statistics can have a significant effect on their own statistical training, their teaching of statistics, and the future attitudes of their students. The influence of attitudes in teaching statistics in different contexts was previously studied in the work of Estrada et al. (2004, 2010a, 2010b) and Martins et al. (2011). This work is part of a broader study of Portuguese education teachers and statistics. In the current paper, we use a qualitative content analysis of survey responses from Portuguese first-stage in-service teachers, focusing on nine open-ended items extracted from the Escala de Actitudes hacia la Estadística de Estrada (Estrada, 2002). These responses allow us to investigate teachers’ attitudes towards statistics, and their reasons and motivations for holding these attitudes.

Research supported by the project EDU2010-14947 (MICIIN, Spain), by Centro de Matemática da UTAD (CM-UTAD) and by the project PEst-OE/EGE/UI4056/2011 financed by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Science and Technological Foundation, FCT, MCTES, Portugal).