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Multi-Item Scale:

I will now read you various everyday mathematical activities. For each of these activities, please tell me how well you can perform them. Think about your experiences from your job and everyday life. <br> Please give me your answers again using this list. <br> <i>[Ich lese Ihnen jetzt verschiedene alltagsmathematische Tätigkeiten vor. Bitte sagen Sie mir für jede dieser Tätigkeiten, wie gut Sie diese durchführen können. Denken Sie dabei an Ihre Erfahrungen aus Beruf und Alltag. <br> Bitte geben Sie mir Ihre Antworten wieder anhand dieser Liste.]</i>

Item Text:

e. Understanding and interpreting statistical information or data, such as a graph showing the development of housing prices in different districts. [Statistische Angaben oder Daten verstehen und interpretieren wie z.B. eine Abbildung mit der Entwicklung von Wohnungspreisen in verschiedenen Stadtteilen.]

Different Answer Format Tested:

Nein

Findings:

This is the first item to use the full scale width. While eight test persons state that they can easily understand and interpret statistics and data using the example of housing price developments in different parts of the city, six test persons believe they can do so with some difficulty and one person with great difficulty. Three test persons state that they are not able to do so.

There are indications that two test persons (TP 03, 11) do not understand the statement in the intended sense:
  • "I know what it costs here, what it costs in Frankfurt, what it costs in Heidelberg. That is no problem. Frankfurt is expensive, Mannheim is cheaper, Heidelberg is in the middle." (TP 03, answer: I can without problems)
  • "I have a house and know how many square meters that is, but the other one no. In the newspaper, I can understand that. Often there are certain square meters for apartment rentals. I understand that, but how much it should cost and how expensive the real estate agent is, I have never dealt with that." (TP 11, answer: I cannot)
These two people think of costs that may be incurred for rental housing, but not of illustrations of price developments and their interpretation.

In contrast, the following test persons, for example, refer to concrete statistical information that may contain images. Here it becomes clear that persons have very different associations.
  • "We had this once in an Excel course with bar charts or something and I never knew what to get out of it, honestly." (TP 05)
  • "This is again so that it is not commonplace. When you look at something like this, you first have to come in and understand what the axes mean and that's what I find the certain difficulties." (TP 08)
  • "A coordinate system with an x and y axis and there you can see the development. I can also interpret it." (TP 09)
  • TP 12: "I haven't done that yet. Maybe I could, I can't tell you."
  • CI: "What if it was about a diagram in the newspaper?"
  • TP 12:"I probably could. But I was thinking about big plans and calculations etc."
  • "You'll have to get your head into it. Then there are circles. Then it says what costs what. But I don't deal with that in the same way." (TP 13)
  • "I thought of a cake like this [pie chart]. I can read that." (TP 16)
For the evaluation of this item it is of particular relevance whether the test persons perceive the activity in the sense of "understand and interpret" according to the actual wording. The above quotations show that they correctly refer to the reception and not to the active creation - as in item f).

Recommendations:

No changes recommended

Question tested:

true