統計推理的性別差異

Sex Differences in Statistical Reasoning

過去，在數學能力方面的性別差異 (sex differences in mathematical ability)或在統計推理 (statistical reasoning) 兩個重要領域，都分別有過許多不同的研究。但是，卻不曾有人以統計推理方面的性別差異 (sex differences in statistical reasoning) 做為研究主題。本研究主要在探討大學男女生在統計推理方面是否有性別差異。研究樣本包括245位台灣的大學生，以及267位美國的大學生。研究使用的問卷是統計推理測量 (the Statistical Reasoning Assessment，SRA)，在美國施測所使用的是英文原版問卷，在台灣施測時則使用翻譯成中文的版本。本跨國研究使用不同的統計方法研討下列兩個主要問題：(1) 男女生在統計推理方面是否有平均數的差異？(2)男女生之間的相關矩陣 (correlation matrices) 是否有所差異？所有的統計分析都是根據學生在回答問卷之後所得到的兩個分數：正確推理 (correct reasoning) 所得的分數及對於機率與統計不正確的觀念 (misconception)所得的分數。針對第一個問題，研究結果偏向支持一般性別差異研究的發現：當男女生有性別差異時，尤其在較高層次認知的運用如數學推理方面，男生表現比女生優異。針對第二個研究問題所作的統計分析，結果顯示男生與女生的相關矩陣沒有差異。值得注意的是針對第二問題所得到的研究結果極可能導因於問卷 (SRA) 題目之間的相關係數(intercorrelations) 都很小，因而導致使用相關矩陣來作資料分析的難題。

Despite considerable research having been done in the area of sex differences in mathematical ability， statistical ability has rarely been the subject of a major research effort. This study focuses on the question of whether there are sex differences in statistical reasoning for college students. Participants included 245 college students in Taiwan and 267 American college students. The Statistical Reasoning Assessment (SRA) was used in this cross-cultural study to assess students’ statistical reasoning ability. While the original version of the test was administered to students in the United States， a Chinese version of the instrument was administered to participants in Taiwan. Statistical methods were used to ascertain whether there were mean differences between males and females and whether there was equality between the correlation matrices for males and females. All the analyses are based on both the correct reasoning scores and the misconception scores obtained from the SRA instrument. Results tend to support the general research findings that when sex differences appear， they are in the direction favoring males， particularly in higher cognitive tasks such as mathematical reasoning. Analysis of the correlation matrices suggest that there are no differences in statistical reasoning between males and females for both countries. However， it should be noted that the results may be due to low item intercorrelations.